Design Accelerators are small scale reactive projects that are designed to support engagement between design R&I projects and diverse private, public and third sector organisations, local communities, and the general public.
Please note that you must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for AHRC funding. Learn more about the eligibility of your organisation.
Design Accelerators may focus on supporting any engagement activity with local stakeholders that will support progress towards green transition goals, including but not limited to:
A short-term series of workshops or seminars.
Networking activities.
Outreach activities that encourage and enable researchers to involve individuals or organisations outside of academic research in the discussion and development of ideas.
Community-based product testing.
Community engagement coordinating role or activity,
Please note that applications should be specific about the details of the proposed activities, be these coordinated programme activities or a standalone activity.
Projects should demonstrate clear pathways to measurable outcomes of benefit to local stakeholders both within the project lifetime and beyond.
| DISCIPLINE | multidisciplinary |
|---|---|
| ELIGIBILITY | based at a UK research organisation eligible for AHRC funding |
Design is a discipline that applies user, customer, citizen or community-centred approaches to creativity and invention to ensure more successful outcomes. These may include the built environment, physical products, digital or other services and systems that underpin how we live. Success in this context may mean economic, social, environmental, or a combination of all three.
Funding will be provided to support engagement between design research and innovation projects and diverse private, public, and third sector organisations, local communities, and the general public to:
Identify effective routes to commercialisation and adoption through targeted demonstration of high-quality design research and innovation.
Promote green transition-supportive behaviour change, either through deliberative policy making and (de)regulation or through “nudging.”
Highlight the value of academic design research in addressing real-world, locally relevant challenges arising along the journey to net zero and a green economy.
The duration of these awards is up to nine months and projects must start by 1 February 2025.
