As a designer, Fiona Raby has an unthinking optimism about the future. She, like others, automatically assumes that what we design is neutral and implicitly good. Her research focuses on this deeply embedded ideology that the role of design and architecture is 'to make the world a better place' – but questions how we acknowledge our contradictions, our inconsistencies and celebrate a humanness which, if we admit it, is deeply flawed.

Fiona Raby considers a psychological future of increasing complexity, contradiction and dilemma – an ethical minefield. Although these issues are debated among intellectuals and ethicists, the discussions are highly technical and philosophical. She examines the difficulty of understanding the implications of the decisions being made for us. For example when the debate extends to nonspecialists, we participate as citizens, arguing passionately and determined, then step down from our soapboxes and go shopping. As consumers everything becomes murky. We behave differently from what we believe. Fiona’s research field attempts to uncover the unofficial desires that philosophical debate never touches.

Eminent futurologists and established forecasting institutes provide the inspiration for this emerging psychological landscape shaped by statistical analysis and predicted social trends. Although the landscape may appear familiar, the projects developed in this space will attempt to surprise us with unsettling distortions and unexpected alterations. What is the truth? It is unclear. Fiona Raby’s research sits critically between reality and fiction.