UK network for design led social innovation for sustainability (DESIS-UK)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the Arts London
Department Name: Central Saint Martin's College
Abstract
This project seeks to establish DESIS-UK, as a national multidisciplinary network of individuals and organisations exploring design-led social innovation and sustainability, and to identify and agree its aims and objectives and ways of working, in collaboration with stakeholders. It aims to strengthen connections between design academics, design practitioners, and end users of design from public, private and third sector organisations and the communities they serve, to explore how best to employ design thinking and skills to deliver sustain-able social and environmental benefits to communities.
DESIS-UK will be developed to interface with the International DESIS Network founded by Ezio Manzini (http://www.desis-network.org ) which is a network of global, regional and local design 'labs', comprised of teams of professors, researchers and students active in the promotion and delivery of design led social inno-vation for sustainability.
The DESIS International network is decentralised, operating via regional nodes and local hubs, and acts to "Foster social innovation and sustainability by taking part in support projects and programs, gathering together and offering greater visibility to significant cases. Promoting design for social innovation both within and out-side the design community, developing appropriate design tools and organizing cultural and pedagogic activities. Fostering the circulation of ideas and experiences, with a peer-to-peer approach, between the different DESIS-Local initiatives to carrying out comparative research and co-producing courses at an international level." DESIS-UK network will constitute a DESIS-Local initiative and further to its creation seek to be active in:
- Proposing and developing national and international research programs.
- Organizing pedagogic initiatives (eg workshops, seminars, courses and conference)
- Preparing pedagogic resources (eg teaching tools, course formats, bibliographic references).
- Collecting and disseminating research information (eg case studies, projects and research results).
- Promoting cultural and communication initiatives (eg exhibitions, publications and broadcasts).
A series of 3 workshops will bring together academics, practitioners, and community end users of design (typically third sector organisations) to build UK capacity for design-led social innovation by creating connections, harvesting knowledge/ experience and exchanging and reviewing existing best practices.
As well as being disseminated internationally via the existing DESIS website, the outcomes of these workshops will be discussed and documented online through a dedicated DESIS-UK webspace to be created as part of this project.
Specifically, workshops will seek to;
- Share and map current project cases, reviewing themes and approaches.
- Map and connect disciplinary specialisms and skills amongst individuals and organisations within a DESIS-UK network.
- Connect end users of design and research with researchers and student groups within academia to facilitate research, teaching and practice of design led social innovation nationwide.
- Connect students and academia with the professional world to augment career opportunities, and the pedagogic requirements to support them.
- Disseminate exemplars to the UK Network to share learning and inspire local and national initiatives.
- Create visions/opportunities for future projects/research.
This proposal aligns with the current highlight notice for Connected Communities in that it supports the three underpinning cross-cutting themes identified within the Connected Communities summit in Glasgow, July 2011, namely:
- Connectivity within & between communities
- Connecting research on communities
- Connecting research with communities - & "enhanced harvesting" of research benefitting communities.
DESIS-UK will be developed to interface with the International DESIS Network founded by Ezio Manzini (http://www.desis-network.org ) which is a network of global, regional and local design 'labs', comprised of teams of professors, researchers and students active in the promotion and delivery of design led social inno-vation for sustainability.
The DESIS International network is decentralised, operating via regional nodes and local hubs, and acts to "Foster social innovation and sustainability by taking part in support projects and programs, gathering together and offering greater visibility to significant cases. Promoting design for social innovation both within and out-side the design community, developing appropriate design tools and organizing cultural and pedagogic activities. Fostering the circulation of ideas and experiences, with a peer-to-peer approach, between the different DESIS-Local initiatives to carrying out comparative research and co-producing courses at an international level." DESIS-UK network will constitute a DESIS-Local initiative and further to its creation seek to be active in:
- Proposing and developing national and international research programs.
- Organizing pedagogic initiatives (eg workshops, seminars, courses and conference)
- Preparing pedagogic resources (eg teaching tools, course formats, bibliographic references).
- Collecting and disseminating research information (eg case studies, projects and research results).
- Promoting cultural and communication initiatives (eg exhibitions, publications and broadcasts).
A series of 3 workshops will bring together academics, practitioners, and community end users of design (typically third sector organisations) to build UK capacity for design-led social innovation by creating connections, harvesting knowledge/ experience and exchanging and reviewing existing best practices.
