The projects span a range of innovative fields, including interactive spaces for live performance, digital tools to transform historic textiles into smart fabrics, collaborative cultural networks, sustainable textile frameworks, and interactive technology for teaching engineering. These initiatives highlight the RCA's commitment to leading creative, interdisciplinary research.
The RCA's Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation stated that the five projects are a "wonderful testimony to the power and reach of research being conducted at the Royal College of Art," noting their groundbreaking nature and commitment to co-creation and collaboration with academic partners and wider communities.
One funded project, 'Sounding Bodies', led by Dr Ali Mohammed, will explore how immersive and responsive environments can make classical music performance more participatory and accessible for young people. Partners include Kingston School of Art and ARCO - Music For All.
'Textile Ecologies: Prototyping Digital Parametric Futures for Textiles', led by Bine Roth, aims to develop an open-source infrastructure to translate historical textile structures into datasets for creating accessible, textile-based digital sensing devices. This project involves partners such as the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Archive.
The 'Shared Authorship' network, co-led by Professor Zey Suka-Bill from the RCA and South East Technological University (SETU), will establish a UK–Ireland early career researcher network focused on participatory cultural practice in museums and galleries.
Professor Sharon Baurley is leading the 'Circular Design Toolbox (CDT)' project, which will translate research-backed circular materials and design tools into a deployable service to help UK apparel brands implement textile circularity and meet upcoming regulations. Partners include Two Lives London.
Finally, Dr Atif Ghani will lead 'Digital Heritage as Engineering Pedagogy', a study investigating how immersive digital heritage experiences, using the Airships XR learning environment, can enhance engineering learning, confidence, and curiosity among young people. Bedford Creative Arts is a partner.
