2025-07-31-accounts - Design History Society

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Design History Society Annual Review 2024-2025

Design History Society Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1155117

Appendix to the Trustees’ Annual Report 2025

Prepared for the Annual General Meeting, September 2025

06 Chair’s Introduction

08 Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History

14 Treasurer

16 Digital Secretary

18 Grants and Prizes
30 Student Matters
32 Outreach and Membership

36 Communications

38 Teaching and Learning

40 Conference

44 Executive Committee and Ambassadors

44 JDH Editorial and Advisory Boards

46 Contacts
48 Appendix: Annual Statement from the Accountants

DHS Trustees Report

DHS Annual Review 2025

Chair’s introduction

I am delighted to introduce the 2025 Annual Report of the Design History Society. This Report summarises the finances and activity of the Society in the twelve months since the Annual General Meeting at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury, UK in September 2024

The 2024 DHS Annual Conference ‘Border Control: Excursion, Incursion and Exclusion’ was held at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury, UK, 5th-7th September. The Trustees of the DHS are hugely grateful to the convenors and to UCA Canterbury for organising and hosting such a stimulating and successful event. Unfortunately, due to contracting Covid just before the conference, I was unable to attend, but it was a huge success thanks to the amount of effort exerted by the convenors and the incredibly relevant and important topic that they chose for the conference theme. The wide range of topics presented demonstrates just how relevant design history as a discipline is to critical engagement with the world we inhabit and the histories which brought us here. We greatly look forward to the 2025 annual conference ‘Converging Paths: Design in the Creative Economy’ convened by Ankara Bilim University, 4th-6th September 2025. This year we have decided to add an open strand to the conference to showcase research which sits outside of the main theme, and it has proved a huge success in terms of papers submitted. It is something which we intend to include

at Annual Conferences going forward to ensure that conferences are able to showcase and engage with current research in all of its wide ranging facets.

The DHS continues to focus on outreach and inclusion, including working with fellow organisations in the extended field of visual and material culture. In February 2025, we sponsored and I chaired a successful panel ‘New Directions in Teaching Design History’ at the annual College Art Association conference at the Midtown Hilton in NYC. We also facilitated a very lively and wellattended workshop ‘Decolonising Design History’ at the annual Association for Art History conference at the University of York (UK) in April 2025. We aim to continue these partnerships going forward and I have also been working closely with the Chairs of the AAH and the Society of British Architectural Historians to look at initiatives to make our subject areas more accessible for working class children and young people.

In June 2025 the DHS Ambassadors Pippy Stephenson and Dan MU held a wonderful online student conference ‘ - Revisiting Design History: Global Cross Cultural Interactions and Narratives’ and we are very grateful for all the hard work they do to create and promote events like this. Over the past year we have also worked to revise and reconfigure the grants and awards we offer and, although I will leave most of the discussion of this to Elli Michaela Young who is the Trustee responsible, I am thrilled to have

been part of our decision to introduce an Accessible Design History Grant in May this year. This grant aims to help remove barriers and to support researchers, students and practitioners with disabilities who work in the field.

The Society is also currently working on making its oral design history archive accessible. The relevant recordings have now been removed from the Society’s archive and over the next year will be digitised and made available through the website. We also hope that they will be utilised to create podcasts. We are also looking to move the Society’s archive from its current home in the wilds of rural England to somewhere where it can be managed more closely by the Senior Administrator and Trustees. We are also intending to have the archive professionally catalogued by a trainee archivist if at all possible, as we feel that it would offer an excellent learning opportunity.

We sadly said goodbye to our Treasurer Dora Souza Dias in late 2024, but I am delighted that in early 2025 we welcomed Jo Pilcher into the role and into the board of Trustees as our new Treasurer.

I would like to thank all of the JDH Editors and DHS Trustees, Student Officer Alex Todd and other volunteers for all of their efforts in blind peerreviewing the conference abstract submissions, and the DHS Trustees for their hard work in reviewing conference convenor applications and award and

grant applications. I would also like to thank my fellow JDH Editors and all of the authors and anonymous reviewers whose efforts go towards the creation of the Journal of Design History . Given the increasingly challenging and stressful nature of the environments we work in, be they academic, museum and heritage or other allied professions, the dedication required to undertake this work alongside other commitments is hugely important and greatly appreciated.

I would also like to thank our Senior Administrator Jenna Allsopp- Douglas for all of her hard work on behalf of the DHS, to thank our Ambassadors Dan MU and Pippy Stephenson for all of their efforts and initiatives, and to thank all the members for their continued support of the Society.

Assoc. Prof Dr Sally-Anne Huxtable Chair of the Design History Society; Editor, Archives, Collections &

Curatorship, Journal of Design History ; Ex Officio Editorial Board Member, Journal of Design History

DHS Annual Review 2025

Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History

The September 2025 conference marks the start of my final year in post as Chair of the Editorial Board (EB) of the Journal

of Design History, working to deliver our commitment to excellence, and equality, diversity and inclusion as mutually beneficial.

Readership and Authorship

One index of our diversity is our international reach in both readership and author base.

Readership: Subscriptions were slightly down across Read & Publish, institutional and personal categories. Member subscriptions were newly managed by the DHS in the past year. OUP reports that Consortia collection subscriptions rose to 2,149, the highest figure since 2020. Growth regions in collections subscriptions were: South and South-East Asia (1172, +363%) and North America (495, +5%) while Latin America was steady at 316. Other regions saw slightly reduced (<10%) collections figures, with the notable exceptions of West and South Europe (248, -26%), Greater China (79, -37%) and the Middle East and Africa (78, -68%).

Authorship: From May 2024 to April 2025 the JDH received 128 submissions, an increase of 23 (or 22%) on the previous year. Submissions from China increased 115% to 28, matching the number of submissions from the UK. Submissions from Korea increased by 150%, Turkey (33%), Germany (300%) and Italy (50%). Submissions from the US and

Australia both dropped by 22% and 60% respectively.

Academic Journals Publishing Context:

Oxford Journals Conference

Excellence, and equality diversity and inclusion were all core to the agenda of Oxford University Press’s Oxford Journals conference for journal editors, subject society leaders and OUP staff which I attended on behalf of the JDH and the DHS in September/October 2024. A contextual overview of current issues in academic journal publishing was provided by VP for Journals, Alison Denby (figures will have changed over the past year):

OUP has 550 journals, 75% of which are society titles, with 293 partners;
• 58% are online only;
87% of revenue is digital;
140 journals (50%) are fully open access;
Oxford Journals receive 168K submissions per annum;
250 articles are published each day;
There is an average of 5.5 authors per article, and OJ works with 350k authors p/a;
Online, OJ content has 250 million title visits p/a.

Art History is a new title for OUP from 2024, and I talked with Gregory Perry, CEO of the Association for Art History, about the end of print at Oxford Journals , planned for 2027. We discussed the importance to the art history and design history communities of retaining a

print edition of our respective journals. The DHS can order print copies for its members from OUPs approved supplier if/when the JDH goes online-only.

Denby offered a PESTLE analysis of external impacts in academic journals publishing:

Political = bifurcation globally into authoritarian populist and liberal regimes;
Economic = declining markets, growth in the US;
Social = reduced engagement in HE, content consumption driven by speed, brevity, automation;
Technological = AI use in both authorship and discovery;
• Legal = rights threatened by cannibalistic AI;
Environmental = digital delivery reduces environmental impacts, but AI increases it;

Papermills and image manipulation threaten the reputations of academic journals. Denby’s answer is to attract high quality submissions, to use trust and integrity tools to filter out problematic content, and to operate robust retraction and correction processes. Submissions have increased by c.15% across the board. On 10th April 2025, I attended an Oxford Editor’s Briefing on Trust and Integrity, which echoed some of the conference content and made clear some key things that academic journals can do to avoid exploitation by paper mills and other

malpractice.

One route to increased diversity is supporting early career researchers (ECRs) in their transition from authors to reviewers through the fostering of an ECR reviewer pool. This benefits individuals, the journal and the whole field,

expanding the reviewer network to avoid fatigue. A conference session on EDI was full of useful ways forward. I have asked JDH Assigned Editors to invite one ECR reviewer out of three for each manuscript in peer review, to generate an ECR reviewer pool. We will prepare dedicated ECR guidance on peer reviewing and introduce it in a training session at a future DHS conference. Relatedly, we have introduced video content to the JDH webpages this year, with each of the Journal ’s sections showcasing an introductory filmed message from the respective Editor, explaining the section and welcoming proposals.

One breakout session highlighted some differences between STEM and arts and humanities journals regarding metrics. In expressing concern about the use of metrics, Prof Jane Hamlett ( Journal of Victorian History ) and I were strongly challenged by the STEM delegates who felt that an anti-metrics stance is subjective.

Explorations

The previous Chairs of the EB and the DHS appointed three Editors in January 2021, Sarah Cheang, Livia Rezende and Jane Tynan, to lead on what became

DHS Annual Review 2025

Explorations. I’m delighted to note the progress made with this in the past year. A soft launch saw the publication online in November 2024 of Mayer Ober’s ‘Exploring the Unseen: Archival Ethnography of Rejected Applications at the Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm)’. Explorations will usually be onlineonly, but to enhance awareness of this innovative initiative, the Editors have written an introduction to be published with two Explorations submissions in the first issue of volume 38: the piece by Ober and ‘A Leg Lamp Story’ by Joseph H Larnerd. A third Explorations contribution was published in February 2025: ‘Contemporary Visions: Refguring The Esoteric; The Transformational Act of “Making” Magic’ by Sarah Bellisario. Congratulations and thanks to the authors and Explorations Editors and thanks to the EB and OUP staff. We welcome Explorations proposals: please see https://academic.oup.com/jdh/ pages/explorations

Conference Contributions

JDH Editors made an important contribution to ‘Border Control’, the 2024 DHS conference. Our EB meeting there was followed by a publication workshop, ‘Serialising your Research for Diverse Audiences’. Editors chaired panels and talked with delegates about JDH publication opportunities at OUP’s reception. Also at the conference, I co-hosted a meeting for alumni of the V&A/RCA History of Design programme. We expect to make a similar suite of contributions to the 2025 conference.