As well as being disseminated internationally via the existing DESIS website, the outcomes of these workshops will be discussed and documented online through a dedicated DESIS-UK webspace to be created as part of this project.
Specifically, workshops will seek to;
- Share and map current project cases, reviewing themes and approaches.
- Map and connect disciplinary specialisms and skills amongst individuals and organisations within a DESIS-UK network.
- Connect end users of design and research with researchers and student groups within academia to facilitate research, teaching and practice of design led social innovation nationwide.
- Connect students and academia with the professional world to augment career opportunities, and the pedagogic requirements to support them.
- Disseminate exemplars to the UK Network to share learning and inspire local and national initiatives.
- Create visions/opportunities for future projects/research.
This proposal aligns with the current highlight notice for Connected Communities in that it supports the three underpinning cross-cutting themes identified within the Connected Communities summit in Glasgow, July 2011, namely:
- Connectivity within & between communities
- Connecting research on communities
- Connecting research with communities - & "enhanced harvesting" of research benefitting communities.
Planned Impact
Sharing of case studies within DESIS workshops will open the way to developing and building operational and innovative capacity to meet societal goals in sustainable ways across a network of diverse actors. Typically by connecting diverse agendas and activities to use existing resources and assets in new, more effective ways.
Operational capacity: using existing resources in new ways for implementation
Innovative capacity: identifying challenges and reframing them as opportunities
Capacity will be developed and built by creating new, and sharing existing, knowledge, expertise, methods and tools.
The workshops and network activity will be targeted to benefit many groups beyond the academic research community:
Public Sector
Those in local authorities charged with maintaining the quality and delivery of public services with diminishing resources will gain insights into how to do so in new and innovative ways. Workshops will provide a forum for peer-to-peer learning between public sector duty-holders from different parts of the country facing similar challenges in diverse contexts. These actors will also benefit from connecting with academics engaged in DESIS and with community users and providers (third sector). Policy makers will gain insights into good practice in this area and may seek to support such practices with policy recommendations.
Private Sector
Individuals and agencies in the private sector involved in delivering public services will benefit from access to exemplars. Design agencies creating a new economy linked to design led social innovation for sustainability, will gain connections with non-commercial actors. Symbiotic benefit for private sector agencies and the student cohort/early career researchers that attend the network events will come from the opportunity to contribute to the pedagogic agenda in ways that ensure a new generation of designers have the skills necessary to engage in this emerging area of professional practice. These activities will contribute to the growth of this sector creating economic wealth from meeting societal goals through design.
Third Sector
The Cabinet Office (2010) identifies several hundreds of thousands of social enterprises, charities, community groups and co-operatives increasingly involved in delivery of societal benefit. These groups will benefit from connections with academia and will gain insights into how design thinking and skills may contribute to the success of their activities. Connections with HE courses will offer opportunities to collaborate with students to prototype new ways of working, supported by tutors and researchers with whom they may exchange knowledge. Connecting Third Sector organisations with HE seeks brings subsidised design thinking and practice to organisations that may not typically have access to them building capacity for delivery of societal benefit and helping to create design industry jobs apart from market led, resource consuming product creation and within sustainable service provision driven by societal goals and a 'quadruple bottom line' of culture, economy, environment and society.
Wider Public
Benefit to the 'wider public' is at the core of DESIS activity. The overarching aim of the network and the capacities it aims to develop and build is the creation of public wellbeing linked to achievement of societal goals in sustainable ways. This includes, amongst others, addressing social cohesion, urban regeneration, healthy food accessibility, collaborative consumption and sustainable energy management via innovative initiatives such as community-supported agriculture and gardens, co-housing, carpooling, neighbourhood care, talent exchange and time banks. This project aims to develop a UK network of policy makers, researchers and practitioners to share, scale and innovate promising prototypes of such initiatives to benefit civil society.
Operational capacity: using existing resources in new ways for implementation
Innovative capacity: identifying challenges and reframing them as opportunities
Capacity will be developed and built by creating new, and sharing existing, knowledge, expertise, methods and tools.
The workshops and network activity will be targeted to benefit many groups beyond the academic research community:
Public Sector
Those in local authorities charged with maintaining the quality and delivery of public services with diminishing resources will gain insights into how to do so in new and innovative ways. Workshops will provide a forum for peer-to-peer learning between public sector duty-holders from different parts of the country facing similar challenges in diverse contexts. These actors will also benefit from connecting with academics engaged in DESIS and with community users and providers (third sector). Policy makers will gain insights into good practice in this area and may seek to support such practices with policy recommendations.
