Ufaq Inaam is a Lecturer in Design Studies and an ÖAW Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Design History and Theory at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where she teaches design theory and critical thinking. Before joining the University of Applied Arts Vienna, she was an Assistant Professor at the College of Art & Design, University of the Punjab, where she taught design studies and visual communication. Inaam earned her PhD from the University of Applied Arts Vienna in 2020 with a dissertation titled Bazaari Design. It was an ethnographic study of emerging design trends in bazaars, focusing on material culture and graphic design in everyday objects. Her teaching spans interdisciplinary areas such as design for government, co-design, sustainable practices, visual communication, and decolonizing design ethics and practice. She is particularly interested in the transformative potential of design and its role in shaping equitable and inclusive futures.

Inaam has been awarded prestigious European research grants, including an Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) grant (2025) for her project Cold War Design, Imitation & Legacy: Development Policies and Soft Power Dynamism in Postcolonial Pakistan, as well as the Ernst Mach Postdoctoral Grant (2022). She has presented her research at various platforms and institutions across Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Canada, and Pakistan.
She is also the co-founder of Extreme Design Innovation Base, an initiative that applies design methodologies to interdisciplinary challenges. Her research interests include decolonization, design futures, design education, social impact of design, design and health, development policies, unwritten histories of design, and inclusive design for social justice.

Selected Talks and Presentations

‘Finding Silk: Design & Material Culture around the Silk Route, findings from Pakistan’ Paper presentation at The Futures of Museums: Recover & Reimagine, International Council of Museums, 2021.

‘New futures of Design Pedagogy: Decolonizing Design Education’ Paper presentation in International Virtual Conference Emerging Trends in the Arts & Humanities, 2021.

Selected Workshops

‘Empathize, Ideate & What..?’ – Design Workshop on Design thinking and more. College of Art & Design, Lahore, May, 2023.

‘Even they have heart’ – Design workshop on stimulation and emotions involved in graphic design. College of Art & Design, Lahore, June, 2022

Conferences and Seminars

STIR: Design.Academia.Mix. Organized Conference of Design, Punjab University, Lahore, 2021.

Extreme Design Base – A research platform. Organized multiple seminars on Design, Lahore, Pakistan 2020-2022. Themes: Value, Capital and Significance of Indigenous Design, Recognition and Decolonization, Design Studies & Curriculum in Lahore, Designers and Social Innovation initiatives, Social Design Policy, and Government.

Publications

‘BEHTREEN’ – A magazine of emerging Art & Design from Lahore. (in-process of Production, 2024).