The Helen Hamlyn Chair of Design

Established over 30 years ago, the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (HHCD) is the Royal College of Art’s (RCA) longest-running research centre. It is one of four discrete research centres at the RCA and is housed in the purpose-built Rausing building designed by Herzog de Meuron, which opened in 2022, in Battersea. Originally established to explore designing for an ageing population, its focus today is on inclusive design for Population Ageing; Prevalence of Disability; and Healthcare delivering positive impacts for individuals and society, healthcare and wellbeing providers, third-sector institutions and business, ranging from insurance companies to NHS trusts.

The HHCD is now seeking to recruit a new Helen Hamlyn Chair to join the Centre. The Chair works in close collaboration with Dr Emma Wakelin, the RCA’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Research & Innovation, and with the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design’s Director, Rama Gheerawo, and his team, to advance ‘design that improves quality of life’, to add strategic advice, new dimensions to existing world-class networks, a strong research profile, and a global perspective that will support and amplify the Centre’s continued development.

The Helen Hamlyn Chair is an outward-facing strategic leadership role, leading the Centre to develop further wider-range and longer-term new research initiatives in the field of inclusive design, disseminating research findings internationally, and developing new opportunities for research impact and knowledge exchange.

The incoming Helen Hamlyn Chair of Design will be an academic leader at professorial level (or equivalent) in a discipline relevant to the Centre’s inclusive design focus and have a successful track record as principal investigator on major research grant funding awarded by national research funders.

Applications are now invited for the prestigious position of Helen Hamlyn Chair of Design, one of only three named chairs in the RCA. The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design is located in Battersea, London, with this role being a part-time and hybrid role.

The Royal College of Art is being assisted in its global search for this appointment by the executive search firm Society. For more information and to submit your application, please get in touch with Emily Payne via emily.payne@society-search.com or follow the link below to download the Candidate Pack. 

The deadline for receipt of applications is midday (GMT) on Monday, 11 November 2024. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview in London on Tuesday, 14 January 2025.

The Royal College of Art aims to foster an inclusive culture which promotes equality, values diversity and maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students and stakeholders are respected. We recognise the broad range of experiences that a diverse staff and student body brings and how this strengthens our research and enhances our teaching. In order for RCA to remain a world-leading institution we are committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) principles throughout all of our processes, from application through to appointment.