Private Sector
Individuals and agencies in the private sector involved in delivering public services will benefit from access to exemplars. Design agencies creating a new economy linked to design led social innovation for sustainability, will gain connections with non-commercial actors. Symbiotic benefit for private sector agencies and the student cohort/early career researchers that attend the network events will come from the opportunity to contribute to the pedagogic agenda in ways that ensure a new generation of designers have the skills necessary to engage in this emerging area of professional practice. These activities will contribute to the growth of this sector creating economic wealth from meeting societal goals through design.
Third Sector
The Cabinet Office (2010) identifies several hundreds of thousands of social enterprises, charities, community groups and co-operatives increasingly involved in delivery of societal benefit. These groups will benefit from connections with academia and will gain insights into how design thinking and skills may contribute to the success of their activities. Connections with HE courses will offer opportunities to collaborate with students to prototype new ways of working, supported by tutors and researchers with whom they may exchange knowledge. Connecting Third Sector organisations with HE seeks brings subsidised design thinking and practice to organisations that may not typically have access to them building capacity for delivery of societal benefit and helping to create design industry jobs apart from market led, resource consuming product creation and within sustainable service provision driven by societal goals and a 'quadruple bottom line' of culture, economy, environment and society.
Wider Public
Benefit to the 'wider public' is at the core of DESIS activity. The overarching aim of the network and the capacities it aims to develop and build is the creation of public wellbeing linked to achievement of societal goals in sustainable ways. This includes, amongst others, addressing social cohesion, urban regeneration, healthy food accessibility, collaborative consumption and sustainable energy management via innovative initiatives such as community-supported agriculture and gardens, co-housing, carpooling, neighbourhood care, talent exchange and time banks. This project aims to develop a UK network of policy makers, researchers and practitioners to share, scale and innovate promising prototypes of such initiatives to benefit civil society.
Organisations
- University of the Arts London (Lead Research Organisation)
- London Borough of Camden (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- University of Lincoln (Project Partner)
- Royal Society of Arts (Project Partner)
- Kingston University (Project Partner)
- Politecnico di Milano (Project Partner)
- Integer Solutions (Project Partner)
- Lancaster City Council (Project Partner)
- Design Council (Project Partner)
- Lancaster University (Project Partner)
- Northumbria University (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Adam Thorpe (Principal Investigator) | |
| Clare Brass (Co-Investigator) |
| Description | The DESIS-UK Network brought together academics, design practitioners, social entrepreneurs and public sector agencies to explore the role of the academy in design-led social Innovation. The project established a DESIS-UK Network (Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability), as a national multidisciplinary network of individuals and organisations exploring design-led social innovation and sustainability in collaboration with UK HE. It strengthened connections between design academics and academies, design practitioners, and end users of design from public, private and third sector organisations and the communities they serve, and explored how best to employ design thinking and skills to deliver sustainable social and environmental benefits to communities. The project delivered a series of networking events across the UK during 2013 coordinated by University of the Arts London DESIS Lab in collaboration with DESIS Labs of the Royal College of Art, Kingston University, Northumbria University, University of Lincoln and Lancaster University. Each event explored a different perspective of design for social innovation and sustainability (DESIS) practice and the approaches and competencies applied within each. Workshop 1 considered DESIS within the UK HE landscape, exploring the ways that DESIS is integrated within the student curriculum and research environment. Workshop 2 explored the application of design within social innovation and enterprise outside HE and considered the roles for, and requirements of, designers trained in design for social innovation and sustainability as they look to apply their skills beyond graduation. Workshop 3 delivered in partnership with London Borough of Camden, explored collaboration between higher education and the public sector considering the potential of HE/Local Authority collaboration in the context of DESIS for public service reform. Workshop 1: DESIS within the UK HE Landscape DESIS projects require staff and students within HE to work in collaboration with diverse societal actors to apply design skills and competencies to co-discover and co-define societal challenges to which responses are co-developed and co-delivered with a view to evaluating their impact and scaling what works. Sharing examples of HE DESIS projects and practice revealed some key insights and common themes. Mechanisms for HE engagement with non-HE actors within DESIS projects: - Student 'client' projects - Social innovation-oriented competitions and 'challenge prizes' - Externally funded collaborative research - Research consultancy - Graduate consultancy - PhD research • Diverse scope of HE DESIS projects from 'initiatives' to 'infrastructuring' projects, from sensemaking to problem solving projects. • Importance of building and maintaining relationships with non-HE collaborators. • Challenges surrounding resourcing/funding of DESIS projects as community 