AHRC Design Leadership Fellowship

Design pervades all areas of human experience and is being increasingly recognised as a fundamental aspect of creativity, innovation and problem-solving. Research in and through Design is crucial to the health of the discipline, increasing knowledge and understanding of the design process and underlining the profound contributions that Design can make to society and human experience. The appointment of Professor Paul Rodgers as the Leadership Fellow in Design Research will enable further development of strategy in this important area.

Through adopting a “Design Research for Change” vision, we hope to build on and enhance design thinking and practice which has already begun in a number of areas of strategic importance in Design, including design for social innovation, service design and process design. To achieve this we will be announcing a number of opportunities and activities in these areas. A key role of the Design Leadership Fellow role is to work closely with AHRC to help lead the development and delivery of this new initiative.

In the AHRC Design Leadership Fellow role I aim:

• To contribute to the development of the Design research area, identifying opportunities for the advancement of the area and facilitating research at the cutting-edge of the discipline. In particular, that which has the capacity to address global and societal challenges, such as Social and Service Design.
• To facilitate an interdisciplinary approach to Design research, involving all disciplines that are able to make a contribution to the advancement of the Design research area.
• To support and champion Design as a research area, in its role across all domains and with the capacity to make important contributions to society, services, policy-making, the economy and human experience.
• To better understand and communicate the role that Design can play in tackling societal challenges.
• To engage practitioners and researchers with our aims and to support these groups to work together to develop strong, interdisciplinary approaches to Design research.
• To support innovation through the development of the Design research area.

You can find a recent interview here.

For an overview of AHRC-funded Design research activities so far, please see the AHRC website.

Contact Paul

Imagination Lancaster, Lancaster University, LICA Building, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YW

t: +44 (0)1524 594520
e: p.rodgers@lancaster.ac.uk
w: http://imagination.lancs.ac.uk