Research & Innovation into Sustainability

The College is engaged across all programmes, at all levels, in rethinking how societies, industries and individuals can pursue their aims while reducing emissions and waste, eradicating pollution and maintaining biodiversity.

Examples of recent projects and initiatives include:

• Exploring how green social prescribing can improve health and wellbeing in the UK
• Designing an iconic chargepoint for electric vehicles
• An innovative art exhibition at COP 26
• Conducting ocean research with Extreme E
• Supporting textiles sustainability through our new materials science research centre
• Exploring how RCA research and design can support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
• Enabling communities to catalyse sustainable change through Ecological Citizens
• Turning post-consumer textiles, crop residues and household waste into renewable material in the Textiles Circularity Centre
• Working with UNESCO as part of a ten-year partnership using design and innovation to help deliver the sustainable future ocean we all want.
• Reimagining foodways for drylands and wetlands in the climate crisis (Climavore x Jameel)
• Reviewing the use of carbon footprint measurement tools in creative industries

Many projects at the RCA function as Living Labs where students are able to contribute to environmental and social issues with local communities, such as the immersive exhibition Polar Zero, engaging local schools with the Terra Carta Design Lab exhibition and in the climate emergency art project A Greener Picture, and the research project Citizen Naturewatch.

InnovationRCA is the Royal College of Art’s centre for entrepreneurship and commercialisation, providing incubation, IP and business support. InnovationRCA helps staff, students and alumni transform compelling ideas into successful businesses. In its lifetime, InnovationRCA has launched 81 start-ups, creating over 800 UK jobs. 34% of founders have been from ethnic minority backgrounds and over the last five years, 52% of founders have been female.

Through a focus on combining art and design with tech and innovation, a number of InnovationRCA’s start-ups have been tackling issues associated with environmental sustainability and the broader categories aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

• Aerseeds: improve soil and support reforestation through aerodynamic nutrient and seed pods made from food waste
• Amphico: fully sustainable and recyclable alternatives to current waterproof fabrics for the outerwear market
• Ananas Anam: a sustainable leather alternative using natural fibres extracted from the waste leaves of pineapple plants
• BlueNose: developing a solution designed to significantly reduce the fuel consumption of containerships through the use of aerodynamics improvements retrofitted on board of container ships
• BuffaloGrid: solar powered hub for rural off-grid African towns that would otherwise be without power for decades
• Episod Studio: developing Race for the Arctic, a videogame using digital storytelling to explore the future of the Arctic
• Orbital Bloom: using data-driven artwork to catalyse the transformation of buildings into sustainable ecosystems
• The Tyre Collective: reducing pollution from tyre wear by capturing particulars at source
• ZELP (Zero Emissions Livestock Project): a methane-reduction device and certification system that aims to reduce the environmental impact of methane emissions caused by the livestock industry.

Find out more about RCA staff working across sustainability challenges and solutions here.

The Royal College of Art outlines criteria for acceptance of research funding and donations in the following policies:

• RCA Policy on Ethics in Research Funding (PDF)
• Donation Acceptance Policy (PDF)