'client' projects. • Significance of project initiation (student initiated, staff initiated, research initiated, stakeholder initiated) in relation to engagement and impact. • Challenges surrounding managing expectations of participating societal actors in relation to outputs and outcomes. • Challenges surrounding evaluation of impact and outcomes. • Challenges surrounding implementation of co-designed outputs. Workshop 2: Enterprise and Employability Social innovators and entrepreneurs outside of academia shared their experiences and opinions on the current and potential role for design(ers) in social innovation sustained as social enterprise revealing that: • Contribution of design in developing and building operational capacity (improving the ease or effectiveness of delivery) of social enterprises is recognized and valued i.e. there were numerous accounts of need for specific design skills relating to logos, products and websites. • More work is needed to raise awareness of the potential for design to contribute to innovative capacity (finding new ways to meet societal needs and goals) of social enterprise i.e. there were few examples of design methods and approaches (particularly design research methods and approaches) being implemented early in the process of social enterprise development. However, in those instances where design was used in this way, early in the process of defining societal challenges and identifying opportunities for social innovations, results were impressive suggesting that there is great potential for furthering the involvement of designers and design approaches earlier in the creation of social enterprises. • Close correlation between principles of entrepreneurship and those of DESIS i.e. both favour approaches that are asset oriented, collaborative, agile/iterative. • Approaches common to design for social innovation are evidenced within successful corporate social innovation initiatives suggesting a role for design(ers) in facilitating the evolution of corporate social responsibility toward corporate social innovation. • Social enterprise development/social entrepreneurs will benefit from knowledge of and access to the methods and skills utilized within design for social innovation. Workshop 3: Opportunities and Challenges Organised in partnership with Camden Council the third and final Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability (DESIS) workshop aimed to foster collaboration between higher education and public sector service providers. Running back-to-back with the Nesta Social Frontiers conference, the workshop provided an opportunity for design led social innovation researchers and practitioners to share and exchange their approaches and resources with public service organisations facing the challenge of public service innovation. Public service innovation focused in two key areas: • Citizen centred services - more involvement of end users in the research prototyping, testing of services to be delivered by public agencies. • Citizen led services - engagement of citizens in the coproduction of services that may be implemented by citizens enabled and supported by public services. • Citizens moving from being passive consumers of services to active participants in services and Local Authorities moving from being solely responsible for service delivery to being stewards of societal outcomes. • Action research in the context of DESIS can facilitate shift in roles requires experimentation and iteration and calls for collaborative action learning such as that realised by action research in the context of DESIS. Local government and HE can work together to create conditions for collaborative public service solutions: • Recognise the value created by social innovations - promising social initiatives • Recognise citizens as "experts of their own experience" • Listen to their requests • Decide what to do (and do it) in collaboration with them • It's not just the students that need to learn how to contribute their skills and knowledge to collaborative solutions • De-risked space for experimentation is required • Learning together by doing together • Need a process that allows all actors to make their contribution |
| Exploitation Route | Findings may be taken forward in the following ways: 1. Curriculum development within HE 2. Social enterprise development supported by DESIS approaches 3. Creation of shared platforms and approaches for community collaboration in social innovation in the context of public service innovation in which collaborative design approaches provide a process for doing so and HE acts as a community anchor for such approaches |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Environment,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://www.desis-uk.org |
| Description | Findings have been used in: 1. The development of new curricula approaches within UK HE. For example the insights from this project are contributing significantly to the creation of CSM Public at Central Saint Martins, UAL. In 2016 the CSM Public initiative launched the Local Engagement Fund which supports local community engaged activities for staff and students at CSM. DESIS findings have been presented at CSM Public events supporting the development and delivery of LEF projects. 2. The creation of new funding and support initiatives for social enterprise (SE) development at University of the Arts London linked to the UnLimited/HEFCE SEE Change Programme in which UAL DESIS Lab has played a key role. Including the award of Innovation partnership Funding to co-create design led SE course materials for delivery across UAL. The findings of the Innovation partnership have supported further successful bid submissions to the British Council which has funded collaboration between UAL DESIS Lab and MIT India resulting in student mobility and teaching and learning exchange between the two institutions around the theme of design led social enterprise, a relationship that is ongoing. Partnering the King Cross Impact Hub in the Innovation Partnership has led to collaboration with Lama, a cooperative innovation and strategy consultancy and founders of Impact Hub Florence. This collaboration has resulted in a successful Erasmus Plus application that funds UAL/CSM to work with Fab Lab London and European partners to deliver the Open Design and Manufacturing project (OD&M). The OD&M project runs over 3 years and brings £180k of EU funding into UAL/CSM and Fab Lab London to develop and test, in collaboration with EU partners, teaching and training materials that seek to combine the best of academic, maker space ad industry approaches to experiential learning in design and enterprise whilst also transferring knowledge between sectors via student placements in maker spaces and industry. 