Thank you to the DHS for supporting my contribution to the DHS-sponsored panel ‘Teaching Design History’, convened by the DHS Chair at the College Art Association conference in February 2025. The presentations showed a commitment to decolonising design history. I attended the annual meeting of the Design Studies Forum there and discussed plans for joint work in future.

Editorial Board: Departures and Recruitment

From April 2024 to June 2025, Jane Tynan moved from her role as Explorations Editor to cover the Reviews Editorship role. Leah Armstrong has now returned to the Reviews role. I am sure JDH readers will agree that Jane has done an exceptional job, and we thank her.

In March 2025, the EB bid farewell to Cat Rossi who resigned for family reasons after two years as Editor. Alongside her work as part of a team of convenors for the 2024 conference, during her Editorship, Cat was Assigned Editor for a special issue on ‘Design and the Occult’ and she reported on a Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) event about the impacts of Generative AI on academic publishing. Thanks to Cat; we wish her the best of luck in her future endeavours.

In the 2025/6 academic year, we aim to recruit to the EB as follows: one Managing Editor for Explorations, as the current Explorations Editors’ terms expire at the beginning of 2026; and

one Asia Editor to help us manage the increase in submissions from Asia. The Chair of the DHS will recruit a new Chair of the EB in 2026, who is in turn expected to recruit a new Managing Editor (the current postholder’s term finishes in September 2026), Reviews Editor, and one or two Editors in the first year. JDH guidelines specify that EB members can extend their terms once by arrangement with the Chair and the DHS Executive Committee.

Advisory Board

In June 2025, the EB met online with the Advisory Board (AB). Discussion centred on the role of print in the future of the JDH, the benefits of producing content for non-academic readers, which the DHS may want to develop, the role of Virtual Special Issues in showcasing the JDH archive and making it relevant to contemporary concerns through articlelength peer-reviewed introductions available online, the introduction of Explorations and the extent of design history in India and Japan. In the case of India, I can report that the One Nation, One Subscription (ONOS) initiative has secured access to the JDH for 6300 government-run institutions. AB member Ben Highmore has retired from his academic post and therefore retired from the AB this year too. We thank him for his years of service to the JDH as an author, reviewer and AB member.

DHS Archive

In April, the Chairs of the DHS and the EB visited the DHS archive and scoped the

contents of 29 boxes of material, comprising principally the financial records of the Society, copies of the DHS Newsletter and the JDH , materials relating to the DHS conferences, DHS Oral History recordings, some correspondence and miscellaneous items. The DHS Executive Committee plans to make this material more accessible to members and researchers in due course.

JDH Volume 37 2024 Accounts (supplied) Since the inception of the Journal in 1988, OUP and the DHS have shared its annual profits equally. This year has seen two changes: JDH member subscriptions are now managed by the DHS and the subscription year is now August to July.

Income - total subscription income for the JDH dropped, year on year, from £153,189 in 2023 (vol. 36) to £147,089 in 2024 (vol. 37). Collections subscriptions increased from £61,728 in 2023 to £64,602 in 2024. For traditional subscription income only £15,694 has been deferred in the accounts for content not yet published. It will be included in the 2025 accounts once the content is published. Read and Publish (R&P) income increased from £17,999 or 9% in vol. 36 (2023), to £19,976 or 12% in vol. 37 (2024) but note that there were different R&P deals in place in these years.

Non-subscription income also dropped from £190,458 to £159,959. OUP’s digital archive income has diminished across the board, but the JDH is already seeing an uptick for this unpredictable revenue stream for 2025. Following the publication of 8 open access articles in 2023, the JDH has published only

DHS Annual Review 2025

2 in 2024. These are accounted from the point Advance Access publication online and income depends on whether they result from APCs (article-specific charges) or blanket R&P agreements. OUP is seeing a drop in secondary rights revenue across many of its journals compared with a bumper year in 2023. Single and back issues represent a particularly unpredictable revenue line, and one which OUP expects to decrease over time.

Expenditure - production costs fell from £10,892 to £5,851, given that the Journal has been running late and less content has been published. Distribution and marketing costs also fell for the same reason. Editorial costs rose slightly from £6,443 in vol. 36 (2023) to £7,357 in the following volume. Overheads at 30% of costs which applied to 2023 did not apply to 2024 due to the new accounting arrangement with the Society. Total expenditure therefore fell from £27,080 (vol. 36, 2023) to £18,737 for vol. 37 (20245).

producing the JDH . Thank you to the DHS and its members, to our subscribers for providing funds for the DHS charitable activities and charitable expenditure, and to all of our readers in print and online for giving the Journal its purpose.

Prof Dr Grace Lees-Maffei

Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History

Editorial Board meal at The Goods Shed, Canterbury, UK, September 2024. L to R: Grace Lees-Maffei, Fredie Flore (AB), Sarah Cheang, Priscila Farias, Livia Rezende, Harriet Atkinson, Sarah Lichtman, Jane Tynan, Sarah Stafford Turner Jenna Allsopp-Douglas, Kjetil Fallan.

Profit - with the deferral in operation, profits have fallen from £163,378 (vol. 36, 2023) to £141,222, with the 50% profit share given to the Society falling from £81,689 (vol. 36) to £70,611. The JDH accounts note for reference that 267 memberships across 18 months raised £10,374 for the Society in the calendar year 2024.

Thank you to the EB, AB and our colleagues at OUP for their work in

DHS Annual Review 2025

Treasurer

I commenced the Treasurer role in January 2025, as such this year’s report is somewhat limited. The main focus since I took up the role has been ensuring the Society’s accounts are placed in the most ethical banks possible. This has been a challenge with the Society having an international focus and the Board of Trustees reflecting that. It seems that with the global unrest, a lot of banks’ policies have changed, making it difficult for the Society to change accounts. This project is currently on pause to avoid a bank move during the conference, but will be resumed at the end of September. Where there is a contingency savings account that rarely needs to be accessed, it may be that this account could be put with a separate charity-focused bank. This would be open to discussion at the 2025 AGM.

Dr Jo Pilcher Treasurer of the Design History Society

DHS Annual Review 2025

Digital Secretary

share on and exchange teaching content, methods, curricula); network with other students; discuss methodologies; and discuss career perspectives aimed at postdoctoral level.

In the last year, we have moved forward with several initiatives to benefit DHS members and ensure that the voice of the membership is present in shaping our activities. This includes the 2024 DHS Membership Survey, accessibility updates to the website and a new, online teaching resources wiki that is currently in progress.

assistance with how to find and write proposals for/publishing advice around books; fellowships and post-docs; grant and funding applications; job applications; and academic articles.

Alongside Yasmine Taan, the Society’s Outreach and Membership Officer, we co-developed a survey for members that launched at the 2024 Annual Conference. I aim for the survey to become a regular part of the conference as a way for members to feed back to the Society and ensure our time is best spent on the issues most important to our membership.

Professional development activities respondents already engage in include workshops (writing); lectures; conferences; and online seminars.
on the issues most important to our We communicated the results to membership. members via a newsletter and social media in early 2025. To create a focus for
Highlighting some results from the 2024 work in 2025, we sent a follow-up survey survey: to ask members what kind of initiative • Over half of the respondents they would like the DHS to pursue over identified as academics, with the the next few months. Members voted next highest being students at just for ‘creating more networking and over 20%. knowledge exchange opportunities.’ In
• The top three fields of interest response, I have worked alongside the were graphic design, museology/ Teaching and Learning Officer, Deepika exhibitions and architectural design. Srivastava, to focus on knowledge exchange, following member feedback
Respondents said the following that they would like more ‘exchange professional development, training or experiences and content related to knowledge exchange opportunities are teaching design history’.

Respondents said the following professional development, training or knowledge exchange opportunities are currently lacking in the field:

meetings and workshops with other We currently hold a retainer with our design historian academics and web developers, which allows for one students to exchange experiences large development project per year. Last and content related to teaching year, we created the members portal design history (an opportunity to and membership directory. This year,

Deepika and I are collaborating with our developers to create a teaching resource sharing section where members can upload teaching materials and share with others. This will be a new, membersonly benefit and would be advertised for new members joining for the 2025-6 financial year. Further, this resource bank will provide an opportunity to generate events in the future, such as symposia on teaching design history or discussion over specific materials.

This web update is in addition to accessibility improvements we carried out on the website in early 2025. Following the audit, The DHS Senior Administrator, Jenna Allsopp-Douglas and I worked with our web developer to improve the website to meet accessibility requirements. Updates included:

Navigation updates (underline added to active page in navigation bar; larger menu and menu text [mobile]; andopen menu no longer a split screen and a close icon added [mobile])
Updated colour palette to improve contrast.
Touch target size (mobile) improved by more padding added to links and larger pagination.
Updated homepage layout using a grid structure, which also means navigating through the site for keyboard users is less confusing.
Skip to main content button added so users using a keyboard can

navigate the site without having to go through the full navigation every time.

Aria-labels added to links and buttons where necessary (homepage logo, mobile menu toggle, social icons). This is so users who use screen readers have information about the link they are clicking. Adjacent links are now unique. On listing items, the image and the title were both linked to a page, and this can be very annoying for users navigating using the keyboard. This has been updated, and users now only must tab once to go to next item on listing.

I am very pleased to see this progress on the DHS site, and I look forward to collaborating with other DHS Trustees and the membership to support the Society in the next year.

Anna K. Talley Digital Secretary of the Design History Society

DHS Annual Review 2025

Grants and Prizes

Since my appointment as Grants and Prizes Officer in 2023, I have continued to review our awards portfolio. Over the past year we have consolidated several awards that were previously separated into student and professional strands. The rationale was to increase the sums available per award and ensure that the time required to apply is commensurate with the potential benefit. This consolidation has increased the value of individual awards and made the scheme more competitive.

