The objectives of this Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) investment are to:
- enable mobility between sectors
- boost the skills, knowledge, networking opportunities and therefore career development of secondees
- intensify knowledge exchange between different sectors, resulting in innovative outputs
- add value to the design sector and the UK economy
This investment is part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Innovation Scholars programme.
The AHRC-funded opportunity had two rounds. The first round started in 2023 and the second round started in 2025.
Both have been focused on design and how research and innovation in design can help tackle contemporary challenges within research areas such as wellbeing and health, place-making and supporting communities, and our environment (natural and built).
2025 second round secondments
We funded nine secondees through the second round:
- Rhys Williams: Critical Infrastructure Design at the host organisation Centre for Civic Innovation
- Lara Salinas: Advancing Design Excellence in the Public Sector at the host organisation London Borough of Camden
- Des Fagan: AI for Designing Low Carbon Buildings: Accelerating Achievement of Net Zero 2050 in our Built Environment at the host organisation Grimshaw Architects
- Tsung-Hsien Wang: Generative AI for Transforming Architecture at the host organisation Hawkins Brown
- Niki Wallace: Design for planet at the host organisation Design Council
- Maja Luna Jorgensen: Radical roots: Addressing inequalities of opportunity through place-based co-design approaches at the host organisation Zebra Collective
- Iryna Kuksa: Consumer Duty: Building Design Synergies for Equitable Innovation at Nile HQ Ltd
- Matthew Pilling: Connecting UK Makerspaces at the host organisation The Making Rooms
- Cally Gatehouse: Care-ful Theory of Change: Embedding Feminist Care Ethics in Design for Social Change Practice at the host organisation Sail Creative
2023 first round secondments
We funded 11 secondees through the first round:
- Ana da Costa: Accelerating material reuse in construction (AMRUC) at the host organisation Orms Designers and Architects Ltd
- Beatrice De Carli: Transforming architecture in development at the host organisation Architecture Sans Frontières UK
- Clare Risbeth: Atmospheres of inclusion and identity: designing public open space in superdiverse cities at the host organisation We Made That
- Daniel Dubowitz: Cultural masterplanning: new methods for developer-led urban regeneration at the host organisation U+I Group Ltd
- Jennifer Coates: ‘Japaneseness’ in the UKbuilt environment: an etnographic approach at the host organisation Takero Shimazaki Architects
- Joanna Boehnert: Transition templates: pathways to net zero at the host organisation Livework Studio Ltd
- Jonathan Djabarouti: Intangible heritage and design in historic contexts at Historic England
- Laudan Nooshin: Place-making through sound: designing for inclusivity and wellbeing at the host organisation Charcoalblue
- Liam Healy: Co-designing forests at the host organisation Forestry England
- Philip Graham: Adjustable housing: a transdisciplinary approach to delivering social, environmental and economically sustainable homes at the host organisation University of Cambridge
- Rosanna Deplano: Redistributing social gains in a commercially-driven environment: a law and architecture study at the host organisation Hawkins Brown Architects LLP
Last updated: 1 May 2026