Roger Coleman is Professor of Inclusive Design and Co-director of the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the Royal College of Art, and an internationally renowned authority on the design effects of ageing populations.

Roger was the recipient of a Ron Mace Universal Design Award in 2000, and a Sir Misha Black Award for Innovation in Design Education in 2001. His policy paper Living Longer: the new context for design (Design Council 2001), which makes recommendations to government and industry on design responses to population ageing, is one of several key publications. He also advises major companies on the implementation of inclusive design at a strategic level.

Trained in fine art, design history and philosophy at Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art, Roger was closely involved in the establishment of the Greater London Council's Technology Networks in the 1980s and ran his own R&D consultancy, London Innovation.

Helen Hamlyn Research Centre,
Royal College of Art, London

The Helen Hamlyn Research Centre works to advance a socially inclusive approach to design through practical research and projects with industry. It was set up at the Royal College of Art in January 1999 to alert designers and industry to the far-reaching implications of a rapidly changing society. A society in which there are growing numbers of older and disabled people, radical shifts in working patterns, and mounting pressure on mobility and other public services.

Endowed by the Helen Hamlyn Research Foundation, the Centre runs programmes with three design communities - RCA students, new graduates and professionals in business and industry - to examine the design implications of social change and promote a more socially inclusive approach to designing.

A range of external commercial, academic, government and charitable partners are engaged in their work builds on the DesignAge programme, which Roger Coleman has directed since 1991. In 1994 he established a European network specialising in design and ageing, and in 1995 the Royal College of Art was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in recognition of his work.

Through its programmes the Centre is committed to building up resources for designers, researchers and partner organisations. The intention is to make available the results of research and to encourage closer contacts between organisations and individuals from a wide range of backgrounds that share an interest in the Centre's social change themes.

www.hhrc.rca.ac.uk