This year we also introduced a new Accessible Design History Grant, designed to remove structural barriers that prevent disabled researchers, students, and practitioners from engaging fully with the field of design history. The grant supports research with disability-related costs that facilitate participation in the field. These may include (but are not limited to): assistive technology or software; travel costs arising from mobility needs; personal assistance or care during conferences or fieldwork; sign language interpreters or captioning services; and other costs essential to accessing research spaces, events, or resources. The grant totals £3,000 and is open year-round. Within weeks of launch, we received several applications, evidencing the strong need for a grant of this kind.

This year we introduced the Decolonising Design History Grant, which awards up to £1,000 per project (total annual budget £3,000) to support research

and projects that actively contribute to the decolonisation of design history. The award particularly encourages applications from researchers and students from the Global Majority, firstgeneration university entrants, disabled researchers, and other marginalised communities, as well as projects foregrounding diverse perspectives and under-represented narratives. In 2025 the full £3,000 allocation was awarded in the first half of the year; the award will reopen in the next financial cycle.

Another change this year is the closure and reimagining of the Student Essay Prize. Applications for the prize have declined year on year, and we were keen to retain a student-focused opportunity. We have therefore aligned the prize with the new Student Annual Conference, introduced this year by our amazing Ambassadors Dan MU and Pippy Stephenson. In the future, calls for the student conference will now state that the best papers will receive: one year’s membership of the DHS (including online access to the JDH and eligibility to apply for further grants and awards) and a complimentary place at the 2025 Design History Society conference and gala dinner.

To improve applicant experience, we have introduced a short questionnaire as part of the application process, allowing applicants to provide feedback on their experience and suggestions for improvement.

In 2024-25 the Society awarded 23 grants totalling over £16,000. This was a slight decrease in the amount of grants awarded (24 in 2023-24), but a significant increase in funding (c.£12,000 in 2023-24).

2024 Prize Winners

Student Essay Prize (undergraduate) winner 2024: Mia Bejarin, 3rd year student on the BA (Hons) Graphic Design programme at the University for the Creative Arts (Canterbury) for the paper “Documenting Reality: How Far Did Snapshot Photography In Alternative Fashion Magazines Capture 1990’s Youth Culture?”

Student Essay Prize (postgraduate) winner 2024: Zarna Hart, RCA/V&A MA History of Design Graduate (202223), lecturer at Kingston University and University of Arts London, and Art Director at her self-titled design firm, for the paper “Not All Trunks Float: A brief look into the parallels of history-telling/ making/archiving in Windrush culture (1960-2023)”

Runners up:

Student Essay Prize (postgraduate) runner up: Loïc Derrien, MA Student in the History of Design and Curatorial Studies at Parson’s School of Design, for the paper “Materializing a New Kingdom: Piqué Objects at the Court of Naples in the Eighteenth Century”

Student Essay Prize (postgraduate):

runner up: Nikki Myers, MA Student in the History of Design and Curatorial Studies at Parson’s School of Design, for the paper “Recodifying the Banana Leaf: Colonialism, Glamour, and Design”

We congratulate our winners and runners up wholeheartedly for their invaluable contribution to design history.

Dr Elli Michaela Young Grants and Prizes Officer of the Design History Society

Grant/Prize	Recipient	Project Funded
Research Publication Grant	Frances Casey, Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Design History, University of Brighton	£986.94 towards image reproduction and licence costs for Threads of War: Needlework, Gender and Citizenship in First World War Britain
	Daniel Fountain, Senior Lecturer in Art History and Visual Culture, University of Exeter	£583.25 towards image reproduction and licence costs for Queer Crafts: Material Practices and the Making of Identity
	Christine Checinska, Senior Curator African and Diaspora Textiles and Fashion at the V&A Museum	£583.25 towards image reproduction and licence costs for Fashioning Black Masculinities
	Catharine Rossi, Professor of Architecture, Canterbury School of Architecture and Design, UCA Canterbury and Katarina Serulus, independent curator and researcher	£846.57 towards image reproduction and licence costs and indexing for Beyond the Dancefloor: Club Culture, Design, and Nightlife
Research Access Grant (Student)	Anika Shaikh, PhD candidate, University of Brighton	£1000 towards travel to and accommodation in Japan to undertake research for the project“Ethel Mairet in Japan: the development of homespun through 'Mingei'”
	Pragya Sharma, PhD candidate, University of Brighton	£601.11 towards travel to and accommodation in the USA to undertake research for the project“Cultures of Hand-knitting in North India: Provenance, Domesticity and Gendered Learning, c.1850-1960”

Research Access Grant (Student) (cont.)	Pramila Choudhary, PhD candidate, The Concordia University, Montreal, Canada	£1000 towards travel to India to undertake research for the project“Embodied Ecology in the Thar Desert: Tracing the Provenance and Gendered Craft Knowledge of Pattu, a wool textile tradition”
	Claire Batt, PhD candidate, De Montfort University	£940 towards travel within the UK to undertake research for the project“Adapting Historical Zero Waste Cutting Methods for the Current Fashion Industry”
	Angela Mehegan, PhD candidate, School of Art and Design, Technological University Dublin	£250 towards travel to London and Brighton to undertake research for the project “The ‘Good Room’: A Microhistorical Analysis of Taste, Design and Identity in Mid- Twentieth Century Domestic Irish Provincial Interiors, 1951-1971”
Research Access Grant (Academic)	Suzanne Rowland, Lecturer in fashion and dress history, University of Brighton	£598.89 to cover travel to and accommodation in Belfast and Lisburn to undertake research for the forthcoming monograph The Blouse: Fashion, Manufacturing and Social Change for Women in Britain, 1890-1920
	PJ Carlino, Assistant Professor in Design Studies, California University, Sacramento	£800 to cover travel to and accommodation in New York City to undertake research for the project“Porcelain Borders: The Chinese Argument and the Racialization of Citizenship”
	Livia Rezende, Senior Lecturer in Design History & Theory, School of Art & Design, University of New South Wales	£1000 to towards travel to and accommodation in São Paulo and Brighton for the forthcoming monograph The Discipline of Design in Cold War Brazil: Professionalization, Modernization and Authoritarianism
Decolonising Design History Grant	Mariana Salgado, Service Designer, ICOS/ lecturer, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and University of San Martín, Argentina.	£800 to cover podcast editing and production for the project“Decolonizing Design Through Dialogue: A Podcast Series”

Decolonising Design History Grant (cont.)	Ana Belén Palacios, PhD candidate, Basel Academy of Art and Design in collaboration with the University of Arts Linz. Guest researcher, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.	£920 to cover workshop materials and participant honoraria for the project “WomenAmasamientoNature: A Historicization of Ecuadorian Women’s Socionatural Design Practices”
	Zarna Hart, Associate Lecturer, University of the Arts London	£1000 towards travel, software and production costs for the project“The Final_Final: A dialogue between design students and educators of colour”
Accessible Design History Grant	Alice Conibere, Beck Heslop, Niamh Malone, Samuel Goldstone-Brady, Louise Bell, Alexandra Morris and Kirstie Stage, UK Disability History and Heritage Hub	£1000 to cover one day of speech-to-text-relay-captioning for ‘Design, Disability and Society’, a hybrid research event bringing together historians of disability and design in a creative conference format (hosted at and affiliated with the exhibition ‘Design and Disability’ the V&A Museum, London)
Outreach and Event Grant	Deepshikha, Assistant Professor in D/O Design and Innovation, Jamia Millia Islamia	£360 to cover workshop materials and refreshments for the project“CHHAP – Traditional Folk Arts and Crafts of India (Live Demo and Display)”
	Chenxi Cui, Master’s student, School of Art and Design, Guangdong University of Technology, People’s Republic of China	£1000 to cover domestic travel, event access, and community engagement across queer scenes in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou for the project“Affect Materialities: An Affective New Materialist Perspective on Design in Contemporary Chinese Queer Scenes (2000–2025)”

Outreach and Event Grant (cont.)	Yaw Ofosu-Asare, Communication Design Lead, RMIT University, Teaching Associate, University of Melbourne and Research Fellow, Southern Cross University	£980 to cover venue and equipment hire, materials and catering for a public event, workshop, and micro-exhibition in Accra, Ghana as part of the project“Africa Re/Designs: New Futures from Africa”
Student and Precariously- Employed Speaker Conference Bursary	Hannah Pivo, PhD candidate, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University	Free place at the 2025 conference and gala dinner and up to £200 towards travel and accommodation for a paper which aims to identify specific encounters between data visualization and the professional practice of graphic design, in order to better understand the historical relationship between the two.
	Ludovica Polo, PhD candidate, IUAV University of Venice	Free place at the 2025 conference and gala dinner and up to £200 towards travel and accommodation for the paper:“The Transnational Journey of Typeface Promotion: The Role of Fairs and Distributors”
	Samrudha Dixit, PhD candidate, Bard Graduate Center	Free place at the 2025 conference and gala dinner and up to £200 towards travel and accommodation for a paper which advocates a holistic approach to Indian design history by including industrially produced everyday objects.
	Inês Jorge, festival guide at Liverpool Biennial	Free place at the 2025 conference and gala dinner and up to £200 towards travel and accommodation for a paper which examines the experiences of six design students from the Manchester School of Art (MSA) during a four-week creative residency in Castelo Branco, Portugal, in the summer of 2024.
Design Writing Prize	To be announced at the DHS Annual Conference 2025

Grants and Prizes 2024-25 summary:

Grant/Prize	Applications received	Applications granted
Research Access Grant (Student)	12	5
Research Access Grant (Academic)	5	3
Decolonising Design History Grant	3	3
Accessible Design History Grant	3	1
Outreach and Event Grant	3	3
Research Publication Grant	6	4
Virtual Event Grant	0	0
Day Symposium Grant	0	0
Student Speaker Conference Bursary	5	4
Design Writing Prize	18	1

DHS Annual Review 2025

Student Matters

Since the conference in Canterbury in 2024, my duties as the Student Officer have primarily focused on addressing the scope and responsibilities of the student Ambassadors. Through ongoing conversations with the Ambassadors regarding their current roles, it became clear that there was a desire for greater guidance in respect to he responsibilities of the role, and a more consistent framework in relation to the deadlines and schedules for their completion. In previous years, the role descriptor has been intentionally open-ended with the intention that the ambassadors may define their own contribution and to outline, in a way that suits their career objectives, their own set of responsibilities. The role of the Student Officer, in this regard, has been to support the Ambassadors in that development, and to facilitate their participation in, and contribution to, the Society’s various channels. However, there remains an uncertainty regarding the ambassador role’s remit, potential, and — given that the ambassadors are not required to fulfil any duties outside of those they give themselves — an absence of structure. In concert with the DHS Senior Administrator Jenna AllsoppDouglas, I have been working on ways to introduce clearer and more consistent responsibilities for the student Ambassadors moving forward. The hope is that this will make the role both more desirable and more rewarding.

