Lucy Kimbell (founder/director) – Linked In
Lucy is an accomplished innovator, design leader, researcher and educator, working across academia and consultancy for over 25 years. She’s a professor in contemporary design practices at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London as well as working with a small number of professional services and public organisations.
Highlights:
- Lead the team developing methodologies and frameworks in 2021 for the Design Council to articulate and assess the value and impact of design through the Design Economy;
- Leading academic research collaborations in the emerging field of ‘design for policy’ including leading the AHRC funded Design and Policy Network and co-supervision of four PhD doctoral students co-funded and co-supervised by University of the Arts London and Kings College London;
- Co-director of Sustainable Transitions through Democratic Design Doctoral Network (2024-28), delivering future-oriented, cross-disciplinary, international doctoral training, co-funded by the EU Marie Curie scheme, UKRI and Hungarian government;
- Wrote the Service Innovation Handbook, now in its third re-printing, integrating principles and methods for people redesigning services;
- Developed and delivered one of the first for-credit post-graduate courses on ‘design thinking’ on the MBA at Oxford’s Said Business School between 2006-2019 and developed the CSM MBA launched in 2017.
Associates
Jocelyn Bailey – Linked In
Jocelyn is an experienced strategic designer, educator and researcher, who has worked at some of the UK’s most influential design organisations including UsCreates (now part of TPXImpact) and Policy Connect. Based in Dorset, she’s a part-time lecturer in fashion cultures at University of the Arts London and Bath Spa University, having completed a PhD at University of Brighton examining the take-up of design in government.
Caroline Chappell – website – Instagram
Caroline is an experienced graphic recorder working with international clients from business, government, the public sector, academia and industry bodies. She uses her skills in visual communication for real-time capture of workshops and away days, as well as producing memorable, accessible illustrations that simplify and clarify complex ideas for stakeholders. To achieve this, Caroline brings together 20 years of marketing and communications experience with a lifetime’s love of drawing.
Iacopo Gronchi – Linked In
Iacopo has several years of experience in providing policy advice to national governments (Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs), global companies (Meta Open Loop), public innovation agencies (Sweden’s FORMAS), or philanthropic foundations (Laudes Foundation). He is currently working on a PhD at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London at the intersection of innovation, governance, and public administration.
Daniella Jenkins – Linked In
Daniella has over 20 years experience working in policy, financial services and academia. Currently Senior Lecturer Design Thinking and Innovation at the University of Bristol where she leads a suite of courses focussing on applied innovation, Daniella has expertise in integrating design and social research to drive institutional change. Daniella’s PhD jointly funded by and supervised between King’s College London (KCL) and University of the Arts London (UAL) used mixed methods to develop and test proposals for feminist pensions policy.
Rainer Kattel – Linked In
Rainer is an expert in innovation policy, governance, and management. He is Professor of Innovation and Public Governance at University College London. Recent books include The Elgar Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development (edited with Erik Reinert and Jayati Gosh; Elgar, 2016) and How to make an Entrepreneurial State. Why Innovation needs Bureaucracy (with Wolfgang Drechsler and Erkki Karo; Yale, 2022). He has worked extensively with public organisations such as Innovate UK, Vinnova in Sweden, PD in Germany, helping them to redesign their policies and organisational implementation practices.
Charlie Mealings – Linked In
Charlie is a researcher with expertise at the intersection of design and democratic innovation. He is completing a PhD into the relationship between designerly and scientific approaches to social inquiry, and their application to politics and public policy, through a studentship jointly funded by and supervised between King’s College London (KCL) and University of the Arts London (UAL). He worked as a research assistant on an interdisciplinary project on smart regulation funded by the Economic and Social Research Council as well as an earlier stint in a design consultancy.
Liz Richardson – Linked In
Liz is an expert in citizen participation in policy and governance, public service and sector reform, local governance structures, co-production, and behavioural insights in public policy. She is a Professor in the Department of Politics at Manchester University, with over 25 years of experience in conducting rigorous, significant, and policy-relevant research. Books include: DIY Community Action: Neighbourhood Problems and Community Self-help (Richardson, 2008); Nudge, Nudge, Think, Think: Experimenting with Ways to Change Citizen Behaviour (John et al, 2019); Designing Public Policy for Co-production: Theory, Practice and Change(Durose and Richardson, 2016).
Fieldstudio Design 