As we approach the end of 2015, GMJ/AU completes its ninth year with a substantial contribution to the field of Design research. This issue is marked by a collection of papers ably guest edited by Dr. Abby Mellick Lopes and Dr. Alison Gill.  The papers are drawn from presentations made at a symposium in 2014 titled ‘Initiating Change by Design’. This is not the first time we have dedicated a special issue of  GMJ/AU to the Design field. (See Volume 5, Issue 2, 2011.)

The theme of ‘change’ travels through the research exemplars that make up this issue. This is a deliberate intervention in the question of what is at stake in Design practice, and more generally in the kind of knowledge that might issue from these practices. This is therefore a timely contribution to the field that has at its core, concerns with not only what constitutes good design practice, but also with what should drive its ‘raison d’être’. This is an issue replete with reasons about why we need a robust design practice in Australia and beyond; why Design matters; who benefits from it but also where it may be complicit with a dubious politics.

Thanks to Tim Dwyer for his contribution through his regular column, Australia Media Monitor and we include two refereed articles by Sahel Farshbaf Shaker and Antonio Castillo. In How do Iranian Migrant Women in Brisbane Bypass Iranian ICTs Restriction to Stay Connected with Their Homeland?, Sahel Farshbaf Shaker tracks the innovative use of the Internet by Iranian women in Brisbane. In The new Latin American Journalistic Crónica, Emotions and Hidden Signs of Reality, Antonio Castillo brings insight into the foundations of Cronica, a hybrid form of creative non-fiction that has become a strong trend in contemporary Latin American journalism.

The co-editors have provided a detailed introduction to the issue. It is only left to thank all those who made this issue possible. I am particularly grateful to Dr. Abby Mellick Lopes and Dr. Alison Gill for their guest editing of this issue. Thanks also to Myra Gurney and Roman Goik for their collective efforts in seeing this issue to its completion.

There are a number of issues planned for 2016 (we project 4), the next being a Special Edition titled ‘Climate change, the Media and public debate: the Australian experience’ co-edited by Juan Francisco Salazar and Myra Gurney. We believe that this is a timely topic in light of both the prescience of this issue and the upcoming Paris climate conference, and invite contributions in a range of different forms to be considered for publication. Please see the Call for Papers here.

Finally, perhaps it is fitting that in what will be the 10th year of the journal’s existence in 2016, there is genuine interest and a high level of commitment to producing research and commentary in this space, where politics, cultural technologies, communications and media cross. I commend to you Volume 9 Issue 2.

Hart Cohen