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News and Events

Winner of DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2009 announced

Matter, the Bath-based design consultancy has won the 2009 DBA Inclusive Design Challenge for its radical rethink of the cushion. The award was given at a special presentation event at the Royal College of Art on 5 March 2009. More...

Welcoming Workplace research launch

The findings of Welcoming Workplace, the Helen Hamlyn Centre’s international research project on the office design needs of older workers in the knowledge economy, was launched with presentations at the British Library’s Worktech 08 conference in London and the Build Boston exhibition for architects in the USA. More...

St Étienne Design Show

Several Research Associate projects from the Helen Hamlyn Centre went on show in France this autumn as part of the 2008 St Étienne International Design Biennial at the Cité Du Design from 15-30 November. More...

Helen Hamlyn Professor of Design

The Helen Hamlyn Trust has generously agreed to fund a Helen Hamlyn Chair of Design at the RCA. This is the first endowed academic Chair in the history of the College. Jeremy Myerson, Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre, has been named as the first incumbent. More...

DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2009

Five DBA member consultancies have been shortlisted to compete for the DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2009 – BWA-Design, Clinic, Matter, Rodd Design and Wire Design. This year's Challenge is sponsored by Sanctuary Care. More...

Helen Hamlyn Research Associates 2009

The tenth Helen Hamlyn Research Associates programme got underway on 1 October 2008. Eleven new design graduates from five RCA departments are working on collaborative projects with a range of industry partners, including Samsung, Legrand, Bene and BUPA. More...

Audi to sponsor Include 2009

The Audi Design Foundation has agreed to be the headline sponsor of the fifth international Include conference, scheduled for the RCA, London, on 5-8 April 2009. Include 2009 builds on the previous four Include conferences by exploring how inclusive design practice in design, research and business can lead towards innovation in people centred design. More...

48 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge in Tokyo

The Helen Hamlyn Centre has been invited for the second year to organise a 48 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge in collaboration with Japan’s leading design business magazine Nikkei Design and the University of Tokyo for the Design Innovation Forum 2008. More...

Indian newsletter collaboration

The Helen Hamlyn Centre collaborated with the Design for All Institute in India to produce a special edition newsletter centred on the projects from the Research Associates Programme 2008. More...

DOME - Designing Out Medical Error

DOME, a £1.6m collaborative research project that links up the RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre with clinicians from St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington and management specialists at Imperial College Business School, got underway this autumn. Funded by the EPSRC, its aim is to design out medical error on hospital wards. More...

DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2009 launch

The launch of this year’s DBA Inclusive Design Challenge was held at the Royal College of Art on 11 September. Full details of how to enter was presented. The Challenge is open to Design Business Association (DBA) members only. More...

Research Associates show and symposium

The Helen Hamlyn Research Associates 2008 presented their industry-funded projects at a show and symposium at the Royal College of Art on 18 September, as part of the RCA’s contribution to the 2008 London Design Festival. More...

Hong Kong 48 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge

The 48 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge - Living Together, Innovating Together - was held from 28-30 August 2008 as part of the ‘Inclusive Cities’ project developed by the British Council China and East Asia region. More...

Student awards announced

The Design for our Future Selves Awards 2008, organised by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for graduating RCA students, was presented on Tuesday 1 July at the Royal College of Art. It was the opening event of Innovation Night at the College. More...

Four nation ‘B Me’ Challenge Workshop held in London

A three-day Challenge workshop organised by the Helen Hamlyn Centre, with teams from Italy, Spain, France and Greece, and sponsored by Roche on the theme of rheumatoid arthritis generated 18 realised design ideas. More...

China Now exhibition

Dr Yanki Lee, Research Fellow in the RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre, is the curator of a special exhibition of art and design about China by students and graduates of the Royal College of Art. The show opened on 10 May 2008 as part of the China Now Festival ahead of the Beijing Olympics. More...

Oslo 24 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge

Senior Research Fellow Julia Cassim was invited to run a 24 Hour Design Challenge to launch the European Business Design Conference in May 2008, organised by the Norwegian Design Council. Five teams of professional designers from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland competed for the prize. More...

DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2008

Adare and Judge Gill have been named joint winners of the DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2008, an annual collaboration between the Helen Hamlyn Centre and the Design Business Association. Six DBA member firms responded to a brief set by Sanctuary Care, sponsors of the Challenge. More...

Research Associates show and symposium 2007

The Helen Hamlyn Research Associates 2008 will present their industry-funded projects at a show and symposium at the Royal College of Art on 18 September, as part of the RCA’s contribution to the 2008 London Design Festival. More...

