The scholarships will be awarded to new students starting the academic year 2013/14 on the basis of an outstanding PhD proposal and relevance to the College's strategic research themes and centres. These include research across each of the College's six schools, the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, which specialises in themes such as ageing population and well-being, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Creative Exchange Research Hub, which explores the future of the digital public space.
Announcing the new scholarships at the opening of The Perfect Place to Grow: 175 Years of the Royal College of Art, Rector of the RCA, Paul Thompson, said: 'I am delighted to be able to offer ten outstanding research students the opportunity to study at this great institution. We hope the scholarships will attract the very best to the College where they will be part of the world’s most concentrated pool of art and design talent.'
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The Royal College of Art is consulting with the civil service on policy innovation, after leading a service design summit at ten Downing Streetin November.
Part of the Cabinet’s wider reform of Whitehall to bring in the skills necessary to make government services more digital and more efficient, new civil service recruits will be taught to incorporate the sort of design thinking advocated by the RCA into policy formation.
The College’s service design work to date, with public sector bodies in Finland, Seoul, Taiwan and Qatar, attracted the attention of senior Whitehall officials. Organised by Rohan Silva, one of David Cameron’s key advisors, the day-long design summit convened officials including cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood, head of the civil service, Bob Kerslake and Francis Maude, minister for the cabinet office, to hear how service design taught at the RCA, can be used to help retrain civil servants to think about creating government services from a user point of view.
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Taking inspiration for the title from Tracey Emin’s 2001 installation, The Perfect Place To Grow: 175 Years of the Royal College of Art features both student and later professional work from the College’s extensive alumni, organised into themes: ‘Art for Industry’, ‘Public Purpose’, ‘Personal Expression’ and ‘Political Expression’.
The exhibition, open until 3rd January 2013, charts the unique history of an institution that has been instrumental in some of the world’s most influential artists’ and designers’ careers from the Victorian luminary Christopher Dresser to contemporary household names such as Tracey Emin and David Hockney.
The accompanying book, published by the RCA, includes academic essays exploring the development of disciplines across the College and the political, social and economic dynamics of the RCA’s defining moments.
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The Library holds copies of CHS 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 any alumni would like have their dissertation returned to them, please contact the Library Manager at library-manager@rca.ac.uk and we can arrange for these to be posted to you. Dissertations from 1990–2006 are available to be returned to alumni.
The Royal College of Art is an expansive experience, helping students discover new skills and directions. But how do you translate that creative power into a satisfying working life? FuelRCA is here to help alumni and current students explore exactly that question.
Recently FuelRCA has heard from legendary illustrator George Hardie on his mentoring relationship with RCA graduate illustration collective INK. They were put in touch through the RDI Mentoring Programme, which is also open to alumni. George first became famous in the 1970s for his Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin album covers; INK graduated in 2007 and have a fresh and experimental approach to illustration. How did they get on? Read more here.
George and INK found that the areas that the young collective really needed help with mainly involved practicalities like contracts and finances. We’re very aware at Fuel that this is often the case, and that’s why recent events on intellectual property rights and how to financially support your practice have addressed important practical issues.
We’ve also been tracking the progress of five 2011 graduates. It’s a small taste of the RCA’s creative diversity – Yelena Popova showed work in New Contemporaries and New Sensations, Amanprit Sandhu has a job with Frieze, Aaron Lampert is making animated music videos, Mohammed Daud is in Pakistan working on innovative agricultural tools, and Julie Legault is developing a watch that monitors the heartbeat. Watch out for their third updates in the next few weeks.
Fuel.rca.ac.uk is the Royal College of Arts professional development site, featuring information and perspectives on a range of practical issues to do with starting and sustaining a career or practice in art, design and writing. You may well have been to one of our events while you were at college. We'd love to keep up with you and are always interested in proposals for articles or potential interviewees, and speakers for Fuel events. Contact us any time at fuelrca@rca.ac.uk.