3. Collaboration with London Borough of Camden in delivery of the design for social innovation and local government component of the DESIS network has resulted in the successful development and delivery of the AHRC funded action research project Public Collaboration Lab in partnership with London Borough of Camden (LBC). This project has delivered a strategic partnership and collaborative infrastructure leveraging the synergy between local government operational objectives and the earning objectives of design education. The resulting collaborative platform for public service innovation through social innovation is ongoing, has delivered support to Camden Council in consultation and implementation on and around pubic service transformation. Learning is being documented so as to be scaled and transferred nationally and internationally via ongoing collaboration with partner institutions within the international DESIS network. |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Environment,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Title | Collaborative Marketplace Methodology |
| Description | This research method is useful in the scoping phase of projects for identification of synergy between diverse actors and formation of research clusters. Prior to the event participants were asked to create posters as follows: I AM (please include your name, job title and the organisation you work for) Example: I am Joe Bloggs, I work at Central Saint Martins as a Researcher on Design for Social Innovation. MY CHALLENGE IS (summarise the issue which you're working on and hoping to find collaborators for) Example: I am applying for funding to run a project on well-being with older people, but I don't have access to potential participants. I WOULD LIKE (thinking about who is attending the event, please describe what input you'd like on your challenge) Example: Help accessing a group of people living in sheltered housing, and the opportunity to discuss the project with sheltered housing managers. On the day: Up to 30 challenges were pitched in 90 minutes. Everyone got the chance to listen to 9 of them. Eveyone chose the challenges that interested them most. Everyone had to mingle with others to find out which these might be. How it worked: In the green sessions, those with green placards pitch whilst others listen, discuss and mingle. In the purple sessions, those with purple placards pitch whilst others listen, discuss and mingle. In the turquoise sessions, those with turquoise placards pitch whilst others listen, discuss and mingle. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Several research clusters were formed resulting in the following initiatives: * Unemployment and Empathy - Somers Town UAL DESIS Lab/BA Product Design, CSM/LBC Employment and Economic Growth Team/Somers Town Community Association * Communicating 'Resilience' for Camden UAL DESIS Lab/MA Communication Design, CSM/LBC Strategy Team * Engaging Isolated Elderly People Pilots for Aging Better Partnership Lottery Bid Dr. Alison Prenderville, London College of Communication/London Borough of Camden The method also provided insights into research areas relevant to ongoing discussions relating to the creation of a strategic partnership between London Borough of Camden and University of the Arts London (CSM) focused on collaborative action research linked to pubic service reform and social innovation. |
| URL | http://www.desis-uk.org |
| Title | case study video archive for UK DESIS projects |
| Description | the project produced a video archive for 33 UK DESIS project case studies |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2012 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | useful teaching resource used within CSM MA Industrial Design and BA product Design courses. |
| URL | http://desis-uk.org/wordpress/?cat=7 |
| Description | London Borough of Camden |
| Organisation | London Borough of Camden |
| Department | Strategy Team |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Co-orgainsed, co-promoted and co-hosted collaboration event introducing budget holders within London Borough of Camden to researchers and practitioners from HE and Third Sector. • Connected researchers within academia with end users of design and research to facilitate research collaboration. • Disseminated exemplars to the DESIS collaborative action research initiatives to share learning and inspire further collaborations. • Created visions/opportunities for future projects/research. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Co-orgainsed, co-promoted and co-hosted collaboration event introducing budget holders within London Borough of Camden to researchers and practitioners from HE and Third Sector. • Connected Public and Third sector end users of design and research with academics to facilitate further research collaboration. • Disseminated exemplars of public service innovation initiatives to share learning and inspire further collaborations. • Created visions/opportunities for future projects/research. |
