A seminar on the theme Design for Durability will take place at the Design
Council, London WC2 on Tuesday 11th April, organised by the EPSRC Network
on Product Life Spans.  The aim is to explore the responsibility of
designers for our throwaway society and their potential contribution to
sustainable consumption through the development of longer lasting
products. 

An excellent group of keynote speakers includes Nicole van Nes (the
Netherlands), a sustainable design researcher whose PhD focused on product
life spans, Brian Burns (Canada), Professor of Industrial Design at
Carleton University, Alastair Fuad-Luke, key proponent of the concept
of 'slow design', Jonathan Chapman, author of the recently published
Emotionally Durable Design, and James Lingard, who specialises in product
policy at Defra.  We would welcome other contributions on the seminar
theme; if you are interested in presenting a short paper please send an
abstract to Kenisha Garnett ([log in to unmask]) by the final (extended)
deadline of Friday 10th February.  The event will include workshop
sessions to discuss key issues and develop 'design for durability' tools
and techniques. 

Further details of the seminar are on a poster that can be downloaded
from the link below, together with a booking form. Please display the
poster and circulate copies to colleagues who may be interested.  Book
early for this event as places are limited. You may like to note that a
Sustainable Design Network event will be held the following day at the
Design Council entitled Design and Behaviour; for further information
contact Miles Park ([log in to unmask]).  If planning to attend both,
please be aware that you will need to register for each event separately.
The poster and booking form are at:
http://extra.shu.ac.uk/productlife/seminar_03.html

There is now a Product Life Spans Network JISC mailing list, which
provides an information resource and dissemination service for anyone
interested in its activities.  As with all such lists, subscribers can
post details of forthcoming events, research opportunities, policy
developments and consultations, and initiate discussion on key topics. 
The list is moderated, which means that only subscribers can post messages
and these are sent via the list's moderators.  To join, go to
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/PRODUCT-LIFE-SPANS-NETWORK.html and
select 'Join or leave the JISCmail list'.