DHIS2 Design Lab
The DHIS2 Design Lab explores how we can support and promote design and innovation within the DHIS2 software ecosystem. The knowledge generated through our work is also relevant to research on design and innovation within generic enterprise software ecosystems more generally.

About the lab
DHIS2 is a global generic software platform used by many organizations in different health and non-health contexts across more than 70 countries. What's considered usable and relevant to the many end-users across different implementations of the software tends to vary, thus it's challenging to build a ‘one size fits all’ solution on the generic level of design. The design lab sees DHIS2 and the surrounding resources, people, and practices as a design infrastructure, rather than a standard software solution. The aim of the design infrastructure is to support the design of usable and relevant systems during implementation into concrete user organizations.
Our main focus is on strengthening the implementation-level design and innovation capacity of the design infrastructure so that it better supports designers in locally building the software that is right for particular contexts of use.
The design lab consists of researchers and post-graduate students at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo, working in collaboration with DHIS2 core developers and implementation specialists around the world including India, Mozambique, Malawi, and Tanzania.
Main areas of focus
Exploring existing and new design and innovation practices within the DHIS2 ecosystem
Exploring resources that support and promote DHIS2 application development
Exploring resources that support and promote the use of methods for user-oriented design and innovation
Exploring how the DHIS2 core design and development team can strengthen their requirements gathering processes
Magnus Li
Head of DHIS2 Design Lab
Petter Nielsen
Head of Research Group
Thao Thi Thanh Tran
Master student & Lab Coordinator
Vetle Utvik
Master student & Lab Coordinator
Mats Blakstad
Master student
Maja Lanestedt Thomassen
Master student
Bendik Johann Kroken
Master student
Hanna Kongshem
Master student
Anders Erik Brustad
Master student
Håkon André Heskja
Master student
Anastasia Bengtsson
Master student
Simeon Andersen Tverdal
Master student
Hanna Evensen
Master student
Yonatan Fessehaye
Master student
Sigvart Bretteville Jensen
Master student
Jacob Ommundsen
Master student
Carl-Magnus Lein
Master student
Nina Sofie Justnæs
Master student
Steffen Ekeberg Bråten
Master student
Thea Aksdal Nordgulen
Master student
Gwendolyn Borchenius
Master student
Steven Nguyen
Master student
Alexander Fife
Master student
Elisabeth Vossgård
Master student
Filip Christoffer Larsen
Master student
Vegar Brorson
Master student
Mikael Olsen Rodvelt
Master student
Alexander Bruland
Master student
Stian Rustad
Master student
Peichun Wu
Master student
Péter Bíró
Master student