| Impact | Workshop 3: Opportunities and Challenges Full details are listed under engagement activities. |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | Design for Social Innovation Research Network |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Adam Thorpe is an advisory board member for AHRC Grant Ref AH/N004736/1: Design for Social Innovation Research Network; Bridging the UK and Asia-Pacific Practices, the Design for Social Innovation Research Network, led by Principal Investigator, Joyce Yee at Northumbria University, UK and Co- Investigator, Yoko Akama at RMIT, Australia. As an advisory board member Professor Thorpe will offer advice and guidance to the research network activities, content and themes and paticipate in workshop / symposiums. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | New Perspectives from the DESIS Network: Community Resilience Through Collaborative Services |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The DRS conference invites delegates to engage in discussions and debates on the future directions of design and design research. The DESIS forum within DRS explored the call to re-imagine collaborative services that can foster resilience within communities where processes of dynamic change are happening despite resource-and- service constrained environments calling for new modes of design research. After the forum presentation and discussion agreements were made for Erasmus staff and student exchanges between UAL and Khlim (Belgium) to explore further action research collaboration and 'live' student design projects focused on the contribution of design to social innovation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.drs2014.org/en/ |
| Description | Plural Futures #2 Beyond Borders workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | PLURAL FUTURES is a series of workshops programmed by University of the Arts London (UAL) sustainability co-ordinators Gary Campbell [CSM] and Rosemary Willatt [LCF] to encourage discourse and develop creative responses to a range of environmental, social and ethical issues. Each monthly event focuses on a different issue with an external organisation leading the session in an exchange of practice with UAL staff and students. This workshop was led by Professor Adam Thorpe and provided the opportunity to collaborate with staff, students, recent graduates from across UAL and a range of diverse communities to explore innovative ways of coming up with creative solutions for real life social problems. After the workshop, the attendees had the chance to network and discover more about the support available to fine tune their ideas, test their concepts and apply for the RSA Student Design Award (Beyond Borders), Mayor's Entrepreneur 2017 competition and the UAL SEED Fund. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2017 |
| Description | Re-designing Public Services from a DESIS Perspective |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | By 2017 Camden's funding by central government will be cut by half, Professor Adam Thorpe was therefore invited to join a panel discussion and present 'Re-designing public services from a DESIS perspective' at Camden's Public Service Reform event in Oct 2014 - preparing local public services for change which was held at Camden Council, King's Cross. Presentations were followed by a discussion with the those responsible for delivering policy and services locally and service users; the local community. Several possible research projects are being explored with organizations present at the servicer reform event including Camden Citizens Advice Bureau and London Borough of Camden. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Red Lines Are Not For Crossing lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This lecture was organised by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) with two leading art activists in the global climate justice movement (John Jordan from the Laboratory for Insurrectionary Imagination and Robbie Gillett from Reclaim The Power) who spoke about how to use creativity to support the fight to save our planet, our people and ourselves here in the UK, in Paris (during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change - Cop21) and around the world. The lecture came out of the PCL project as it offered a way to democratise innovation; to freely share innovations with others to create user-innovation communities and a rich intellectual commons. The outcome of the lecture was that an art action build was organised and a network of artists and activists was created to work together to combat climate change. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Red Lines Art Action Build workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was a day of collaborative creative action bringing people together to create pieces of insurrectionary art and objects of disobedience to take to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (Cop21) in Paris on 29th November 2015. The workshop was run by the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL) as a strategic collaboration between design students and professional artists and activists to develop design-led approaches to a social challenge, in this case climate change. The workshop built on the aims of the PCL to democratise social innovation. The outcome of the workshop was the below pieces of art activism which were taken to the streets of Paris during the Cop21 conference: • GIANT INFLATABLE MESSENGER BARRICADES • BRANDALISM POSTER CAMPAIGNS • INSURRECTIONARY ART PERFORMANCES |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Reframing Migration workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Looking around, we can recognise several examples of migrating people catalysing and contributing to new ways of meeting everyday needs - collaborative initiatives and organisations demonstrating in practice how inclusion can be promoted by creating the conditions for migrants and resident communities to explore new ways of living and working together. Thanks to these activities, we are seeing the migrant problem turned on its head, where migrants and resident communities are co-producing solutions that provide opportunities for the whole of society. The Reframing Migration workshop was organised to explore examples of these positive practices to better understand how to create the conditions for migration as social innovation. The workshop used the learning from the Public Collaboration Lab (PCL); taking a whole system approach, seeing all people as contributors and strengthening community cohesion to define an approach which can be extended and applied elsewhere. The outcomes of the workshop were: • Reframing Migration Workshop Report: A Fresh Look at Migration http://www.desisnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Reframing-Migration-REPORT_2016.pdf • Film by Permaculture People https://youtu.be/y1ffqX2pSw0 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.desisnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Reframing-Migration-REPORT_2016.pdf |
