Design Researchers in Residence 2026/27: Open Call

Algae, fungi, yeast, natural fibres... grown materials are substances cultivated with living organisms, rather than being extracted from the earth. They are natural, renewable, and biodegradable, whether grown in a lab or on land.

The UK's bioeconomy is a government growth priority: the 2025 Modern Industrial Strategy names engineering biology as one of six frontier industries, with an ambition for global leadership by 2030.

Globally, the market for mycelium-based materials alone is projected to grow from around $3.6 billion today to over $5 billion by 2030, as fashion, construction and packaging industries look for alternatives to plastic, leather and other petrochemical- and animal-derived materials.

Yet the UK's own living landscapes for grown materials are themselves under threat. Seagrass meadows on the west coast of Wales have depleted by 92% over the last century, while only around 30,000 hectares remain of Scotland’s temperate rainforests. The UK's grown ecosystems are as fragile as they are abundant.

Design Researchers in Residence is open to designers and researchers from disciplines including but not limited to: biodesign, fashion and textiles, industrial design, architecture, systems and policy research, material innovation, craft or graphic design.

We are interested in research that spans the handmade and tactile to the biofabricated and engineered, embedded in natural intelligence. This includes Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), biodesign and biofabrication practices that work with living systems.

Design Researchers in Residence: Grown programme will run from October 2026 to June 2027. The accompanying residency display will be open from June 2027 to September 2027.

• To apply, please visit the Future Observatory website for further instructions and download the Application Form. Before completing it, please read the 'Call for Entries' document.

• You can email grants_futureobservatory@designmuseum.org for any enquiries related to the programme or application process

• All applications must be submitted by 11:59pm (UK time) on Sunday 6 September 2026. Entries received after this deadline will not be accepted, and incomplete entries will not be considered.

• Shortlisted applicants must be available to attend an online interview during the week commencing on 22 September 2026, and successful applicants will be informed in the following week.

Design Researchers in Residence is Future Observatory’s programme for design research into the climate crisis hosted at the Design Museum. This funded residency supports thinkers at the start of their careers to develop new research on environmental concerns centred around a particular theme.

The residency has two main aims: to provide design researchers in the early stages of their careers time and space away from their regular environment to develop and produce new work, and to offer museum visitors an opportunity to engage with live design research projects.

Each year the residency accommodates four researchers, working in different design disciplines to develop a piece of independent research in response to the theme and brief. Towards the end of the residency, the work of the four residents is presented in a free display at the Design Museum and in an accompanying print publication.

Each resident is provided with a commissioning budget of £6,000 and a bursary of £11,400, as well as studio space at the museum and a programme of mentorship, training and seminars from experts both in and outside the Design Museum.

Background image: Chordaria flagelliformis, from 'British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions' by Anna Atkins. Courtesy The New York Public Library