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Design Field
Research Strand

More-Than-Human Rights Mural

More Than Human Fellowship 2024-25

 
Author: César Rodríguez-Garavito

The Coast Is Not a Line, It's A Zone

In this research update, More-than-human Fellow Feifei Zhou, focuses on Kupang Bay in West Timor to examine traditional fishing practices threatened by coastal erosion and salt mining. The final piece
 
Author: Feifei Zhou

‘Human health is inextricably linked to the health of the planet’

In the latest of our interviews with Future Observatory researchers, we would like to introduce you to Paul Rodgers and Mel Woods – co-Directors of Design HOPES (Healthy Organisation in a Place-based
 
Leilah Hirson-Comley

More-than-human thinking for multiple audiences

Understanding the potential of designing with and for other species and living systems feels like an urgent undertaking. That is why we adopted More than Human as an ongoing research theme for 2024-5
 
Author: Justin McGuirk

Future Observatory Journal – Issue Nº2

We are delighted to bring you Issue 02 of Future Observatory Journal. We launched the journal earlier this year to explore more expansive narratives for design that respond to the true scale of the
 
Author: Justin McGuirk

Contaminating our current thinking

Cher Potter, Future Observatory's Curatorial Director discusses the role of design research with the Design Researchers in Residence 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