UK network for design led social innovation for sustainability (DESIS-UK)

This project seeks to establish DESIS-UK, as a national multidisciplinary network of individuals and organisations exploring design-led social innovation and sustainability, and to identify and agree its aims and objectives and ways of working, in collaboration with stakeholders. It aims to strengthen connections between design academics, design practitioners, and end users of design from public, private and third sector organisations and the communities they serve, to explore how best to employ design thinking and skills to deliver sustain-able social and environmental benefits to communities. DESIS-UK will be developed to interface with the International DESIS Network founded by Ezio Manzini (http://www.desis-network.org ) which is a network of global, regional and local design 'labs', comprised of teams of professors, researchers and students active in the promotion and delivery of design led social inno-vation for sustainability. The DESIS International network is decentralised, operating via regional nodes and local hubs, and acts to "Foster social innovation and sustainability by taking part in support projects and programs, gathering together and offering greater visibility to significant cases. Promoting design for social innovation both within and out-side the design community, developing appropriate design tools and organizing cultural and pedagogic activities. Fostering the circulation of ideas and experiences, with a peer-to-peer approach, between the different DESIS-Local initiatives to carrying out comparative research and co-producing courses at an international level." DESIS-UK network will constitute a DESIS-Local initiative and further to its creation seek to be active in: - Proposing and developing national and international research programs. - Organizing pedagogic initiatives (eg workshops, seminars, courses and conference) - Preparing pedagogic resources (eg teaching tools, course formats, bibliographic references). - Collecting and disseminating research information (eg case studies, projects and research results). - Promoting cultural and communication initiatives (eg exhibitions, publications and broadcasts). A series of 3 workshops will bring together academics, practitioners, and community end users of design (typically third sector organisations) to build UK capacity for design-led social innovation by creating connections, harvesting knowledge/ experience and exchanging and reviewing existing best practices. As well as being disseminated internationally via the existing DESIS website, the outcomes of these workshops will be discussed and documented online through a dedicated DESIS-UK webspace to be created as part of this project. Specifically, workshops will seek to; - Share and map current project cases, reviewing themes and approaches. - Map and connect disciplinary specialisms and skills amongst individuals and organisations within a DESIS-UK network. - Connect end users of design and research with researchers and student groups within academia to facilitate research, teaching and practice of design led social innovation nationwide. - Connect students and academia with the professional world to augment career opportunities, and the pedagogic requirements to support them. - Disseminate exemplars to the UK Network to share learning and inspire local and national initiatives. - Create visions/opportunities for future projects/research. This proposal aligns with the current highlight notice for Connected Communities in that it supports the three underpinning cross-cutting themes identified within the Connected Communities summit in Glasgow, July 2011, namely: - Connectivity within & between communities - Connecting research on communities - Connecting research with communities - & "enhanced harvesting" of research benefitting communities.