Design Field
Research Strand

Contaminating our current thinking

a conversation between Cher Potter and the Solar cohort

 
Cher Potter

What is the potential legacy of a research project?

In late May, we held a networking event at the Design Museum for the researchers and industry partners involved in our Design Accelerator, Design Exchange Partnership and Design Researchers in
 
Author: Leilah Hirson-Comley

Future Observatory Journal launches with issue on bioregioning

“If ever there was a time to consider alternative ways of building a future, it is now. What we do this decade will shape the rest of the century. But what if, rather than fetishising innovation, what
 
Author: Justin McGuirk

Nine new biodiversity research projects join the Design Exchange Partnerships programme

Supporting biodiversity is becoming an increasingly urgent focus of design research practice. With many ecosystems and species in decline, human interdependence on natural systems is ever more
 

“Furniture is a platform whereby we can tell new stories about the environment”

This project explores how waste materials can be used to make new things. They worked with Fishy Filaments in Cornwall, Harris Tweed Hebrides in Scotland and furniture maker Wood Bros in Hertfordshire
 
Andrea Conde Pereira

“Learning from each other”

At the end of November, we held a forum for the researchers and academic partners on our Design Exchange Partnership and Design Accelerator programmes. Marking the end of both cohorts’ research
 
Author: Leilah Hirson-Comley

Future Observatory opens display space at the Design Museum

Future Observatory and the Design Museum today open a free display space dedicated to design research responding to environmental crises. Located on the museum’s second floor balcony, the Future
 

How can the culture sector drive the green transition?

Today, we are publishing two cultural policy reports across circular fashion and the screen industries which suggest how the UK cultural sector might adapt to meet national net zero commitments. In
 

Four projects to design the UK’s green future

Following a call for proposals, four innovative Green Transition Ecosystems are funded across the country to tackle the climate crisis and address the challenges posed by the green transition. The
 

Redefining the problems, reframing the questions

The following conversation sees Future Observatory’s curatorial director, Cher Potter, in discussion with the 2022/23 cohort of Design Researchers in Residence on the topic of design research.
 
Cher Potter

‘Games are well suited for tackling complex problems’

Game Changing, a Design Accelerator led by Swansea University, explores the potential of co-designing games for increasing understanding of climate change.
 
Leilah Hirson-Comley

Adapting Together

Adapting Together, last week’s symposium organised by Future Observatory and ImaginationLancaster, set out to consider how designers can create and support participation in climate action.
 
Author: George Kafka

The Museum as a Catalyst

Museums are changing. They can be catalysts, proactively supporting a just and sustainable future.
 
Author: Justin McGuirk

Questions of Scale: reflecting on our first symposium

“The first question any design researcher with an innovative idea encounters is, how do you scale that up?”