Future Observatory is the Design Museum’s national research programme, established in partnership with the UKRI Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC). We act as a catalyst for the green transition by supporting design research that can have real impact.

Our Mission 

The next decade is no ordinary decade. The climate crisis demands rapid change, and design is critical to that challenge. Future Observatory’s mission is to support design researchers in addressing the material, systemic and behavioural changes required by the green transition.

To date, we have funded more than 100 research projects, ranging from £40,000 to £4 million. These initiatives focus on reducing carbon emissions and waste, exploring alternative materials and rethinking the systems that govern our daily lives.

The Design Museum amplifies this research, bringing new ideas to broad audiences through displays and exhibitions, public programmes and the Future Observatory Journal. 

Future Observatory is unique in combining a national funding programme with a museum to stimulate public imagination and accelerate impact. It proposes a new model for what a museum can be: a place not only focused on interpreting the past or the present but one that can help shape the future.

What do we mean by ‘green transition’?

It is common to talk about the clean energy transition, but the climate crisis is not just a carbon crisis. It is the degradation of the living world through pollution, species decline and ecosystem breakdown. We use ‘green transition’ in a holistic sense to describe the shift not just to a less carbon-intensive society but one that protects and regenerates the living world. The green transition goes hand in hand with the just transition, which stresses the unequal effects of climate change and strives for no communities to be left behind in climate action.