Design Research Works Jamboree 2022

What's going on here? I have questions!

We have tried to anticipate some of your questions, but if you have further queries, comments, ideas, or want to say anything else - please get in touch! If you are attending and want to know more about those logistics please see attendee FAQ.

What is Design Research Works?

Design Research Works is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship that is held by Joseph Lindley. The Future Leaders Fellowships are supposed to be transformational, both for their subject area and also for the individuals involved in them. They are equally about leadership as well as research. The vision for Design Research Works is to build an unprecedented body of evidence exploring the value of Design Research and to use that evidence to promote the Design Research globally.

Who is funding this?

The underlying Fellowship is funded directly by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and additional support has been provided for the event by the Future Leaders Fellowship Development Network.

What are you, we, or they trying to achieve?

Good question, and there are multiple answers. We anticipate and hope that all of these aims will have a lot of common ground and overlap.

Aims for the Future Leaders Fellowship Development Network

To produce accessible, concise, but meaningful introductions to Research through Design, which may be use for some of the world's leading researchers who are members of the network.

Aims for Design Research Works

To help drive a (long term) transformation where more of the world understand and benefit from the value of Research through Design.

Aims for Attendees

This is up to you really! We are confident that by bringing together a group of Research through Design enthusiasts that everyone is going to benefit. We are a diverse bunch, we have different ways of working, and different points of view. The Jamboree will be a unique opportunity to share our perspective, delve deeper into them, and hopefully come up with some new ways of looking at things. We hope that the Jamboree will be an opportunity for all of us to shape the future impact of Research through Design.

Do you have a schedule of events?

Yes! You can download the basic schedule here.... Don't worry if this looks a little empty, we have a lot more planned but don't want to spoil the surprises. Also, much of the week will be supported by Dr Dee Hennessey who is a leading expert in 'improvised facilitation'... so it would be misleading to have too many concrete plans. We will also be ensuring there is plenty of space in the schedule for serendipitous forays into unexpected places and topics.

Are you being inclusive, how are you addressing diversity, and who will be there and why?

We are doing our best to ensure that the event doesn't exclude anyone and for those attending using a process based around the concept of an inclusion passport. If you want to discuss anything relating to inclusion or adjustments we might need to make for you to attend then please get in touch.

We are carefully considering diversity. The main criteria for attendance is having an interest or expertise relating to Research through Design, however we are striving to ensure we have a reasonable mix of participants in terms of career stages, gender identities, and ethnicities. The attendee list will be published on this website. The majority of places at the Jamboree will be filled based on invitations that are offered based on these diversity aims, but five spaces will be available to apply for. Preference for these spaces will be given to underrepresented groups and students.

Why is it in-person, in the Lake District, over five days?

The answers to all these questions relate to the ambition of the Jamboree. While the outcomes based on the week's work we hope will be accessible and concise, the complexity of the underlying problems and the challenges we face are not at all trivial. The vision for the Jamboree is a unique event where everyone is (as much as is possible) free from the usual distractions of conferences, symposia, workshops and everyday life. The hope is that by holding the event in this secluded location, and running it over 5 days, we will have the opportunity to not just capture pre-existing ideas about Research through Design, but to forge entirely new ground.

Can I participate remotely?

Sort of. We will invite comment and contributions to come in from remote participants, however as this is not a conference style event with presentations or question and answer sessions, remote participation will be a bespoke and largely asynchronous offering.