RCA Helen Hamlyn Alumni Award!

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have been awarded the Royal College of Art, Helen Hamlyn Alumni Award, 2024! The annual Helen Hamlyn Design Awards recognise creativity in people-centred, inclusive design across all disciplines of the College and celebrate the most visionary, inclusive and innovative RCA graduate and alumni work. The Awards are organised by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design - a global leader in inclusive design, design thinking and creative leadership, endowed by the Helen Hamlyn Trust.

The award came out of the blue after receiving a call from my former boss, Rama Gheerawo, asking if I was able to visit London to collect my award in September 2024. It was a fantastic night, catching up with old colleagues and getting a glimpse at what the centre, and RCA students are creating. Take a look at the press release to see the fantastic projects that won: Helen Hamlyn Design Awards

Why did I receive the alumni award? To quote the press release:

Each year, the Helen Hamlyn Alumni Award is presented to a former employee of the Centre who has gone on to champion Inclusive Design in the wider world. This year, the Alumni Award went to Helen Fisher. Helen is an independent design researcher using creative methods to co-design products and services in health. 

After graduating from the Edinburgh College of Art, she joined the Centre in 2014 as an intern and then became a research assistant. She brought her product design skills, her interest in health and accessibility and all round creativity to projects within the Centre’s Age and Ability Research Space.

Since leaving the Centre in 2017, Helen spent 5 years at Lab4Living at Sheffield Hallam University, exploring the role of design in enabling ‘difficult’ conversations around topics such as dementia, end of life and bereavement. Helen has applied her skills in inclusive research and design in the NHS, academia, consultancy and most recently in setting up her own practice.