Design Academy for Network Rail

We teamed up with Design Council to support evaluation, reflection, and learning for the Design Academy – a unique training course for Network Rail. The Academy aimed to upskill engineers and project managers in strategic design, focusing on addressing climate change challenges and catering to the diverse needs of rail passengers.

Our journey with the Design Academy began during the early stages. Working closely with the Design Council team Roland Karthaus, Tim Dudas, Olivia Cornaz, and a group of Design Council experts, including Jonathan Ball, Teri Okoro, and Alistair Barr, we helped develop a curriculum that infused user-centred design processes, inclusive design principles, and sustainability into its very core.

We believe in the power of reflection and continuous learning, so we worked with the team to embed these values into the curriculum. This included developing a beautiful printed Learning Journal structured with exercises to prompt participants to document and reflect on new knowledge gained. We also designed a simple, responsive survey so that learners and trainers could track their progress on the course.

During in-person workshop days, we facilitated a set of participatory reflection and learning tools that sparked group discussions around participants' daily learnings, identified design tools and methods they could use in their work, and gathered recommendations to improve the course based on their needs.

To further enhance the learning experience and foster peer support, we introduced Action Learning Sets for the participants which were held between the in-person academy days. These facilitated sessions provided an invaluable platform for the learners to collaborate, troubleshoot challenges, and devise creative solutions rooted in their newfound knowledge, experiences, and individual strengths. The Action Learning Sets proved instrumental in solidifying the participants' understanding and application of strategic design principles in their daily work at Network Rail.

A video featuring the academy and some of those who took part, can be found on the Design Council website here: https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/design-academy/

This project was led by Rowena Hay, who is also a Design Council Expert.