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Distinguished Professor Rachel Cooper

Chair in Design

Expertise

  • Design for Sustainability
  • Design Management
  • Socially Responsible Design
  • Urban Design

+44 (0) 1524 510871

r.cooper@lancaster.ac.uk

Rachel Cooper OBE is Distinguished Professor of Design Management and Policy at Lancaster University. She is a Director of ImaginationLancaster, an open and exploratory design-led research centre conducting applied and theoretical research into people, products, places and their interactions, and also Chair of Lancaster institute for the Contemporary Arts. Professor Cooper’s research interests cover: design thinking; design management; design policy; and across all sectors of industry, a specific interest in design for wellbeing and socially responsible design. ‘.

She has published extensively on these topics, including books, ‘Designing Sustainable Cities’, ‘The Handbook of Wellbeing and the Environment’,  ‘Living in Digital Worlds’; and ‘Design for Global Challenges and Goals’. She is also series editor of the Routledge series Design for Social Responsibility covering topics such as designing for sustainability, inclusivity, service design, sport, health, transport and policy. She was founding editor of The Design Journal and also founding President of the European Academy of Design.

An academic leader with 20 years research experience and collaboration with industry partners. Rachel Cooper has led large interdisciplinary research programmes related to design. She has attracted over £25m in research funding in the past 10 years, much of which has focused on the future of cities and human and planetary wellbeing,  and creative and digital technologies.

Professor Cooper has undertaken several advisory roles to national and international universities, government and non-governmental organisations. She was a member of Infrastructure and Environment Strategic Advisory Team of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) until 2005. She has also chaired EPSRC commissioning panels on Crime and the cross council review of UK National Collaboration on Ageing Research programme and she was mentor on EPSRC Sandpits on Mobile Health and Countering Terrorism in 2006/7. She is currently a member of EPSRC Strategic Advisory Network. Professor Cooper was UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) panel convenor for visual arts and media practice, history, theory Postgraduate awards between 2000 & 2005, and sat on the Council of the AHRC (2000/10). She was also a member of the advisory panel on the AHRC/ESRC’s Cultures of Consumption programme and chairs the advisory panel for the AHRC/EPSRC’s ‘Designing for the 21st Century’ initiative. She was a member of the UK Research Assessment Exercise Panel for Art and Design in 2008 and 2014 chaired the research review panel for art, design architecture and media for Aalto University, (2009) and  chair of Aalto  School of Arts  Strategic Advisory Board and was a member of the Research Assessment exercise for Gothenburg University 2010. In 2011 she was invited to be a member of the European Design Innovation Initiative Leadership Board that produced recommendations on Design for Prosperity and Growth for the EU. She was amember of the Blackett Review of the Internet of Things 2014.

She is a also Non executive Director of the Future Cities Catapult, a visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art (RCA)and a member of RCA Council. Professor Cooper was a Lead Expert for the UK Government Foresight programme on the Future of Cities, is on the Academy of Medical Sciences Working group addressing ‘The Health of the Public 2040’ and is a member of the Partnership for Prevention Sciences Steering Group. She was Royal Society representative member of the Scientific Committee for Health and Wellbeing in the Changing Urban Environment – an International Council for Science Programme co-sponsored with the United Nations University (UNU) and the InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP)  and Co- Chair of the UK Prevention Research Partnership, Scientific Advisory Board until 2023. She is President of the Design Research Society. Rachel was awarded the OBE by the Queen for services to education in 2013.

Professor Cooper is Visiting Professor of Design at Sheffield Hallam University and The Royal College of Art.

Latest Updates from Rachel Cooper

Workshop Series: Next Generation Sustainability in Civil Engineering

Embedding new sustainability thinking into day-to-day activities of civil engineering can result in substantial social, economic and environmental benefits for all stakeholders, but, to date, sustainability in consulting engineering is still more of a reactive activity than a proactive one. Through engaging with Civil Engineering consultants, educators and regulators as stakeholders, the series of workshops aims to bring together fresh perspectives on sustainability in consulting engineering in the supply chain

Projects from Rachel Cooper