Research Room 1 : Scaling Up Co-design

About this session

In this session we will look back on the project, Scaling Up Co-design Research and Practice, which brought together academic and civil society partners to explore how to extend the impact and reach of our own work, to extract learning on different co-design practices, and to develop approaches and tools to help others take up and benefit from co-design.

This was truly co-designed research, with all project partners working together to frame a research question and design the research activity that would explore different models for scaling up co-design through a series of collaborations across the civil society partners’ live and emerging projects. 

Areas of Exploration

Themes we will explore in this session include:

• Exploring different ways to scale up co-design (extending out, extending up, cascading and connecting) 
• The power of experimental spaces for collaboration across sectors, disciplines, communities and different scales of organisations
• The power of co-designed research, and the funding models to support it
• Applying the Glass-House Design by Consensus workshop model in the context of research and the genesis of the Cross-pollination approach to be used in both practice and research  

You might like to watch this short film capturing the Scaling Up Co-design project showcase or have a look at the project summary publication before you join the session, as each offers a good overview of the project. However, this is entirely optional. Do also feel free to just turn up and find out more.

Book your free place now.

About Research Rooms

The Research Rooms series is a collaboration between national charity The Glass-House Community Led Design and The Open University's Design Group. These events share learning, resources and anecdotes from the many research projects we have done together. 

Research Rooms are informal online spaces for discussion with members of the research team from academia, practice and communities. Those attending can learn about the projects, their outputs and outcomes and the influence they have had on those involved. There will also be space to share your own experience and explorations of the project themes. 

More about Scaling Up Co-design

Scaling up Co-design Research and Practice was a collaborative action research project led by the Open University, with academic partners Brunel University, Northumbria University, Sheffield Hallam and civil society organisations The Glass-House Community Led Design, Silent Cities, The Blackwood Foundation and Fossbox and Flossie, as well as freelance researcher Hannah Goraya.

The project was one of ten projects funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Connected Communities programme under their Co-Design and Co-Development strand. This was an innovative two-stage funding programme which supported the co-design of the research by all project partners in the first phase, and its implementation in the second phase.  

If you would like to explore the project before the Research Room session, there are plenty of resources available:

Film capturing the Scaling Up Co-design project showcase

Scaling up Co-design website

Scaling up Co-design series publication

More on The Glass-House website about the project include:

Scaling up Impact and Reach through Co-design

Scaling up design champions

Scaling up design education

Film: Creativity, media and place