There has, so far, been one significant outcome of this process: the

development of an annual Student Conference (SC), to be organised and staged independent of the existing Society’s Annual Conference. The SC will be the responsibility of the Ambassadors to organise — although they are encouraged to draw upon the expertise and support of the Executive Committee — and will take place at the end of Spring each year. The timing of the conference is as such as not to clash with the existing Annual Conference in the Autumn, and to provide a space for graduating and continuing students to present the work that they have produced over the course of the academic year. The conference will be hosted online, and each year the Ambassadors will decide upon the theme, select their own keynote, and be responsible for drafting a call for papers and selecting participants. This conference will replace the student event at the existing Annual Conference, which is frequently under-attended due to the competing demands and fullness of the conference schedule.

The inaugural SC, organised by current ambassadors Dan MU and Pippy Stephenson, took the theme ‘Revisiting Design History: Global Cross-Cultural Interactions and Narratives’. It took place on 14th and 15th June and, having received 40 proposals, included seven sessions. Sessions were chaired by Dan and Pippy, alongside several members of the Board of Trustees.

The second response, which remains under consideration, is the potential of

Finally, Rowan Adamson vacated her role as an Ambassador in November 2024 due to competing demands. Pippy Stephenson also vacated her role due to competing demands in August 2025. We wish both Rowan and Pippy all possible successes in their future endeavours and are grateful for their contributions to the Society across their tenures.

increasingly focused Ambassador roles. Applications for the Ambassador roles, in this case, would apply to work alongside a particular Trustee, and thus work in close proximity to a particular aspect of the Society’s remit. These responsibilities would be in addition to that of organising the annual SC.

In addition, I have been involved in the continued revision of studentrelated grants and prizes as part of the Society’s attempt to diversify the pool of applications and to further-recognise the great work being done by students and ECR’s across the globe in the field of design history.

Alex J. Todd

Student Representative of the Design History Society (non-trustee)

DHS Annual Review 2025

Outreach and Membership

As the Design History Society Trustee responsible for Outreach and Membership, my focus this academic year has been on promoting the Society across borders, particularly in Beirut and other Arab cities, while actively involving students and faculty.

Expanding International Engagement and Scholarly Collaboration

As a continuation of the February 2024 symposium on Teaching Graphic Design in/of the Arab World, co-organised with my colleague Dr. Lina Hakim (Kingston University), we developed a book proposal that has been accepted by a major academic publisher. We are currently finalising the manuscript, with the submission planned for October 2025.

Through thise initiative, we hope to encourage research, writing, and archiving practices focused on design histories from regions often excluded from the canon. In the absence of design history academic programs in Lebanon and the broader region, such projects serve as important platforms for outreach, intellectual engagement, and the nurturing of future scholars and educators.

Campus Outreach and Promotion in Lebanon

I have been actively introducing the DHS to students and faculty at the Lebanese American University (LAU) School of Architecture and Design through posters, flyers, and departmental presentations.

These efforts extend to public events and inter-university gatherings where faculty and students from other Lebanese institutions are present. As a result, I have received increasing interest and inquiries from faculty and students across Beirut who are eager to learn more about the Society.

In my presentations to faculty, I highlight the DHS’s mission, member benefits, and conference opportunities, with the goal of cultivating membership and involvement from Arab academic communities.

Launching the International Studio Course and Student Participation in DHS Conference

To further connect students with the DHS, I developed and launched an International Studio course at LAU in Spring 2025. Sixteen students enrolled in the course, which centres around their participation in the DHS Annual Conference in Ankara, ‘Converging Paths: Design in the Creative Economy’. As part of the course, students will:

Apply for DHS membership and register for the conference.
• Attend selected sessions and document them through written reflections and photographs.
• Visit a local design studio and museum in Ankara.
Upon returning to Beirut, each student will present what they have learned in a public event at the

university gallery, open to faculty, peers, and the wider community.

critical understanding of the power and limitations of design in shaping collective memory, advocating for justice, and fostering resilience in times of crisis. The project has received approval from the Lebanese American University Institutional Review Board.

This initiative not only introduces students to international networks in design history but also provides handson experience in design research and documentation.

The assignment aims to equip students with the skills to critically examine the relationship between history, culture, and graphic design, and to identify how historical contexts shape design practices and narratives. The interviews conducted will form the basis of a research article that will be submitted to the Journal of Design History for publication consideration.

I am also planning to reach out to Deepika Srivastava, DHS Teaching and Learning Officer, to explore potential collaborations, workshops, and activities during the Ankara conference that can further engage students.

Since organising this course, I have received inquiries from other universities in Lebanon interested in similar opportunities. I hope this growing interest leads to a broader engagement with the DHS from institutions across the Arab region.

Membership

The following pages show the membership rates for the year 1st August 2024 to 31st July 2025. Since taking back management of individual subscriptions and offering a non- Journal membership option, there has been exactly a 100% increase in total membership subscriptions since 2023-24. This year we offered a concessionary rate for those residing in countries and territories that DAC note are eligible to receive Offcial Offcial Development Assistance (ODA), which , which which was purchased by 9 people. Despite the popularity of non- Journal subscriptions, there has been a slight increase in print subscriptions to the JDH .

Student Research on Design and Activism in the Middle East

To further student involvement in 100% increase in total membership research on regional design practices, subscriptions since 2023-24. This year I launched a classroom research we offered a concessionary rate for those project in my course Graphic Design in residing in countries and territories that the Middle East at LAU during Spring DAC note are eligible to receive Offcial Offcial 2025. The assignment tasks students Development Assistance (ODA), which , which which with conducting interviews with was purchased by 9 people. Despite the graphic designers in the region. The popularity of non- Journal subscriptions, purpose of these interviews is to shed there has been a slight increase in print light on the intersection of graphic subscriptions to the JDH . design and activism in conflict zones. By documenting the contributions Dr Yasmine Nachabe Taan of graphic designers during times Outreach and Membership Officer of of war, this research provides a the Design History Society

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DHS Annual Review 2025

Communications

In my second year as Communications Officer, I am delighted to report on the Society’s activities for 2025. I am grateful to my fellow Trustees, to our Chair Sally-Anne Huxtable, and to our Senior Administrator Jenna Allsopp-Douglas for their support and company over the past year.

Our Provocative Objects and Places blog continues to be a popular forum for students and early career researchers to publish their work. We have had a vast range of subjects from different periods of history and geographical locations, from a diverse group of international contributors. Our Crafting a National Identity in an International Market blog, in collaboration with Dr Rukmini Chaturvedi, has just come to an end having run for over a year. We thank Rukmini for her commitment to the blog, and for sharing her ideas about developments in the shifting relationship of craft and design in India.

The Society’s social media presence has continued to grow and plays a key part in our communications strategy. Our followings remain relatively consistent on Facebook, and have grown on Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn (see Figure 1). Of particular note is LinkedIn, where we now have 3982 followers, a growth of 65.5% in the last 12 months, and Instagram, where we now have 2484 followers, a growth of 38.2% over the year. We launched on BlueSky at the end of last year and have built up a following of over 100. We have also continued in our

objective to upload more video content to YouTube, in line with our ongoing commitment to open access and making our events available to those who cannot attend in real-time.

Lastly, our quarterly newsletter continues to provide a platform from which we can communicate our events, opportunities, and activities on a global scale.

Alex Banister

Communications Officer of the Design History Society

Figure 1. DHS social media followings (figures correct July 2025)

DHS Annual Review 2025

Teaching and Learning

This year I have focused on the following activities:

Routes to Design History Podcast

The ‘Routes to Design History’ podcast series is launched with Student Officer, Alex Todd, and student Ambassadors Dan MU and Pippy Stephenson. It aims to create awareness about diverse career pathways possible in the discipline of design history. Our focus is on ensuring geographical diversity as well as diversity of career paths. This series was launched on 15th April, 2025, and we are continuing to launch episodes every month. The first episode received 100+ listens on 4 June 2025. Speakers include:

Shirley Surya, Curator, M+ (Hong Kong). Launched: 15 April 2025, 60 downloads on Podbean, 53 plays on Spotify (as of 15 July)
Barbara Perata-Smith, UK-based Sustainability consultant Net Zero Lead, UK Regulators’ Network (UK). Launched: 15 May 2025, 21 downloads on Podbean, 20 plays on Spotify (as of 15 July)
Sarita Sundar: India-based graphic designer and design historian and author of From Frugal to the Ornate: Stories of the Seat in India. Launched: 15 June 2025, 48 downloads on Podbean, 38 plays on Spotify (as of 15 July)
Ezrena Marwan, co-founder of Malaysia Design Archive . Launched on 15 July.
Derrick Gaiter, US-based design

historian turned lawyer. Launched on 15 August.

Elizabeth Guffey, US-based professor writing on visual and material culture, and disability studies (to be launched on 15 September)
• Ana Elena Mallet, Mexico-based contemporary art and design curator (to be launched on 15 October)

Other confirmed speakers include:

Prof Rick Poynor, Emeritus Professor, University of Reading
Dr Sabrina Rahman FHEA, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
Yaw Ofosu-Asare, Lecturer, RMIT University, Author: Decolonisng Design in Africa

We are also planning a Networking/ Mentorship event in mid-November 2025, wherein we will be inviting the podcast speakers to engage with DHS members and provide mentorship support, as per their areas of interest.

