Josh Pino-Graham, a design student at Coventry University and YOUROPE co-researcher, recently attended the DEMOCRAT Conference on Education for Democracy in Barcelona. There, he sat on a Q&A panel discussing how to make education more democratic. He spoke from his unique perspective as both a current student and active co-researcher. He joined Dr Luca Morini, Associate Professor – Postgraduate Research Experience Lead at Coventry University, who is actively involved in the YOUROPE project. 

In his YOUROPE project work, Josh has been putting democratic principles into practice. He’s been redesigning a heating interface for a community member in Coventry who couldn’t control their own heating system. But the project went beyond typical design work: Josh and his team invited this community member directly into the university studio, showed them the entire design process, and ensured they felt comfortable and understood every step along the way.

This approach—bringing community voices into academic spaces and making education accessible and inclusive—is democracy in action.

Here’s Josh’s full reflection on his experience:

“The trip to Barcelona, on democracy in education, gave me key insight into current work going on around Europe. In the conference I was a part of a question-and-answer panel on how we can make education more democratic. My role as a participant in the project and a current student allowed me to have a say on what is going on now in universities now. Questions were raised on AI, and I believe I was well placed to answer them as I have experience working with and against AI as a student. Luca helped me understand and learn about terms I did not understand, we were a good team in the conference on democracy.

My role within the project was co-researcher, in a project involving the community. As a designer, I had to redesign a heating interface for a participant in the community of Coventry. They had issues using their heating and as a result could not turn it on or off by their own accord. We invited them into our university studio and showed them our design process. How we got to the final solution to their problems. They enjoyed listening to our presentations and exploring the different models we came up with. We had to ensure she understood our way of thinking and ensure we used design language she understood so they felt comfortable in a university setting. It was a great honour to have a member of the community in our space and be involved in democracy in education.”