Aims & Objectives

Design is a central activity within many different fields, for example, engineering, architecture, fashion, applied arts, computing & communications. Extending design knowledge involves research that
makes connections between these and other disciplines.

The Designing for the 21st Century Initiative aims to do this by:

~Promoting the formation of new communities and networks of design researchers, practitioners and end-users of design
~Building shared understanding of theoretical concepts, cultures, languages and methods within different design communities
~Stimulating new ways of design thinking that will meet the challenges of designing for 21st Century Society
~Supporting leading edge research that is self-reflective, socially aware, economically enterprising and internationally significant

The AHRC and EPSRC are committing £6.5 million to the Designing for the 21st Century Initiative between Jan 2005 and Dec 2009. This funding has been used to support two research calls. The Phase 1 Call was announced in March 2004 and supported cross-sector and cross-disciplinary networking activities through the formation of 21 research clusters that operated during the 2005 calendar year. The Phase 2 call was announced in Jan 2006 and is supporting 20 interdisciplinary research projects that build on the Phase 1 research cluster activities. These Phase 2 projects are running from early 2007 through to early 2009. 

photo by Angus Colvin
(middle image only)