The Centre for Research in Interdisciplinary Creative Practice

Impact and Public Engagement in Art and Design

Research staff have been cited and critically reviewed in major international press and media; research staff have also been nominated for numerous major awards.

Product and User Interface Research Forum

Dr David Swann: Medical bag

Dr David Swann’s produced a groundbreaking design for a super-efficient and super-safe treatment bag for mobile health workers, the design is attracting global praise and interest and put him in line for four major awards. Dr Swann’s research focuses on the initiative NHS at Home: Co-designing a 21st Century nursing bag.  The aim was to improve the delivery and experience of care that patients receive in non-hospital settings; the result is a special home treatment bag made from one major moulding with the bag’s design optimised to maximise the effectiveness of hand decontamination. The bag is small enough to fit into the boot of a car and can be transformed into a compact treatment space. The project earned Dr Swann his PhD at the Royal College of Art. The bag has been chosen by Innovation RCA as a design with commercial potential and as a result Dr Swann has been nominated for a James Dyson Fellowship, he was a finalist in the Conran Foundation Design Award at the RCA and he won the Helen Hamlyn Design Award for Creativity. Dr Swann has also been nominated in one of the categories of the globally prestigious Index Design Awards, under the patronage of the Crown Prince of Denmark. Lord Darzi, a leading surgeon who is a former health minister and who has been carrying out important strategic research for the NHS, has been “very impressed” and has requested images of the bag for inclusion in his presentations on hospital-acquired infections. After some fine tuning the bag is ready for commercial development – he has already made presentations to major potential backers – and in tests it has proved to deliver higher productivity and patient safety performance.

Product Design lecturer praised for commitment to NHS patients
Success is in the bag

Culture and Criticality Research Forum

The author: Ian Massey

Ian Massey’s biographical monograph on Patrick Procktor: Art and Life published by Unicorn Press received a significant number of reviews both in the UK and internationally, they include A Towering Talent: review by John McEwen in ‘The Spectator’; The Lost Dandy: review by Gavanndra Hodge for the ‘London Evening Standard’ Magazine; review by Keith Miller in the ‘Times Literary Supplement’; Ode to a Dandy: review by Jordan Hruska for Out, Here Publishing, Los Angeles; Destroyed by frivolity – and drink, review by Andrew Lambirth in ‘The Art Newspaper (International Edition)’, and ‘Chroma’ online journal had a review by David Plante. The book also received a number of other literary and radio broadcasts reviews. The book is held in academic and public libraries throughout the UK, America and Australia.

So whatever happened to Patrick Procktor?

Sculpture and Installation Art Research Forum

Dr Jill Townsley: Spoons

Dr Jill Townsley’s installation Spoons, recently exhibited at the Museum of Art and Design in New York received a number of major reviews in the following international press: New York Times; International Design Magazine; New Statesman; American Craft Magazine; The Wall Street Journal; Business Week; Newsweek and Elle Magazine, South Korea.

Jill Townsley's website