A fundamentally new kind of design competence is needed to anticipate the digital transformation of society and create the conditions for responsible and sustainable futures. For this, D-CoDE will train a cohort of 15 PhD students in design, design anthropology, media studies, science and technology studies and data science, and equip them with the holistic understanding needed for the human-centric design of product service systems powered by Big Data, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. New foundations for design will require the interdisciplinary integration of five key research challenges identified in both engineering and the social sciences: (1) anthropological study and principled engineering of algorithms as foundation for shaping digital futures; (2) design of personally meaningful and socially appropriate forms of interaction with and across decentralised systems; (3) inclusive approaches to value creation in designing data-driven products, services and business models; (4) principles an