Developing the Teaching and Learning Resources Wiki

I have been involved in conversations with Anna Talley, Digital Secretary, and Ten4 to develop a resource page on the DHS website which has various materials related to curriculum and courses.

Design Writing Prize (DWP)

The 2025 DWP will be guest-judged by Elizabeth Guffey, Professor Emerita in Art History at the State University of New York, Purchase College. The winner will be

announced during the OUP Reception at the 2025 Annual Conference.

The 2024 DWP winning paper was titled “Examining design orientations through Indigenous Filipino strengths’ perspective” by Kitt Santos, Designer and Student on the Master of Design Futures programme at RMIT University, Melbourne. Listen to Kitt in conversation with the 2024 Guest Judge Prof. Anne Massey here: https://www. designhistorysociety.org/news/view/ new-podcast-design-writing-prize-2024winner-kitt-santos-in-conversation-withguest-judge-anne-massey

The 2024 DWP Runner Up was Emma Ng, Independent Scholar, for the paper “RAGE MACHINE: Surplus design on the front lines of the culture wars”

Annual Publishing Workshop for the DHS Conference 2025

This year’s Publishing Workshop will be conducted in a hybrid-format and will feature two lunchtime sessions exploring the evolving landscape of design history publishing:

Session 1: Moving beyond the Canon in Design History Publishing brings together leading scholars—Grace Lees-Maffei, Elli Michaela Young, Priscila Lena Farias, and Harriet Atkinson—to reflect on how design history publishing can explore decentralised and decolonial approaches, challenges in representing under-researched geographies, and opportunities for sharing knowledge

through more inclusive and accessible formats.

Session 2: Explorations: Alternative Approaches to Design Writing introduces the Journal of Design History ’s innovative Explorations section, led by Editors Livia Lazzaro Rezende and Sarah Cheang. The session encourages participants to experiment with non-traditional academic formats—such as visual essays, interviews, and creative writing— while also offering guidance on preparing proposals.

Together, these sessions invite attendees to consider how design history publishing can become more inclusive, experimental, and relevant to contemporary modes of knowledge sharing and storytelling.

Deepika Srivastava,

Teaching and Learning Officer of the Design History Society

DHS Annual Review 2025

Conference

This year was one of transition from Dr. Marta Filipová to me Dr. Jessica Jenkins in the role of Conference Liaison Officer following the 2024 conference at the UCA in Canterbury. At the close of this event, we announced the successful bid by Ankara Bilim University, Turkey to host the 2025 conference. The presentation for this conference with the theme ‘Converging Paths: Design in the Creative Economy‘ was made by Prof. Dr. Yavuz Demir, Rector of Ankara Bilim University.

DHS Annual Conference: Ankara Bilim, 4-6 September 2025

The 2025 conference is convened by Prof. Dr. Önder Erkarslan and co-convened by Dr. Yavuz Demir, Dr Clare Morgan, Prof. Dr. Özlem Erdoğdu Erkarslan, Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Kaya, Dr. Cemalettin Kömürcü and Ass. Prof. Dr. Merve Şahika Erkan. Jenna Allsop Douglas, Senior

Administrator and I have been working throughout the year with our colleagues in Ankara, Prof. Önder Erkarslan and Prof. Özlem Erdoğdu Erkarslan, on all aspects of the conference organization, from the call for papers and peer review to the venue and hosting arrangements.

The convenors received over 100 abstracts on the theme which aims to provoke discussion on the dynamics between design, the creative industry and users or consumers of design, and shed light on diverse actors and institutions that have contributed to its evolution. These were reviewed by academic colleagues in Ankara, the DHS and the JDH . As well as the

habitual high proportion of submissions from the UK and USA we were pleased to note the extent of international interest beyond these countries and Europe. We received abstracts from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Iran Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Serbia. South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, UK, USA. In the final programme the host country Turkey is very well represented which makes for a welcome extension of the reach of the DHS.

In the final programme there are 59 presentations in 22 sessions. There are 81 registered delegates. After some discussion around technical capacity, it was decided to limit hybrid elements of the conference to the events outside of the main programme. Thus, the Publishing Workshop organised by Teaching and Learning Officer Deepika Srivastava will take place as a hybrid event prior to the main conference. We will continue to look at the benefits and challenges of hybrid options for elements of the DHS conference going forward.

Our Ankara hosts have secured three excellent keynote speakers: John Newbigin, OBE and former founder and first Chairman of Creative England (UK), Dr Süha Ozkan, Architect, and historian and former Secretary General of Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and Prof. Gülay Hasdoğan, industrial designer and

founding member and former president of the Industrial Designers Society of Turkey. It is also highly welcome that the hosts have secured additional funding from the British Council, as well as funding towards the OUP Reception from the Head of the Board of Trustees of Ankara Bilim. The traditional OUP

Reception will therefore be co-sponsored due to the need to supplement the funding which is kindly provided by OUP. A further reception is sponsored by the Ankara Municipality.

This year has seen a reduction in the number of publishers able to take part in the Bookfair, with one stand booked and another publisher sending books for display. A development this year was the decision to take the student event outside the annual conference in order for it to achieve greater and independent status, thus, there is no student event in Ankara.

DHS Annual Conference: UCA Canterbury, 5-7 September 2024

The host of the DHS Annual Conference in 2024 was the UCA Canterbury in the county of Kent, UK. The theme was ‘Border Control: Excursion, Incursion and Exclusion’. It was convened by Prof. Victoria Kelley, Dr Jessica Kelly (London Met), Prof. Anne Massey, Prof. Cat Rossi, and Dr Kim Trogal. The conference explored the role of design in borders and the effect of borders on design, a topic highly relevant to the proximity of the event to the UK sea border with France and continental Europe.

There were 100 registered and paying delegates as follows:

DHS Member Early Bird (£175) x 21
• DHS Member Student and Concessions Early Bird (£115) x 14
• DHS Member (£200) x 16 • DHS Member Student and Concessions (£130) x 14
• Non-Member Students and Concessions Early Bird (£230) x 3
• Non-Member Early Bird (£290) x 12 • Non-Member Students and Concessions (£245) x 4

The conference was viewed as an academically stimulating and smoothrunning event which was expertly organised by the team of convenors. It introduced somenew formats of

presentation through a range of practicebased research methods and media. The conference demonstrated a good commitment to sustainability through the minimisation of conference materials and catering choices. One of the keynote lectures was live streamed via the internet, reducing the need the carbon footprint of the speaker (USA) and allowing for a choice of viewing settings to maximise disability accessibility. The recording of this lecture can be viewed on the DHS YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=TXbMP7l2RBM

We will continue to build on these initiatives towards greater accessibility and sustainability. In line with this, there is extensive information provided for

DHS Annual Review 2025

the 2025 conference regarding public transport options available in Ankara.

DHS Annual Conference 2026

We were very pleased to receive four strong applications to host the 2026 conference. All applications were well structured and had viable themes. Trustees all agreed on the selected host which will be announced at the end of the 2025 conference. Each host institution is now required to formally respond to this statement: “The DHS values the principles of inclusion, diversity and academic freedom and we request that as a host institution you are able to align with these values.”

Conference Legacy

Kjetil Fallan of the JDH Editorial Board continues to lead on securing legacy of the conferences through academic publications. For the time being, academic published outcomes will not be published in the JDH due to the full capacity of the Journal. However, we will continue to work in collaboration with Kjetil Fallan to secure quality published outcomes.

Dr Jessica Jenkins, Conference Liaison Officer of the Design History Society

DHS Annual Review 2025

DHS Executive Committee Members

Outreach and Membership Officer (Trustee) Dr Yasmine Nachabee Taan

Chair (Honorary Officer) Assoc. Prof Dr Sally-Anne Huxtable

Treasurer (Honorary Officer) Dr Jo Pilcher

Student Representative (non-Trustee) Alex J. Todd

Chair of the Editorial Board of the JDH (Trustee) Prof Dr Grace Lees-Maffei

Teaching and Learning Officer (Trustee) Deepika Srivistava

Grants and Prizes Officer Dr Elli Michaela Young

Digital Secretary (Trustee) Anna K. Talley

Communications Officer (Trustee) Alex Banister

DHS Ambassadors

Conference Liaison Officers (Trustee) Dr Jessica Jenkins

Dan MU

Journal of Design History Editorial Board

Dr Livia Rezende (Explorations Editor) University of New South Wales, Australia

Prof Dr Grace Lees-Maffei (Chair of the Editorial Board of the JDH ) University of Hertfordshire, UK

Dr Sarah Cheang (Explorations Editor) Royal College of Art, UK

Dr Sarah A. Lichtman (Managing Editor) Pratt Institute, USA

Asst. Prof Dr Jane Tynan (Explorations Editor)

Dr Leah Armstrong (Reviews Editor) University of Applied Arts, Austria

Vrije University, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Assoc. Prof Dr Priscila Farias University of São Paulo, Brazil

Assoc. Prof Dr Sally-Anne Huxtable (Ex Officio, Chair of the DHS and Archives, Collections & Curatorship Editor) London Metropolitan University, UK

JDH Social Media

Sarah Staffoird Turner

Independent Scholar and Associate Editor at Antiques Magazine

Prof Kjetil Fallan (Translations Editor) University of Oslo, Norway

Dr Harriet Atkinson (Obituaries Editor) University of Brighton, UK

Journal of Design History Advisory Board

Visiting Prof Suchitra Balasubrahmanyan Assoc. Prof Deidre Pretorius Ambedkar University, India University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Prof Ana Maria Fernandez Garcia University of Oviedo, Spain

Prof Fredie Floré University of Leuven

Assoc. Prof Helena Kaberg National Museum, Stockholm

Assoc. Prof Yasuko Suga Tsuda College, Japan

Assoc. Prof Fedja Vukic University of Zagreb, Croatia

Prof Jonathan Woodham University of Brighton, United Kingdom

Prof Pat Kirkham

Kingston University, United Kindgom

DHS Annual Review 2025

Contacts

Senior Administrator:

Dr Jenna Allsopp-Douglas

Email:

designhistorysociety@gmail.com

Address:

Design History Society 70 Cowcross Street London EC1M 6EJ United Kingdom

Website:

designhistorysociety.org

BlueSky

@sodesignhistory.bsky.social

Instagram:

@SoDesignHistory

Facebook:

- facebook.com/Design History Society

LinkedIn:

Design History Society

TikTok

@SoDesignHistory

YouTube

@SoDesignHistory

Linktree:

linktr.ee/designhistorysociety

Appendix:

Annual Statement from the Accountants

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1155117

Report of the Trustees and Unaudited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

for

DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Knox Cropper LLP 153-155 London Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP3 9SQ

DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Contents of the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

		Page
Report of the Trustees	1	to	10
Independent Examiner's Report		11
Statement of Financial Activities		12
Balance Sheet		13
Notes to the Financial Statements	14	to	18

DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

The trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 July 2025. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

Page 1

DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objectives and aims

To promote the study of and research into design history and to disseminate and publish the useful results thereof.