| Description | Socialised Spaces are Safer Spaces: Co creating Sustainable Crime Prevention Through Design in the Public Realm |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk sparked discussion amongst academic colleagues within the international DESIS network. Discussions following the presentation led to the creation of an international research cluster for the DESIS Network exploring design led social innovation in relation of co-creation of crime prevention. Also, following the forum presentation and discussion agreements were made for Erasmus staff and student exchanges between UAL and PoliMi (Italy) to host a PoliMi PhD student studying in a related area and explore future research collaboration. Since then two PoliMi PhDs have been hosted at UAL under this arrangement. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.desis-network.org/saferplacesandspaces |
| Description | Weaving People and Places seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event was the last step in the University of the Arts London (UAL) Cultures of Resilience (CoR) project, organised by Ezio Manzini and Nick Bell with Professor Adam Thorpe as part of the editorial board. There are two mainstream trends that are currently weakening communities-in-place: that of a hyper-individualised, delocalised society; and that of the notion of going back to the communities and places of the past. This event presented examples of art and design contributions to processes of community building that can counter these trends and help enable conditions for the kind of encounters that evolve towards new social forms. This seminar focused on collective reflection, and was an opportunity to discuss how in our current context, art and design is collaborating to (re)build communities-in-place. The outcome of the workshop was this report http://culturesofresilience.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CoR-Weaving-People-and-Places-booklet.pdf |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://culturesofresilience.org |
| Description | Workshop 1: DESIS within the UK HE Landscape |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Held at Northumbria University on 21st May 2013, the inaugural DESIS-UK workshop saw the presentation of 15 Higher Education projects where students and staff had collaborated with local partners to deliver design-led social innovation and sustainability projects. The workshop offered an opportunity to reflect on the skills needed for this work, and whether university courses were offering the opportunities needed to develop these competencies. The day started with an introduction to the aims of the network by the project leader Adam Thorpe and the aims of the first workshop by Robert Young. Keynotes included an introduction to a vision of HE as a social resource able to trigger and foster achievement of societal goals and challenges, from DESIS Network founder, Ezio Manzini. Carolyn Butterworth (University of Sheffield), coordinator of Sheffield's pioneering Live Projects initiative which engages student groups in working outside the School on real projects for client groups from the community, discussed the barriers, enablers and opportunities for this pedagogic practice reflecting on Sheffield's ten years' of experience in this field. Marco Zappalorta, Development Manager for Nesta's Centre for Challenge Prize's, explained Nesta's vision of how challenge prizes can play an effective and strategic role in the stimulation and support of social innovation and the potential role for HE. Josephine Green (University of Northumbria), who promotes new thinking and new knowledge in the specific field of Social Foresight for Strategy and Innovation, discussed the need to frame a cogent, compelling and coherent argument for a new socio-political and economic framework to support social innovation on a scarcity to abundance (people as resource) basis. Keynotes were followed by a DESIS-UK forum where educators presented short case studies of community engaged student projects they have delivered, focusing on design for social innovation and sustainability and shared the insights they have gained. This was followed by discussions, exploring in detail the topics raised in the keynotes and case studies. Following this event ongoing collaboration with Ezio Manzini, founder of the International DESIS Network, contributed to his being appointed by UAL as a Chair of Design in 201. This appointment has led to Professor Manzini leading a cross-college project exploring the role of art and design in building 'cultures of resilience'. Additionally, inspiration from Sheffield's 'Live Projects' initiative has contributed to the exploration of a public collaboration lab centered on a strategic relations hip between UAL/CSM and London Borough of Camden. This event has also resulted in closer collaboration between UAL DESIS Lab and many of the speakers involved in the event, including collaboration between Nesta and UAL DESIS Lab linked to Challenge Prizes including 'Hands off my bike cycle theft challenge'; for which Adam Thorpe, PI, joined the judging panel and provided supporting research to the competition design and delivery. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.desis-uk.org |
