Design2Freedom

Policy & Impact

Evidence, findings and open resources from the Design2Freedom project — for policymakers, institutional leaders and European networks committed to inclusive higher education.

People reached through multiplier events

Countries represented on the platform

Person-centred design cases documented

> 0 %

Participant satisfaction

The Policy Case

Why inclusive design in higher education matters now

According to the World Health Organization, 90% of people who need assistive technologies do not have access to them — and 29.3% abandon their use because they were never involved in designing them. This is not a technical failure. It is an educational one.

Design2Freedom addresses this gap directly: by embedding Person-Centred Design (PCD) into university curricula, we create a sustainable pipeline of professionals — in engineering, health, and social fields — who understand and practice inclusive design from the very start of their careers.

“Nothing about us without us.”

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — Article 4.3

The approach synthesises three complementary frameworks: the Person-Centred Model (PCM), Universal Design (UD), and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) — together transforming higher education from accommodation-based accessibility to proactive, rights-based inclusion.

Pilot Evidence

What the evidence shows

Three validated implementations across Spain, Lithuania and Slovakia demonstrate the feasibility and replicability of the D2F methodology across different institutional and national contexts.

Spain · A Coruña

UDC Pilot Design4Occupation

Faculty of Health Sciences and CITIC, in partnership with NGOs COGAMI and ASPACE Coruña. Three-phase structure: awareness, active participation, and results presentation — with persons with disabilities as active co-designers throughout.

>80%

Student satisfaction rate

Slovakia · Košice

TUKE Pilot

Lectures across 3 faculties (Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering & IT, Arts), a Hackathon with persons with disabilities as advisors, and a teacher training seminar. Universal Design now integrated into regular course content institution-wide.

3

Faculties with UD integration

Lithuania · Vilnius

VIKO Pilot

Full Toolkit implementation with strong NGO partnerships — including Autism Friendly and the Lithuanian Union for Blind and Visually Impaired — and active participation of persons with disabilities throughout. Operational feasibility confirmed.

✓

Pedagogy & strategy alignment

Open Resources

Resources for policymakers and institutions

All Design2Freedom outputs are freely accessible and maintained until 2031. Each resource is available in up to five languages (EN / ES / SK / LT / FR) and designed for adoption across different institutional contexts.

Good Practice Guide

Validated methodologies from all three pilots. Evidence-based, peer-reviewed, available in 5 languages. For universities, training centres and NGOs.

Educational MOOC

Self-paced online course in 5 languages. Covers disability models, Universal Design, Person-Centred Model and UDL. Certificate-bearing.

Experience Map

65 documented person-centred design cases across 16+ countries in Europe and beyond. A living repository open to community contributions.

Educational Toolkit

Ready-to-use pedagogical methods and templates for integrating PCD into existing university courses. Adaptable across disciplinary contexts.

Strategic Alignment

European and international frameworks

Design2Freedom aligns directly with key European and international policy frameworks, offering institutions a credible reference for both compliance and ambition in inclusive education.

Academic & Media Visibility

Reaching the right audiences

D2F results have been presented at the International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI 2025, Valencia) and at the III Galician Interuniversity Conference on Teaching Innovation (Vigo, November 2025).

The project was featured on Galician Television (TVG) in December 2024, and broadcast on the Onda Ciencia radio and podcast programme (CUAC FM / UDC, February 2026, available on YouTube, Spotify, Acast and iVoox).

The full project profile is published on the SALTO Results Platform, ensuring long-term discoverability for the European education community.

Get Involved

Join a future European initiative

The five consortium partners remain committed to advancing inclusive and person-centred design in higher education. If you are interested in joining a future European consortium on any of the following topics, get in touch directly with a partner.