Pablo Calderón Salazar

Pablo Calderón Salazar (he/him/his) is a Colombian designer, educator and researcher. He studied a bachelor in Industrial Design at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University (2008), Social Design (Master in Design) at the Design Academy of Eindhoven (2013) and defended his PhD in the Arts with the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) and LUCA School of Arts in 2021.

He has over 14 years of experience developing a (teaching-creative-research) practice through which he attempts to open new paths for designers interested in social justice and the public realm, with a growing interest in eco-social transitions and the roles that creatives can play in them. He has proven experience in participatory design, design anthropology & ethnography and social innovation. Most of his practice has also taken place in public space, or relating to wider notions of the public sphere and, in the last few years, he has become increasingly interested in theories of change and the ways in which sustainable transitions can be triggered or facilitated through the arts.

Corporate Experience

• Freelance designer in the field of participatory design and social innovation on an international scale. 2011 - Present

• Social Designer at the community project Stichting Freehouse of artist Jeanne van Heeswijk, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2013 - 2014

• Communication designer. Global Ethics Foundation (Bogotá chapter), Colombia, 2009 - 2011

Academic Experience

• Assistant Professor of Design, IE University, Spain, 2024 - Present 

• Postdoctoral researcher (scientific collaborator), LUCA School of Arts, Belgium, 2021 - 2023

• Associate Professor, Product Design School, Arts and Design Faculty, Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Colombia, 2018 - 2020

• Doctoral researcher and teacher, LUCA School of Arts, Belgium, 2014 - 2018

• Adjunct professor, industrial design program, Arts and Design Faculty, Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Colombia, 2009 - 2011

Academic Background

• Ph.D. in the Arts, KU Leuven / LUCA School of Arts, Belgium, 2021

• MDes in Social Design, Design Academy of Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2013

• Course in design pedagogy, Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Colombia, 2009

• Bachelor in Industrial Design, Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Colombia, 2009

Selected Publications

• Huybrechts, L., Calderón Salazar, P., Zuljevic, M., Dreessen, K. (2024). “De Andere Markt: nurturing collective capabilities in Living Labs by building relations across human and more-than-human worlds”. Forthcoming in Routledge’s international Participatory Design Handbook

• Calderón Salazar, P., Gerbi, L. (2023). On Separations. In Burtscher, A. & Lupo, D. (Eds.). “AS IF - 16 Dialogues about Sheep, Black Holes and Movement”. A Lungomare Reader. Spector Books

• Calderon Salazar, P., Huybrechts, L. (2020). “PD otherwise will be pluriversal (or it won't be)”. In Proceedings of the 16th Participatory Design Conference 2020-Participation (s) Otherwise, (1): 107-115