It is with great sadness that I share with you the news that Mark Parkin, AlumniRCA Coordinator from 2005 to 2010, passed away on 26 June.

Mark was a very respected, valued and much-liked member of staff at the RCA who was instrumental in the successful launch of the AlumniRCA network in 2005. Over five years, Mark developed the network into a dynamic 4,000-member community, engaging with many of you through a comprehensive events and communication programme.

I am sure many of you will remember Mark fondly.

RCA Secret

While the Royal College of Art celebrates its 175th anniversary in 2012, RCA Secret takes a break to return anew in 2013 for its 20th year as one of London’s most popular art sales. Too impatient to wait until next autumn, the new and improved RCA Secret will be revealed on 14 March 2013, with the exhibition running until the day of the sale on Saturday 23 March. Our spring clean not only sees a change in dates for RCA Secret, but a move across to the Royal College of Art’s landmark development, the Dyson Building on Battersea Bridge Road. Exhibiting amongst the Printmaking, Photography, Painting and Sculpture studios gives RCA Secret the opportunity to affirm its place within the School of Fine Art, to whose students it offers such valuable support.

RCA Secret and our sponsors Stewarts Law LLP can’t wait to welcome you as contributors, visitors and collectors to RCA Secret 2013 in Battersea. Until then, please visit our website for up-to-date information, to register for the 2013 sale and to donate to the RCA Fine Art Student Award Fund.

FuelRCA is the professional development service at the Royal College of Art, complementing the discipline-specific support given by each programme. We help students prepare for life after graduation, and support alumni as they set up their practices and gain employment in the creative industries or elsewhere.

Fuel alumni services 2012/13

Website
Providing info on a wide range of creative business and employment topics, as well as practice-related insights and inspiration from the RCA community. 

Events
Fuel’s talks and seminars are open to RCA alumni from all College disciplines. Topics include how to get your dream job, presentation skills, confidence, intellectual property and organising your time. Event recordings and speakers’ top tips are on the website.

Library
Fuel’s library collection (on the top floor of the RCA Library, Kensington) consists of over 300 creative business and careers books to borrow or browse.

Help line
Two hours of free and confidential mentoring on any aspect of setting up or running a creative practice or being employed.

Careers advice
Access to Imperial College London's Careers Advisory service, including job databases, CV training, one-to-one careers advice and more.

RDI mentoring
Guidance on your professional future from eminent practitioners such as Betty Jackson, Robin Levien, Chris Wise, Derek Birdsall, George Hardie and other Royal Designers for Industry.

PwC mentoring
An 18-month programme in which RCA graduate entrepreneurs are matched up with business mentors from PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

FuelRCA
Royal College of Art, Dyson Building
20 Howie Street, London SW11 4AS
fuel@rca.ac.uk
fuel.rca.ac.uk
facebook.com/fuelrca
twitter.com/fuelrca

Design for the Real World Exhibition

The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design's annual exhibition of work by its research associates will take place at the RCA this autumn as part of the 2012 London Design Festival. It has been devised as a joint show with SustainRCA to mark the 40th anniversary of the English-language publication of Victor Papanek’s seminal text, Design for the Real World.

In 1972 at a time of rampant consumerism, Papanek made a powerful case for the importance of inclusive and sustainable design in meeting the real needs of people.

Both aspects of Papanek’s legacy are explored in the Design for the Real World exhibition, which runs from 21 September to 2 October inclusive. A private view and symposium will be held at the RCA on Thursday 20 September at 4pm and all RCA alumni are welcome.

In the entrance gallery, the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design will present a range of inclusive and human-centred design projects by the Helen Hamlyn Research Associates 2012 – 16 new RCA design graduates. Themes focus on ageing, diversity, health, working life and the city. 

In the Upper Gulbenkian Gallery opposite, Sustain RCA, the cross-College centre for sustainability led by Clare Brass, presents the best sustainable design concepts by graduating RCA students.

Helen Hamlyn Professor of Design Jeremy Myerson comments: 'The Papanek anniversary provides a good platform to show current RCA research and projects in inclusive and sustainable design. At a time of tough economic challenges, here is an opportunity to demonstrate the relevance of taking a social responsive and human-centred design approach.'

Deutsche Bank Awards 2012

We are delighted to announce that the winners of the Deutsche Bank Awards 2012 are:

• Deutsche Bank Award in Art
  Pangaea Sculpture Central, formed by Sculpture students Lucy Tomlins and Sam Zealey, will be the first sculpture-only studio complex in London centred around wood, metalwork and mould-making workshops. This enables sculptors to realise technically ambitious works without having to outsource manufacturing to a third party.
• Deutsche Bank Award in Design
  Design Products graduates Amos Field Reid and Lasse Oiva have invented Velopresso, a celebratory fusion of human power, sensory pleasure and technology. Velopresso combines old-tech with hi-tech, bicycles and coffee, their engineering and aesthetics. The result is an innovative pedal-powered mobile coffee-making machine for quality espresso and its derivatives. Velopresso has a compact footprint and near-silent, low-carbon, human-powered operation providing fine coffee. No electricity, no motors, no noise.

The Deutsche Bank Awards are awarded annually to final-year students across 13 colleges nationally and recognises artistic innovation, talent and creativity while promoting entrepreneurship. The RCA is thrilled to be one of the first two institutions that have been involved from the very beginning in 1993. The two prizes (one in Art and one in Design) each worth £10,000 marks Deutsche Bank’s 20th anniversary of this unique partnership. Congratulations to this year’s recipients who will be developing  their exciting projects over the next 12 months.

Library Access

There will be no access to the RCA Library during the Olympics.

You may be aware that the College is hosting the US Olympic Committee for a number of weeks over the course of the Olympics. Due to increased security measures being implemented in the College, we are unable to offer access to external visitors, including RCA alumni. This is effective from Monday 23 July through Friday 17 August. If you wish to carry out any research in the RCA Library over the summer vacation, please book appointments before or after these dates. Our normal vacation opening hours are from Monday to Friday, 10am – 5pm.

If you are making special journeys to specifically visit the RCA Library during this period, please check our opening hours to avoid any disappointment and unnecessary disruption to your day. You can contact the library on +44 (0)20 7590 4224 or email.

CHS Dissertations (Distinction Grade)

The RCA Library holds copies of Critical & Historical Studies distinction dissertations from 1990, and we have recently been digitising these dissertations and making them available to RCA staff and students via the College Intranet. We still will hold hard copies for a maximum of five years, therefore if alumni would like have their dissertations returned to them, please contact the Library Manager and we can arrange for these to be posted to you. Dissertations from 1990 to 2006 are available to be returned to alumni.