Significant activities

Journal

The J ournal of Design History is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Design History Society. It is the leading journal in its field, and plays an active role in the development of design history, including the history of crafts and applied arts, as w ell as contributing to the broader fields of visual and material culture studies.

Conference and virtual events programme

The annual DHS Conference provides an international platform for interdisciplinary approaches to research and critical debate in design history. Hosted each year by a different partner institution, the conference furthers global dialogues on design and its histories. Since 2021, the Society has created a new portfolio of virtual workshops, seminars and symposia (and archival recordings of these offerings), podcasts and enhanced social media content-driven communications which engage with a worldwide audience for free.

Membership

2024-25 has been one of change with much work undertaken by Trustees, particularly Anne K. Talley, Digital Secretary, with support from Dr Jenna Allsopp-Douglas (DHS Senior Administrator) to scope out, plan, and implement move of the membership subscription payments system and its management from Oxford University Press back to the Society. This meant upgrading the Society website so that membership payments could be undertaken simply and securely. The first stage of this upgrade, in order to be able to take membership payments online, was launched in February 2024 and further work to add extra features, including a member- only area, was undertaken in stages throughout 2024 and the start of 2025 with the eventual aim of offering more content and events to DHS members. As the end of year accounting date was 30th June, the Society moved the membership payment process to align with institutional financial year ends meaning memberships now commence on 1st August each year. This meant that there was an interim membership payment between January and 31st July 2024 and annual memberships commenced on 1st August 2024.

The Chair and Trustees continue to explore how the Society can diversify its income streams and its membership as the turn towards Open Access publishing will inevitably diminish the income from traditional membership through our partnership with OUP in publishing the Journal of Design History. This year there was a reduction of £11,000 in income through the profit share with OUP, however the Chair and Trustees understand that new streams of income and models of membership are vital to the ongoing financial security of the DHS. It will also offer opportunities for the Society to further diversify its membership to include researchers and design professionals whose work, research and interests may sit outside the realms of traditional academia. As of August 2024, the Society now offers a dramatically-reduced membership option that does not include access to the JDH but allows members to access other Society benefits.

In 2024 the Society launched a Membership Survey to understand the aspirations of the wider community and to help shape the direction of the Society based on the survey responses. Over half of the respondents identified as academics, with the next highest being students at just over 20%. The top three fields of interest were graphic design, museology/exhibitions and architectural design. Books and journal articles were the highest engaged content. Respondents said the following professional development, training or knowledge exchange opportunities are currently lacking in the field: (i) Meetings and workshops with other design historian academics and students, (ii) Assistance with how to find and write proposals for/publishing advice, (iii) Opportunities to engage and learn with cognate fields, (iv) Design History academic networks in North America and (v) Online symposia, series of podcasts, online workshops. The responses to the survey will inform the activities of Trustees throughout 2025 and 2026.

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

Funding

A range of annual Awards, Prizes and Research Grants encourage debate and research in design history. Individual grants are awarded to support particular research activities, including exhibitions, publication costs, travel and DHS annual conference attendance, scholarship and outreach particularly in underrepresented areas within of our field in particular the Society's current decolonising and sustainability strategic agendas. As of January 2025, the grants and awards have been revised to better support the Society's community and research needs. This included removing grants that attract few applications and launching new grants which align more closely with the Society's decolonising initiatives.

The Outreach and Event Grant assists DHS members convening a public event to promote design history beyond a traditional academic setting.

The Research Access Grant (Academic) and the Research Publication Grant supports early career and established scholars.

The Research Exhibition Grant supports research leading to an exhibition (physical or virtual).

Student members benefit from a Student Research Access Grant and Student/Precariously Employed Speaker Bursary for the annual Conference scheme.

In March 2020 amidst the emerging Covid-19 pandemic, all face-to-face activity was suspended. A special Virtual Design History pathway of funding was instigated in 2020-1 which has been sustained to facilitate opportunities for the more sustainable format of virtual interaction worldwide.

The Decolonising Design History Grant was launched in 2025 to recognise and support ground-breaking research and projects that actively contribute to the decolonisation of design history.

The Accessible Design History Grant was launched in 2025 to remove structural barriers that prevent disabled researchers, students, and practitioners from engaging fully with the field of design history.

Prizes

Launched in 2017, the Design Writing Prize, recognises outstanding writing that engages academic and non-academic audiences in critical and contemporary issues in design. In 2023 fourteen submissions were received. The Grants and Prizes Trustee, Elli Michaela Young, shortlisted three submissions from the top scoring entries blind-reviewed by Trustees, from which a winner was selected by this year's judge, Prof Anne Massey, Professorial Fellow in the School of Architecture and Design at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury.

The Student Essay Prize, established in 1997, is awarded to one undergraduate and one postgraduate essay each year to celebrate excellence in student writing in design history. In 2023, two undergraduate submissions and six postgraduate submissions were received. Overseen by the Grants and Prizes Officer , Elli Michaela Young, three Trustees judged the submissions (only assessing essays from students with which they had no affiliations).

Events

The DHS hosts a rolling calendar of events and activities convened by Trustees working with relevant educational, professional and cultural partners. These events create opportunities for outreach and engagement beyond the annual conference and aim to reach new audiences, both internationally and across the UK. The Teaching and Learning Officer normally host events, support students, educators, curators, archivists at all levels throughout the year. They are convening two Publishing Workshops at the 2025 annual DHS conference in Ankara with the help of JDH Editors and other colleagues.

Page 3

DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

The College Art Association and the Association for Art History are the two leading scholarly organisations for Art History in the USA and the UK respectively, and both have broad international reach. Both organisations hold an annual conference, both of which are large, extremely prestigious, and a wonderful opportunity to promote the DHS and network with potential members and other organisations. Design History as a discipline is closely related to Art History but for a long time was largely overlooked and ignored by the main discipline, hence the founding of the DHS in the 1970s. However, in recent years successive DHS Chairs and Trustees have forged much closer links with both organisations and are now invited to organise an annual session or workshop focused on contemporary design historical issues. We feel that the expense and time required to do this is worth it for promoting the work of the Society, attracting new members, networking on behalf of the society, and further forging interdisciplinary in the expanded academic field. This year, the DHS convened a panel themed 'New Directions in Teaching Design History' at the 2025 CAA Annual Conference in New York City, US and held a workshop on 'Decolonising Design Histories' at the 2025 AAH Annual Conference in York, UK.

In 2025, the Society's Student Representative Alex Todd and Ambassadors Dan Mu and Pippy Stephenson launched the inaugural virtual DHS Annual Student Conference under the theme 'Revisiting Design History: Global Cross-Cultural Interactions and Narratives'. An open call was published and 27 papers were selected for presentation across a two-day virtual symposium. The event attracted 89 attendee registrations via Eventbrite

Network & Legacy

The DHS Newsletter (published quarterly) and online Blog includes updates on the Society's activities, reports from award winners and relevant news items. The social media of the DHS and JISCMail Mailing List provides a forum for discussion of design historical issues and the exchange of related information and reviews for members and interested non-members. In 2025 it was decided to deactivate, archive and delete both the DHS and JDH Twitter/X accounts and launch new accounts on Bluesky.

In 2024, the DHS continued to add to the archive of recordings on YouTube with the addition of the 2024 annual conference keynote recording. Developed by our Teaching and Learning Officer Deepika Srivastava, Student Officer Alex Todd, and Ambassadors Dan Mu and Pippy Stephenson, the 'Routes to Design History' podcast series was launched in 2025, which explores diverse ways of practising the field.

Instagram, Facebook and TikTok followers continue to increase and there has been consistent growth in followers of the BlueSky account since its launch in 2025. The newly-launched Decolonising Design History Grant and Accessible Design History Grant received strong engagement across all social media platforms, culminating in 6230 views, 195 likes and 36 bookmarks on Instagram and 11600 impressions and 287 reactions on Linkedin.

Following an accessibility audit, the Society worked closely with web developers Ten4 to improve the Society's website to meet accessibility requirements. Updates included ensuring the site is cookies-compliant, navigation updates, updated colour palette to improve contrast, updated homepage layout using a grid structure, addition of a 'skip to main content button', aria-labels added to links and buttons where necessary, and ensuring adjacent links are unique.

Volunteers

All the Society's Trustees, Student Officer, Ambassadors and Editors of the Journal of Design History carry out their duties in a voluntary capacity. The Chair of the Editorial Board, the Managing Editor and the Book Reviews Editor receive stipends from Oxford University Press out of the Publishers' half-share of annual profits amounting to £70,611 in 2024.

Each Trustee oversees a specified area of the Society's annual activity. The Chair and Treasurer are Honorary Officers, Trustees areas oversight include Communications, Conference Liaison, Membership, Teaching and Learning and Grants and Prizes. A Student Officer facilitates and mentors student engagement but is not a Trustee. The Digital Secretary overseas all digital matters of the Society.

