Design Researchers in Residence: Mineral

This year's residents will respond to the theme of ‘Mineral’ and will support projects that interrogate intersecting mineral landscapes in the UK – geological, ecological and urban – through case studies, field research, and by building human and non-human relationships.

The programme will culminate in a publication and free public display at the museum in June 2026, through which visitors will learn about a range of impactful new thinking that centres design in the green transition.

Minerals, concentrated in the Earth’s crust, are a finite resource.

Global demand for critical minerals is accelerating, particularly with the transition to renewable energy systems. The International Energy Agency estimates that by 2040, the demand for key minerals like lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements will be four times greater than today. These materials are integral to the manufacture of clean energy technologies, including wind turbines and electrical networks, which are central to the UK’s net zero goals.

From kaolin pits in Cornwall to salt mines in North Yorkshire, the UK’s geological landscape is scarred by centuries of mineral extraction. These materials are not only held in geological strata, the mineral composition of soil and water plays a crucial role in supporting biodiversity and regulating ecological processes. Mineral fertilisers are used to provide plants with nutrients to grow. These delicate dynamics, often overlooked, are integral to the health of both natural and agricultural landscapes.

Simultaneously, there is a second mineral landscape in our urban environments, veins of ore embedded in discarded consumer electronics. Post-use materials represent a critical untapped resource.

Can net-zero goals be sustained through the continued extraction of finite mineral resources? How can design research better understand the UKs dependence on these minerals?

We welcomed applications from all over the UK and selected four applicants. With the support of the Design Museum and AHRC, they will develop a research project each and present their work at the museum next summer.

The designers will be announced soon.

Design Researchers in Residence was established to support emerging design thinkers whose research responds to the climate emergency, building upon the museum’s Designers in Residence programme that ran from 2007 to 2020. The residency forms part of the Design Museum’s Future Observatory, delivered in partnership with the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Each year the residency accommodates four researchers, working in different design disciplines, to further develop their individual responses to the theme and brief. The programme culminates with a publication and final showcase at the Design Museum, due to open in June 2024. Each resident is provided with a commissioning budget, which goes directly towards producing the work in the display as well as a bursary to support the development of their career and to fund their practice.

The Design Researchers in Residence programme builds upon the Design Museum’s Designers in Residence programme, which ran from 2007–2020. The revised residency programme, now in its third year, continues to provide emerging designers and researchers with time and space away from their regular environment to develop impactful new projects that contribute to design research into the climate crisis taking place across the country.

This programme is generously supported by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Background image: Brickfield Firing by Oliver Udy, courtesy of Rosanna Martin.