Network Rail Design Academy
2023
A pioneering training programme embedding inclusive, sustainable, and user-centred design into the heart of rail infrastructure.
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Project resources
Design Academy videoWe teamed up with the Design Council to support evaluation, reflection, and learning for the Design Academy – a groundbreaking training course for Network Rail. The Academy aimed to upskill engineers and project managers in strategic and inclusive design, helping them respond to climate change challenges and meet the diverse needs of passengers.
Our Approach
To make reflection and evaluation a living part of the learning process, we:
Co-developed the learning framework, integrating reflection, feedback, and design-led thinking throughout the Academy journey.
Created a printed Learning Journal filled with prompts and exercises to help participants document insights and progress.
Designed a responsive survey for trainers and learners to track development and capture feedback in real time.
Facilitated participatory reflection sessions during in-person workshops, encouraging peer learning, open discussion, and practical application.
Introduced Action Learning Sets, a structured peer-support method enabling participants to troubleshoot real challenges, share experiences, and test new approaches between sessions.
Key Findings
Our evaluation revealed that the Design Academy:
Strengthened reflective practice, helping participants to apply design thinking confidently in their day-to-day roles.
Fostered a shared design language among engineers and project managers, building stronger collaboration across disciplines.
Encouraged inclusive and sustainable thinking, embedding consideration for passengers and the planet into project design.
Enhanced peer learning, with participants valuing the Action Learning Sets as safe, productive spaces for experimentation and support.
Created lasting impact, as participants continued to use and share the tools, journals, and methods long after the course.
Impacts and learnings
The Design Academy demonstrates how structured reflection and design-led thinking can transform technical training into an empowering, human-centred experience. By embedding evaluation and peer learning into the process, we helped Network Rail staff develop new confidence in inclusive and sustainable design, enabling them to shape infrastructure that better serves people, communities, and the environment.
“It has given me some great ideas on how we engage with those stakeholders and communities, and has given me more courage to reach out and have those conversations.”
Design Academy participant
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