Inclusive Design for Social Impact

The Inclusive Design for Social Impact research space is based on the question, ‘How can Inclusive Design principles be used to work with individuals and communities addressing pressing social issues in different global contexts?’

This space allows us to build on our past work and take our expertise and experience into local community projects. This further enhances the opportunity to focus on and collaborate with parts of the population that may have previously been excluded by economics, geography or politics. In a world increasingly monopolised by the polarisation of thinking and ideology, the opportunity to use inclusive design to bridge divides is more pressing now than ever.

This research space concentrates on developing community projects and looks at groups excluded by economics, geography or politics. Projects with the third sector will feature strongly, as will looking at how inclusive design techniques can be applied in the Global South.

The following projects exemplify this. We worked in the city of Derry/Londonderry, embedding a team in the city over the last three years to work with community and political structures to launch the Our Future Foyle project as a vehicle to support urban transformation and address mental health.

We worked with children in south London, looking at eating habits and obesity against a background of environmental and situational factors. Building on our healthcare expertise, we also worked with triage teams in Edinburgh, partnering with the Council and NHS Lothian.