Roger Coleman invited to be IMMN member

Helen Hamlyn Research Professor Roger Coleman has been invited to be a member of the International Mature Marketing Network (IMMN), the first international association of marketers, researchers, brands and educators focused on marketing communications to the 40+ market.

Researchers at Chinese conference

The RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre has raised its profile in China with the participation in July 2007 of three of its senior researchers in the 12th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in Beijing. More...

Crime-cutting Alliance

The Home Office invited the RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre to join a Design and Technology Alliance that aims to contribute to new initiatives to cut crime. More...

Launch of BT Inclusive Design Website

BT has launched a web-based inclusive design toolkit dedicated to building better business through improving design to meet the needs of real people. The launch of this resource follows a three-year collaboration between BT, the RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre, The Engineering Design Centre at Cambridge University and Sagentia. More...

Top medical award

A redesign of the standard hospital resuscitation trolley by a research team in the Helen Hamlyn Centre has won a major award at the 2007 Medical Futures Innovation Awards, the ‘Oscars’ of the healthcare industry.. More...

Student awards announced

The Design for our Future Selves Awards 2007, organised by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for RCA students, were presented on Tuesday 26 June at the Royal College of Art as the opening event of Innovation Night at the College. More...

24 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge

Fenomenon, Hyphen and an RCA Alumni team participated in a 24 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge on 3 April, 2007 at Imperial College, as part of Include 2007. Michael Wolff was the keynote speaker.

Include 2007 - designing with people

The fourth international Include conference, sponsored by the Audi Design Foundation, took place at the Royal College of Art in London, 2-4 April 2007. More...

Inclusive design in Japan

The Helen Hamlyn Centre organised a 48-Hour Inclusive Design Challenge as part of the International Conference for Universal Design, held in Kyoto, Japan, 22-26 October 2006. More...

DBA Challenge award winner

A communication project by Wolff Olins that rethinks the international disability symbol won the DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2007. The result was announced at an awards night at the RCA on 6 February 2007. More...

Medical designer joins centre

Ed Matthews, a leading designer of medical devices and healthcare products, has joined the Helen Hamlyn Centre as Senior Research Fellow to develop its growing interests in healthcare and patient safety. More...

Challenge Workshop in Japan

The Challenge Workshops, the Helen Hamlyn Centre’s main platform to demonstrate how inclusive design techniques can help businesses to innovate, returned to Japan in May 2007 with a workshop for manufacturer TOTO. More...

Audi to support Include 2007

The Audi Design Foundation agreed to support Include 2007, the international conference on inclusive design scheduled for the Royal College of Art on 2-4 April 2007. More...

Design entrepreneur Lee speaks

Alex Lee, President of OXO International and the design entrepreneur behind the Good Grips range of kitchen tools, was the guest speaker at the RCA symposium of the Helen Hamlyn Research Associates 2006. More...

Centre wins 21st Century research award

The Helen Hamlyn Centre has won a major research grant from the Designing for the 21st Century programme to look at ways to improve workplace design for older people. More...

British Library exhibits

Workplace projects by the Helen Hamlyn Research Associates 2006 went on show at the British Library as part of the WorkTech 06 conference looking at the links between technology, architecture and work. More...

Japanese researcher at centre

Dr Atsue Takeoka joined the Royal College of Art Helen Hamlyn Centre for six months as a visiting researcher from the User Science Institute at Kyushu University in Japan. More...

Moving ahead at AMBEX

A Helen Hamlyn Centre research team investigating the design of the future ambulance took part in AMBEX 2006, the leading international ambulance exhibition and conference held in June 2006 in Yorkshire. More...

Forum on the Future of Surgery

The Helen Hamlyn Centre held its first Forum on the Future of Surgery on 6 February 2009. This high-level think-tank at the RCA that brought together 25 experts from the worlds of medicine, science, design, engineering, management, marketing and research to explore how surgical practice and surgical instruments can be advanced. More...

Design Bugs Out

The Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art has played a leading role in Design Bugs Out, a new initiative from the Department of Health, NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency and the Design Council, to deliver safer, cleaner hospitals. Design Bugs Out was unveiled to the press on 28 April 2009. More...

Sarajevo design challenge

Four Royal College of Art alumni will travel to Sarajevo in May 2009 with Helen Hamlyn Centre Senior Research Fellow Julia Cassim to lead teams of designers from Bosnia Herzogovina and Croatia to work with disabled craftspeople to co-design a range of products. More...