The Society also appoints up to three volunteer Ambassadors to support the work of the Board of Trustees directly by promoting DHS activities through social media channels, by generating online content and by developing new initiatives in partnership with Trustees. The Student Representative and Ambassadors are eligible for free annual membership to the DHS (including online access to the Journal), and for registration at events in the Society's annual programme. Ambassadors are expected to serve for at least 1 year, with the option to extend to 2 years.

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

Each member of the Editorial Board plays a leading role with certain submissions and takes particular responsibilities in relation to special features or aspects of the Journal's work. Board members devote at least two days per month to the Journal, including meetings which take place twice a year. Appointment to the Board is for a five-year renewable term of office. The Editorial Board is responsible, through its Chair, for the operation of the Journal, which is fundamental to the Society's aims and activities. The Managing Editor is responsible for maintaining the Journal's high standards and overseeing the work of the Editorial Board in this regard.

Between 2015 and 2020, and for 2022-2023, payments for conference registration, travel, accommodation and subsistence costs amounting to 50% of the Society's annual expenditure were reimbursed to Editors, Trustees, the Student Representative and Ambassadors. As unanimously agreed on 27 June 2020, any and all expense claims must be agreed with the Chair and the Treasurer in advance to be reimbursed; authorisation of any payment will be predicated upon need. In the first instance, Trustees and Editors are requested to seek institutional funding to attend the annual conference, and to seek DHS funding only if this cannot be attained.

Public benefit

The Design History Society promotes and supports the study of design histories, both in the UK and internationally. Through its Journal, annual conference and programme of events it brings together all those engaged in the subject - students, researchers, educators, designers, designer-makers, critics and curators among them. It also acts as an advocate for the subject in a number of different contexts.

As such, all Trustees of the Design History Society act with due regard to public benefit guidance in exercising their powers and duties where this guidance is relevant. Details of the Society's activities over the last year can be found below.

Grantmaking

The programme of DHS grants awarded is designed to meet the needs of design history researchers at all stages of their careers and in a wide geography. They enable high-level research outputs to be realised that fulfil the Society's aims to promote a wider understanding of design, craft and visual and material culture in their many aspects.

In 2024-5, the Charity funded 23 (a slight decrease from 24 projects in the year 2023-24) projects through its portfolio of grants and awards: Research Publication Grant, Research Access Grant (Student and Academic), Outreach and Event Grant, Decolonising Design History Grant, Accessible Design History Grant, Student and Precariously-Employed Conference Speaker Bursary. These funds amounted to over £16,000 (an increase of over £12,000 in 2023-24). While the number of grants awarded decreased, the amount of money distributed amongst the awards increased. The rationale was to increase the sums available per award and ensure that the time required to apply is commensurate with the potential benefit. This consolidation has increased the value of individual awards and made the scheme more competitive.

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Charitable activities

In its publication of the Journal of Design History, the Society contributes to the promotion of design history as a scholarly subject internationally.

By taking the annual DHS Conference to international venues most years (eg California College of the Arts, San Francisco 2015; University of Oslo, 2017; Parsons, The New School, New York in 2018, Academy of Art and Design, Basel in 2021, Izmir institute of Technology, Turkey 2022, ESAD/IDEA, Portugal, 2023, UCA Canterbury UK 2024, Ankara Bilim, Turkey, 2025), the Society has sought to further global dialogue on design and its histories and draw new members and wider constituencies.

The DHS Research Grants and Awards offers support to student, early-career, and established researchers from the university and cultural sector to promote excellence in the subject, leading to significant outputs in the form of publications, exhibitions and events. All award and grant applications are blind reviewed by a panel of Trustees to fund applicants internationally, guided by principles of equal opportunities and respect for cultural diversity.

The Society is consulted by official bodies (eg Arts and Humanities Research Council, Research England; Council for Higher Education in Art and Design; Royal Historical Society) to offer views on policy.

While membership of the Society and participants in its activities are largely from the academic and professional fields of design and visual culture, through its programme of activities, the Charity contributes to wider benefits of society as a whole. Members of the public benefit from and participate in the events, publications and exhibitions that arise from the Society's achievements. The ongoing programme of virtual seminars and symposia, podcasts, research and outreach collaborations with fellow learned societies, and the more dynamic and impactful social media presence of the Society facilitated during the last year with the increased use of moving image content continues to enhance the security, reach and advocacy of the Society.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Financial position

The year to 31st July 2025 showed charitable income from publications of £77,207 (13 months to 31st July 2024: £89,554) and deposit interest of £1,173 (13 months to 31st July 2024: £1,101). Charitable expenditure amount to £88,348 (13 months to 31st July 2024: £109,494). The net deficit for the period amounted to £13,247 (13 months to 31st July 2024 deficit of £18,839).

The reserves at 31st July 2025 amounted to £205,876 (31st July 2024: £215,844). The reserves are substantially held in cash at bank, which at 31st July 2025 amounted to £208,782 (31st July 2024: £213,620).

Principal funding sources

The principal source of funds for the charity is income from subscriptions to the Journal of Design History. When an annual conference makes a profit, this is additional income.

Reserves policy

In line with Charity Commission guidelines, the DHS has a policy to keep money in reserve to enable expansion of activities and to sustain core activities if there is a loss of income.

Going concern

In the aftermath of the Covid Pandemic and amidst the uncertain climate about Open Access, the continued income from the Journal of Design History is less guaranteed than it has ever been, nonetheless the charity should be secure as a going concern.

The principal financial risk to the charity is if there was a severe reduction in subscriptions to the Journal of Design History . The inclusion of the Chair of the editorial board as a trustee of the DHS ensures that the charity can be made aware of any threat in this regard.

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

FUTURE PLANS

The future agenda for the field of Design History continues to focus upon its location as a subject, its institutional standing and how the Society can contribute towards securing a firm base for growth in the years to come. Our active commitment to equality and sustainability are areas of particular strategic importance upon which the Trustees have agreed to focus attention in during the Chair's tenure prioritising:

1) Facilitating Design History as a subject-specific discipline worldwide

The evolving character of Design History as a subject taught at school, college and university level, as well as pursued through research in universities, the media, cultural institutions, museums and galleries, remains one of vital significance for the Society and of increasing vulnerability. The DHS can make an active contribution to encourage the vitality and morale of our field as we navigate the complexities of economic precarity. The Society hopes to provide a forum for dialogue and support around the pressures of increased workload and loss of employment. Research activity, impossible for many of our constituencies amidst the pressures of the pandemic, has begun to revive as access to archives and objects gradually reopen if often in a more limited capacity. The negative impact of cost of living pressures and redundancies continue to impact upon our field, career progression and wellbeing, and with particular intensity for colleagues on precarious and part-time employment contracts and as well as care-givers and ethnic minorities.

2) Virtual engagement and diversifying Design History as a community

Since its foundation in 1977, core aims of the Society have been to encourage, to disseminate and to publish the subject for public benefit. Amidst the pandemic, the Society reassessed how it engages and serves its community more equitably creating a new portfolio of podcasts and virtual seminars and symposia accessible worldwide for free. A core ambition underlying these explorations was to assess how enhancing virtual activity might expand and diversify design history as a community, both by identifying intersectional inequalities across its frameworks and institutions and by supporting under-represented constituencies. The creation of ongoing virtual seminar series has ensured a robust calendar of activities presenting the research of colleagues to audiences worldwide. The aspiration to develop a new more affordable membership category targeted at less-affluent sectors within the design history community worldwide was addressed in 2024 with the addition of a reduced rate for students and those residing in countries and territories that DAC note are eligible to receive Official Development Assistance (ODA), as well as offering a non-journal membership tier which is more relevant to practitioners and those who sit outside the traditional academic framework.

3) Advocacy and Sustainability

In 2024 the Digital Secretary Trustee Anna K Talley implemented further guidance to all grant overviews and application forms to instruct applicants to explain how their work and research contributes to the Society's sustainability and decolonising efforts. In 2025 the Decolonising Design History Grant was established to recognise and support ground-breaking research and projects that actively contribute to the decolonisation of design history, and the Accessible Design History grant was established to remove structural barriers that prevent disabled researchers, students, and practitioners from engaging fully with the field of design history. Both Grants have proved to be extremely popular with the Society's membership.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

Since November 2014, the Society has been registered with the Charity Commission under the listing as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, number: 1155117. Transfer of the Society's assets to the CIO, including key assets such as our membership of the DHS-OUP publishing contract was completed with due consideration for data protection and to maintain the same terms of partnership with OUP.

The previous Chair, supported by the previous Treasurer, commissioned a Services Agreement with the Annual Conference Convenors from the Charity's lawyers at a cost of £6960.00. This document formalised the Charity's limited liabilities and our commitment to anti-bribery, anti-corruption, antimodern slavery policies and GDPR compliance. Unfortunately, this agreement proved unsuitable to its aims due to its complexity and formality, unfitting to favour the collaborative nature of the agreement established between the DHS and the institutions convening of the DHS Annual Conference. A more streamlined agreement is currently being compiled.

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Charity constitution

The Society's Constitution remains unchanged from 2014 and is available from the DHS website (http://www.designhistorysociety.org/about/charitable_incorporated_organisation_/index.html) ; this document sets out in detail the structure, governance and management of all aspects of the Society.

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

An elected Executive Committee (Board of Trustees) works together to enable the activities of the Society.

Trustees must be members of the Design History Society. New trustees must apply in writing detailing their relevant experience and skills. Applications are blind reviewed by the Executive Committee and successful applicants are co-opted and confirmed at the Design History Society Annual General Meeting, or forms of shortlisted applicants will be presented to the Design History Society Annual General Meeting for final vote and confirmation. Trustees serve for an initial term of three years.

The Executive Committee comprises 11 members: 10 Trustees (of which Chair, Treasurer and Secretary are Honorary Officers) and 1 Student Officer (non-Trustee role), and meets quarterly. During 2023-24, the level of meeting attendance was 90% or more. Each Trustee is responsible both for their individually designated areas of activity and for the collective responsibility of the Society's policy and decision-making.