| Description | Workshop 2: Enterprise and Employability |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Held at the University of Lincoln, on 26th and 27th September 2013, the second event in the DESIS-UK Networking series explored what lies beyond Higher Education DESIS projects. It looked at how DESIS projects take shape outside the academy, and consider the roles for, and requirements of, designers trained in design for social innovation and sustainability as they look to enter the job market. The first day explored these issues by bringing together a range of practitioners and researchers. During their presentations speakers reflected on their experiences working in this area, and discussed what they see as the role of design in delivering social innovation and sustainability. Speakers included: Jocelyn Bailey (Head of Manufacturing, Design and Innovation, Policy Connect); Joanna Choukeir (Director, Uscreates); Megha Wadhawan (Designer, STBY); Louise Armstrong (Senior Sustainability Advisor, Forum for the Future); Henry Hicks (Creative Director, Futerra); Zahra Davidson (Year Here); Priya Prakesh (Founder, Changify); Vincenzio Di Maria (Founder, Common Ground); Katie Hill (Director, Leeds Love it Share it); Ian Grout (Glasgow School of Art). The presentations were followed by a short discussion allowing contributions from delegates, and provided the opportunity to discuss how well universities are preparing students who wish to earn their living applying their design skills within organisations active in the field of social innovation for sustainability. Day two offered an opportunity for delegates to reflect on the issues raised during day one. The discussion offered a chance to consider how the realities of working in this space fit with the pedagogic and theoretical underpinnings of DESIS work in universities. It offered an opportunity to further interrogate the difficult question of how best to prepare students for work in this field, and consider how HE institutions could use their resources to better support/partner with those working in this field already, either through student skills development, or other forms of collaboration. Several of the speakers at this event have continued to collaborate with research staff and courses at UAL/CSM in knowledge exchaneg activities including presentations to staff and students |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.desis-uk.org |
| Description | Workshop 3: Opportunities and Challenges |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Organised in partnership with Camden Council the third and final Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability (DESIS) workshop of the year aimed to supercharge collaboration between higher education and public service providers. Running back-to-back with the Nesta Social Frontiers conference, the workshop provided an opportunity for design led social innovation researchers and practitioners to share and exchange their approaches and resources with public service organisations facing the challenge of innovating service provision. The aim was to identify and support the formation of challenge themes which could provide the focus for practice and research collaboration. Ezio Manzini kicked off the proceedings by discussing the synergies available to design schools, social innovators and service providers that view staff and students as societal resources, and the relationship between designers and non-designers and the competencies involved in social innovation projects. Eduardo Staszowski, Director of the DESIS Parsons Lab, then shared his learning and insights from Public and Collaborative NYC, a program of activities that explored how public services in New York City could be improved by incorporating greater citizen collaboration in service design and implementation. To round up the keynotes session Ali Griffin, Deputy Director of Finance at Camden Council, provided an overview of the policy context this work is situated within, and outlined the reasons to apply social innovation approaches to local government service design and delivery. Following the keynote session we had two quick fire rounds of case studies where designers from higher education institutions had worked with other public or third sector organisations, and where new innovative approaches were being initiated by Camden Council. Projects presented included urlife.org.uk, a collaboration between Central Saint Martins and Camden Council to redesign and expand a website providing advice for young people in Camden, Community Researchers, a new model for gathering resident feedback by recruiting and training community members to become social researchers, developing by Matthew Upton at Camden, and Service Design Tynside Mind, a collabortion between Northumbria University PhD student, Laura Warwick and Tyneside Mind. The day finished with the 'collaboration marketplace'. Here, delegates at the workshop chose their spot and made their pitch whilst others attending listened and offered feedback on the idea or challenge being presented. Once all those who had submitted a challenge had made their pitch delegates were asked to cluster in groups where different challenges and expertise could potentially be brought together to form a new collaboration opportunity. Three new research collaborations were formed as a result of he collaboration marketplace event: * Unemployment and Empathy - Somers Town UAL DESIS Lab/BA Product Design, CSM/LBC Employment and Economic Growth Team/Somers Town Community Association * Communicating 'Resilience' for Camden UAL DESIS Lab/MA Communication Design, CSM/LBC Strategy Team * Engaging Isolated Elderly People Pilots for Aging Better Partnership Lottery Bid Dr. Alison Prenderville, London College of Communication/London Borough of Camden The event also provided a platform for ongoing discussions relating to the creation of a strategic partnership between London Borough of Camden and University of the Arts London (CSM) focused on collaborative action research linked to pubic service reform and social innovation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.desis-uk.org |