Helen Hamlyn Design Awards 2009

The new-look Helen Hamlyn Design Awards, the competition that recognises outstanding people-centred design ideas by graduating students of the Royal College of Art, announced its 2009 awards at a presentation event on 30 June 2009 to mark the start of the College’s Innovation Night. More...

UK-Japan award success

The Helen Hamlyn Centre has won one of three Collaborative Project Grants given by the British Embassy in Tokyo to celebrate UK-Japan 2009, a year-long series of events held to commemorate 150 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and the UK. The award will fund a three-day Challenge Workshop in Kyoto this summer. More...

CLOSEUP marks 10 years

Ten years of collaborative projects between new graduates of the Royal College of Art and industry partners across the European Union on the Helen Hamlyn Research Associates programme were featured in a major exhibition called CLOSEUP this autumn, held at the RCA as part of the London Design Festival 2009. More...

Forum on the Future of Surgery

The Helen Hamlyn Centre held its second Forum on the Future of Surgery on 12 June 2009. This high-level think-tank at the RCA brought together 25 experts from the worlds of medicine, science, design, engineering, management, marketing and research to explore how the patient journey through surgery can be improved. More...

Tenth anniversary party

The Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art celebrated its tenth anniversary on 18 June 2009 with a party for 100 collaborators, opinion formers, advisers and staff members at Lady Hamlyn’s Old Church Street residence in Chelsea, London. More...

Recognition for Pathfinder

A pioneering new system called Pathfinder, designed by Helen Hamlyn Research Associate David Sweeney to help visually impaired people find their way around public space, has received international recognition for its innovative approach. More...

Include 2009 conference

Delegates from a record 29 different countries attended the Include 2009 international conference on inclusive design at the Royal College of Art, 5-8 April 2009. More...

Research Associates at midway point

The Helen Hamlyn Research Associates 2009 presented their projects at the midway point of the programme on 6 April at the RCA, at a special evening seminar scheduled as part of the Include 2009 conference. More...

48 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge in Seoul

The Helen Hamlyn Centre ran a 48 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge at the Seoul Design Olympiad on 12 -14 October at the invitation of the Seoul Design Foundation and The British Council, Korea. More...

24 Hour Universal Design Challenge in Dublin

The Helen Hamlyn Centre, Trinity Haus at Trinity College Dublin and the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (CEUD) at the National Disability Authority hosted a 24 Hour Universal Design Challenge in Dublin from 6-7 November as part of IDI Design Week. More...

DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2010

Six projects have been shortlisted for this year's Challenge. The theme for 2010 is Active Ageing – designing for our future selves, and looks at the challenges faced by people to remain active as they grow older. More...

Disguised - A True Design Story with Patricia Moore

Leading designer Patricia Moore, an international pioneer of inclusive design, made a rare appearance at the Royal College of Art on Monday 9 November 2009 to speak at the opening event of The Methods Lab, a two-day workshop for RCA students. More...

Resuscitation trolley at the Design Museum

The resus:station, a redesign of the hospital resuscitation trolley is on display at the Design Museum as part of the 'Ergonomics – Real Design' exhibition, running until 14 March 2010.  More...

Methods Lab 2009-2010

The first Methods Lab this academic year was held on 10-11 November. Forty design students from seven RCA departments and friends of the Centre participated in this two-day creative workshop, which aimed to explore how to design a more inclusive world. More...

All Inclusive Sarajevo exhibition

An exhibition of the products developed under the All Inclusive Sarajevo project was held at the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo from 21-28 November and will travel to Belgrade and Zagreb in 2010. More...

DBA Challenge awards night

The DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2010, the UK flagship of the Helen Hamlyn Centre’s Challenge Workshops programme, held its tenth awards night at the Royal College of Art on 4 March. More...

Researchers join Kobe seminar

Three researchers from the Helen Hamlyn Centre participated in an international expert seminar at St Catherine’s College, Kobe, Japan, in January 2010 alongside academics from the Oxford Institute of Ageing and Japanese universities. More...

Rama Gheerawo named Deputy Director

Rama Gheerawo has been named Deputy Director of the RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre as part of a move to strengthen the centre’s management structure. More...

Research projects at WorkTech09

Two Helen Hamlyn Research Associates, Catherine Greene and Claudia Dutson, exhibited as part of the Worktech09 conference at the British Library, which explored the impact of new technology on workplace design. More...

Clinic wins DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2010

The DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2010, the UK flagship of the Helen Hamlyn Centre’s Challenge Workshops, held its tenth awards night at the Royal College of Art on 4 March. Clinic claimed the top prize. More...