Organisational structure

At Executive Committee meetings which each include a Strategic Forum, the members agree the broad strategy and areas of activity for the Society, including grants and awards making, financial status, reserves, risk management and performance and achievements; weekly administration is conveyed through the Society Administrator who consults with the Chair and Trustees on any policy issues.

The Chair of the DHS and the Chair of the JDH Editorial Board address fiscal and partnership matters with OUP regarding the Journal of Design History. The strategic management of the JDH is delegated to the Chair of the Editorial Board (a Trustee), to lead the board, which comprises the Chair of the DHS (ex-officio) and further appointed members: a Managing Editor to manage the peer reviews system, a Reviews Editor and other editors.

As of 2023, the Editorial Board now meets virtually three times a year and in person at the annual conference. The two Chairs (of the Society and of the Editorial Board) and the Managing Editor meet with our publishers annually: again, these meetings facilitate the agreement of broad strategy and areas of activity for the JDH.

As volunteers, both the Executive Committee of the Society, the Student Representative and DHS Ambassadors, the JDH Editors (non-post holding) and Advisory Board are highly valued in their joint efforts to support the Society and its Journal. A summary prepared by the Chair of the Editorial Board is presented at Executive Committee Meetings and Editors are invited to join the Strategic Forum section of Executive Committee meetings where pertinent. Executive Committee members and Editorial Board members are required to disclose all relevant interests and, in accordance with the DHS constitution, withdraw from decisions where a conflict of interest arises.

Induction and training of new trustees

The DHS trustees make available to each new charity Trustee, on or before their first appointment: a copy of the DHS Constitution and any amendments made to it; and a copy of the ClO's latest Trustees' Annual Review and statement of accounts.

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Risk management

The Trustees are responsible for assessing the major risks to which the DHS is exposed and to establishing procedures to manage/mitigate those risks. In January 2020 when taking up her role, the incoming Chair instigated a number of reforms to ensure clearer understanding and better oversight of risk including: an investigation of HMRC tax arrears and ensuing penalties which proved to amount to over £25,000 since 2015, online management of financial record keeping in an accounting programme (XERO) reconciled by the Chair and the Accountants, the creation of a risk register, a Strategic Forum for both Trustees and Editors and regular contact with our publisher at OUP.

As a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, the DHS has the benefits of a distinct legal personality; this enables the Society to conduct business in its own name rather than in the name of its Trustees. CIO status also removes the Society's Trustees and Members from personal liabilities for the Society's debts. In 2022, the Society has also enhanced the level of appropriate Charity and Community Insurance to protect the Society's assets, resources, Trustees and Editorial Board members and other volunteers against loss, damage or liability arising from the risks that all charities face. The Society's income is generated almost entirely from the Journal of Design History publication. Loss of income from this source therefore poses the biggest risk to income (although this risk has been somewhat mitigated by the outgoing Chair's identification of the policies of high overspend and low reserves which have been rectified with the unanimous support of Trustees and Editors).

Trustees continue to be vigilant in the mitigation of this risk through close co-operation with the Editorial Board of the Journal, by holding quarterly committee meetings to report on developments and to ensure the successful promotion of the Society's membership offer through events, networks and contacts. Further, the reserve policy and annual budget forecast, instigated by the outgoing Chair and reviewed annually, should enable the Society to continue its core activities, such as grants, awards, bursaries and an annual conference, in the event of the loss of income for at least two years. At the 2024 year-end, the Charity's accounts hold over £200,000 ensuring that the incoming the Executive Committee and Editorial Board will embark on their governance of these challenges in 2024-25 on a much more secure footing.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Charity number

1155117

Principal address

70 Cowcross Steet London EC1M 6EJ

Trustees

Dr M Filipová Conference Liaison (resigned 7.9.24) Ms M Young Joint Teaching, Learning, and Continuing Professor G Lees-Maffei Chair of the Journal of Design History Dr S Huxtable Chair Dr D Souza Dias Treasurer (resigned 25.10.24) Dr Y Taan Membership Dr J R Jenkins Joint Conference Liaison D Srivastava Teaching and Learning A Banister-Fletcher Communications A K Talley Digital Secretary Dr J R Pilcher (appointed 20.1.25)

Independent Examiner

Knox Cropper LLP 153-155 London Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP3 9SQ

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Solicitors

Bircham Dyson Bell 50 Broadway London SW1H 0BL

Bankers Barclays Bank PLC Leicester LE87 2BB

Administrator

Dr Jenna Allsopp-Douglas

Student Officer

Alex Todd

Ambassadors

Dan Mu Pippy Stephenson

JDH Editors

Professor Grace Lees-Maffei, Chair of the Journal of Design History Assistant Professor Sarah Lichtman (Managing Editor) Dr Leah Armstrong (Book Reviews Editor) Dr Sally-Anne Huxtable (ex officio) Associate Professor Priscila Farias Dr Livia Rezende Dr Jane Tynan Dr Sarah Cheang Dr Harriet Atkinson Professor Kjetil Fallan

Approved by order of the board of trustees on ............................................. and signed on its behalf by:

...................................................................... Dr S Huxtable - Trustee

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Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Design History Society

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Design History Society

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of Design History Society (the Trust) for the year ended 31 July 2025.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under Section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under Section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by Section 130 of the Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records; or
the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Stephen Anderson

Knox Cropper LLP 153-155 London Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP3 9SQ

Date: .............................................

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

Year Ended
31.7.25
Unrestricted
fund
Notes
£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Charitable activities
3
Publication
77,207
Investment income
2
1,173
Total
78,380
EXPENDITURE ON
Charitable activities
4
Study
12,984
Research
17,253
Dissemination
15,527
Publication
30,172
Outreach
12,412
Total
88,348
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
(9,968)
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
215,844
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
205,876

Period
1.7.23
to
31.7.24
Total
funds
£
89,554
1,101
90,655
23,136
24,858
22,491
18,955
20,054
109,494
(18,839)
234,683
215,844

The notes form part of these financial statements

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Balance Sheet 31 July 2025

2025 Unrestricted fund Notes £ CURRENT ASSETS Debtors 8 3,589 Cash at bank 208,782 212,371 CREDITORS Amounts falling due within one year 9 (6,495) NET CURRENT ASSETS 205,876 TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 205,876 NET ASSETS 205,876 FUNDS 10 Unrestricted funds 205,876 TOTAL FUNDS 205,876	2024 Total funds £ 5,305 213,620 218,925 (3,081) 215,844 215,844 215,844 215,844 215,844

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on ............................................. and were signed on its behalf by:

............................................. S Huxtable - Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charity, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Charities Act 2011. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

Financial reporting standard 102 - reduced disclosure exemptions

The charity has taken advantage of the following disclosure exemption in preparing these financial statements, as permitted by FRS 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland':

the requirements of Section 7 Statement of Cash Flows.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Hire purchase and leasing commitments

Rentals paid under operating leases are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on a straight line basis over the period of the lease.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the charity's pension scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.

Going concern

After reviewing the charity's forecasts and projections, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The charity therefore continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

2.	INVESTMENT INCOME
					Period
					1.7.23
				Year Ended	to
				31.7.25	31.7.24
				£	£
	Deposit account interest			1,173	1,101
3.	INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
					Period
					1.7.23
				Year Ended	to
				31.7.25	31.7.24
		Activity		£	£
	Journal of Design History	Publication		70,611	82,181
	Membership income	Publication		6,596	7,373
				77,207	89,554
4.	CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES	COSTS
				Support
			Direct	costs (see
			Costs	note 5)	Totals
			£	£	£
	Study		3,200	9,784	12,984
	Research		7,467	9,786	17,253
	Dissemination		5,742	9,785	15,527
	Publication		20,387	9,785	30,172
	Outreach		2,627	9,785	12,412
			39,423	48,925	88,348
5.	SUPPORT COSTS
				Governance
			Management	costs	Totals
			£	£	£
	Study		6,386	3,398	9,784
	Research		6,387	3,399	9,786
	Dissemination		6,387	3,398	9,785
	Publication		6,387	3,398	9,785
	Outreach		6,387	3,398	9,785
			31,934	16,991	48,925

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

5. SUPPORT COSTS - continued

Activity	Basis of allocation
Management	Evenly between activities
Governance costs	Evenly between activities

6. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 July 2025 nor for the period ended 31 July 2024.

Trustees' expenses

During the period total expenses of £14,327 (2024: £5,036) were paid to 8 trustees (2024: 8 trustees), relating to travel and subsistence.

7. COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

	Unrestricted
	fund
	£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Charitable activities
Publication	89,554
Investment income	1,101
Total	90,655
EXPENDITURE ON
Charitable activities
Study	23,136
Research	24,858
Dissemination	22,491
Publication	18,955
Outreach	20,054
Total	109,494
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)	(18,839)
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward	234,683
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD	215,844

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

8. DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments and accrued income 9. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR Trade creditors Other creditors 10. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS Unrestricted funds General fund TOTAL FUNDS Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows: Unrestricted funds General fund TOTAL FUNDS Comparatives for movement in funds Unrestricted funds General fund TOTAL FUNDS	At 1.8.24 £ 215,844 215,844 Incoming resources £ 78,380 78,380 At 1.7.23 £ 234,683 234,683	2025 £ 379 - 3,210 3,589 2025 £ 382 6,113 6,495 Net movement in funds £ (9,968) (9,968) Resources expended £ (88,348) (88,348) Net movement in funds £ (18,839) (18,839)	2024 £ - 3,213 2,092 5,305 2024 £ 417 2,664 3,081 At 31.7.25 £ 205,876 205,876 Movement in funds £ (9,968) (9,968) At 31.7.24 £ 215,844 215,844

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DESIGN HISTORY SOCIETY

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2025

10. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

Comparative net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds General fund TOTAL FUNDS	Incoming resources £ 90,655 90,655	Resources expended £ (109,494) (109,494)	Movement in funds £ (18,839) (18,839)

11. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

There were no related party transactions for the year ended 31 July 2025.

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