Designing for Community Care: Reimagining Support for Equity & Well-being in Academia

2025-07-02

AI Summary

Contemporary academic support networks rely heavily on informal relationships and social capital, perpetuating structural inequities and unsustainable practices; concurrently, institutional well-being policies predominantly prioritize students while neglecting faculty emotional labor, thereby reinforcing cultural exclusion. Drawing on care ethics and participatory design, this study employs human-computer interaction methods, iterative co-design workshops, and a pre-research collaborative framework to develop an Academic Care Ecosystem grounded in equity, resilience, and shared governance. It innovatively advances the concept of “institutionalized care,” yielding three key contributions: (1) integrated design strategies that embed care across academic ecosystems; (2) a reusable resource toolkit for developing equitable support systems; and (3) a self-sustaining, cross-institutional peer-support practice community designed for continuous evolution. Collectively, these outcomes address a critical gap in both research and practice concerning the institutionalization of emotional labor support for academic staff.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Bias, Fairness & Equity
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems
• Responsible Web: Algorithmic accountability and transparency on the web
• Social Networks and Social Media: Socio-technical web-based systems

Abstract

Academic well-being is deeply influenced by peer-support networks, yet they remain informal, inequitable, and unsustainable, often relying on personal connections and social capital rather than structured, inclusive systems. Additionally, institutional well-being responses frequently focus on student populations, neglecting the emotional labour of faculty and staff, reinforcing an exclusionary academic culture. Drawing on HCI methodologies, participatory design, and care ethics, this workshop will provide a space for rethinking how academic communities can support inclusive networks. Through pre-workshop engagement, co-design activities, and reflection, participants will examine systemic gaps in networks and explore ways to embed care, equity, and sustainability into academic peer-support frameworks -- from informal, exclusionary models to structured, inclusive care-based ecosystems. At the end of the workshop, participants will co-develop design strategies for integrating care and resilience in academic ecosystems, resources for designing equitable support systems, and a peer network invested and committed to fostering a supportive academic community.

Problem

• Informal peer-support networks hinder academic well-being equity
• Institutional well-being neglects faculty and staff emotional labor
• Lack structured inclusive care-based ecosystems in academia

Innovation

• HCI methodologies for inclusive academic networks
• Participatory design to embed care and equity
• Co-developing structured peer-support ecosystems