Inclusive design focus on BBC Radio 4

The Helen Hamlyn Centre’s pioneering work in inclusive design was featured in You and Yours on BBC Radio 4 on 19 February 2010. The programme included an interview with Helen Hamlyn Professor of Design Jeremy Myerson. More...

Research Associates at midway point

The Helen Hamlyn Research Associates 2010 presented their projects at the midway point at a special Work In Progress seminar and supper for industry partners, held at the RCA on 23 March 2010. This year 13 new design graduates are working with partners from business, government and the voluntary sector. More...

Include 2011 looks at social innovation

The sixth international conference on inclusive design, Include 2011, organised by the Helen Hamlyn Centre, will take place at the Royal College of Art on 18-20 April 2011, sponsored by the Audi Design Foundation. Its theme will be social innovation. More...

Hospital designs are highly commended

A set of six proposals for infection control in hospitals, designed by the Helen Hamlyn Centre at the RCA, has been highly commended in the national Patient Safety Awards, announced in February 2010. More...

Trading Places at the V&A

To celebrate ten years of the DBA Inclusive Design Challenge, the Helen Hamlyn Centre organised a special exhibition, entitled Trading Places, at the Sackler Centre for Arts Education at the V&A which ran from 19 April to Tuesday 25 May 2010. More...

European Business Conference on Inclusive Design in Oslo

The Helen Hamlyn Centre worked closely with the Norwegian Design Council on the 2nd European Business Conference on Inclusive Design 2010 - Innovation for All. This took place in Oslo 20-21 May 2010. More...

Helen Hamlyn Centre partners Innovation for All conference

The Helen Hamlyn Centre was the official conference partner for the 2nd European Business Conference on Inclusive Design 2010 - Innovation for All organised by the Norwegian Design Council. Four members from the Centre went to Oslo between 19-21 May 2010 to take part. More...

Shoe Design Challenge workshop

Arthritis Research UK commissioned the Helen Hamlyn Centre to lead a Challenge Workshop on shoe design that took place 13-14 July at the University of Central Lancashire. More...

Helen Hamlyn Design Awards 2010

Outstanding socially aware projects by graduating students of the Royal College of Art were rewarded in the Helen Hamlyn Design Awards 2010, announced on 29 June. More...

Exhibitions for London Design Festival

The Helen Hamlyn Centre staged three exhibitions at the Royal College of Art in September as part of the RCA's contribution to the 2010 London Design Festival. More...

Research associate project wins IDEA award

The Out of the Box project, completed in 2009 with Samsung on the Helen Hamlyn Research Associates Programme 2009, has been given a prestigious award by the Industrial Designers Society of America More...

Keynotes announced for Include 2011

Include 2011, the sixth international conference on inclusive design hosted by the Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art, has announced its keynote speakers for the event. Include 2011 takes places on 18-20 April 2011. More...

Students join The Methods Lab

The Helen Hamlyn Centre’s Methods Lab for RCA students to explore design for our future selves ran this autumn from 1-5 November 2010 as part of AcrossRCA, an initiative encouraging interdisciplinary and inter-departmental collaboration in art and design. More...

Centre joins Battle of Ideas

The Helen Hamlyn Centre played a key role in the Battle of Ideas 2010, a two-day festival of high-level, thought-provoking debate organised by the Institute of Ideas and hosted by the Royal College of Art on 30-31 October 2010. More...

UK-China Fellowship of Excellence

Helen Hamlyn Centre Research Fellow Dr Yanki Lee has been awarded a UK-China Fellowship of Excellence funded by Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). The award enables young researchers to conduct cutting-edge research in a Chinese research institution. More...

Cumulus design education conference

Helen Hamlyn Centre researchers played a key role in the Cumulus design education conference, Young Creators for Better City and Better Life, held in Shanghai in September 2010 and hosted by China’s Tongji University. More...

DARE summer school in China

Researchers from the Helen Hamlyn Centre participated in the DARE (Design Age Research Exchange) Summer School, a high-level collaboration between the Royal College of Art and the Academy of Art & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. More...

Innovation prize for Centre director

Helen Hamlyn Professor of Design Jeremy Myerson was given a Design Innovation Award by Northumbria University at Newcastle in June 2010 for his work in ‘pushing the boundaries’ of design as director of the centre. More...

Healthcare presentation at the White House

Research work by the Helen Hamlyn Centre's health and patient safety lab was presented at the White House in Washington to members of the US Government's healthcare policy team in November 2010 by Senior Associate Maja Kecman. More...