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Future Observatory Journal: New Narratives for Design, Ecology and a Future weaves the journal’s founding themes – Bioregioning, More Than Human, and In Abundance – into a cohesive and richly layered publication.
Issues 1–3 · September 2026
In Abundance
What do we mean by 'abundance'? Surely not just more stuff, more growth, more profit.
Reimagining abundance within planetary boundaries means finding plenty in repair, circularity and biodiversity.
Issue 3 · December 2025
More than Human
What does it mean to design not just for ourselves, but for other species and for the health of natural systems?
Issue 2 · November 2024
Bioregioning
Bioregioning redraws the boundaries of climate action, using the immediate landscape as a template for design, politics and regeneration.
Issue 1 · April 2024
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The Stone Demonstrator
A low-carbon construction prototype putting pre-tensioned stone building techniques to the test. Visit The Stone Demonstrator at Empress Place on the Earls Court Development site.
opened on
Publication: Design Researchers in Residence 2025/26 MINERAL
This publication features the work of the 2025/26 Design Researchers in Residence. It accompanies an exhibition staged at the Design Museum from June to September 2026. This year's theme, Mineral,
Authors:
Alfred Yatlong Yeung, Elise Limon, Rafael El Baz, Rosa Whiteley, Abbie Adams & Leilah Hirson-Comley
Research updates
What does the world sound like to a tree?
An interview with Mike Thompson
Weaving Voices into Place
Tools for Transition
South Powys Design Lab
UK 2040
Combing the digital coastline
Tools for Transition
Funding opportunity: Green Transition Ecosystems
Capitalising on clusters of design excellence, Green Transition Ecosystems (GTEs) are large scale projects that focus on translating the best design-led research into real-world benefits. GTEs will
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
Join the Future Observatory Research Steering Group
Future Observatory is looking for senior researchers, academics and design professionals to join our Research Steering Group.
Restore: Material Mapping
Restore: Material Mapping attempts to make visible some of the journeys of the materials used in Design Researchers in Residence: Restore.
Author:
Leyla Salih
The Museum as a Catalyst
Museums are changing. They can be catalysts, proactively supporting a just and sustainable future.
Author:
Justin McGuirk
‘They transformed in front of us’
The Design Exchange Partnerships are fifteen AHRC-funded research projects integral to the Future Observatory programme. Each funded project brings researchers into collaboration with non-academic
Carolina Vasilikou & Yiorgos Papamanousakis
Apply now: Low Carbon Housing
Future Observatory is recruiting a Research Lead to deliver a research project, Low Carbon Housing: How a museum can help drive sustainable mass housing in the UK, funded by the Arts and Humanities
Open Call: Islands
THE OPEN CALL HAS NOW CLOSED Design Researchers in Residence is Future Observatory’s programme for design researchers hosted at the Design Museum. The residency supports thinkers at the start of their
Design the Green Transition
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the Design Museum in London, today launch a multi-million-pound fund bringing UK researchers,
Showing Your Process
Ahead of the opening of the exhibition Design Researchers in Residence: Restore at the Design Museum, we're sharing a preview of the accompanying exhibition catalogue.
Thomas Aquilina, Delfina Fantini Van Ditmar, Samuel Iliffe & Sanne Visser
‘One of the key ways to reduce e-waste is to extend a product’s lifespan by finding a new use for it’
Through their partnership with the UAL Creative Computing institute, Power to Connect is working to close the digital gap by offering a safe method for computer re-use.
Shaikh Irtiza Nasar
‘The lakes, rivers and estuaries in the UK are not in good health’
Samuel Iliffe is one of four Researchers in Residence currently based at the Design Museum. His research is deeply embedded in the water systems of the UK and, in particular, concerned with Phosphorus
Samuel Iliffe
What is a design ecosystem?
The Design Ecosystem Fellowships are Future Observatory-funded awards for up to six researchers to map transformative design ecosystems in the UK. The call for researchers is here and the deadline for
A gathering of Design Exchange Partnerships
Last Friday, we welcomed representatives of Future Observatory’s Design Exchange Partnerships programme to the Design Museum.
meet the future observatory network
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