Jessica Charlesworth investigates new methodologies of design in order to explore the future implications of technology in our everyday lives. She holds an MA Design Interactions degree from the Royal College of Art and works as a freelance designer and researcher in futures consulting, service design, interaction design and design strategy. She is currently involved in various design strategy and research projects at Sense Worldwide...(more)
Over the summer of 2006 I worked in FORESIGHT (a think tank based in the Government Office for Science) to envision the impact of the predicted obesity epidemic over the next 50 years. I worked in collaboration with Michael Burton in the development of our scenarios which are explained further in the tackling obesities website.
The Foresight project on obesity will launch its findings at the RSA, London on October 17th 2007.
Other links: bbc news, google news

Recent RCA graduates + students together with Fiona Raby ran a workshop at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Lancaster University. The workshop was part of the ongoing 'New Sciences of Protection: Designing Safe Living' research programme [see earlier news entry]
The social scientists and designers began their discussions in the speculative space of the 2018 Tower Hamlets unregulated zone. It was up to the scientists to give feedback as experts in their particular field and work in multi disciplinary teams to instigate new services, protocols and institutes. The merging of these multiple paradigms of thinking created opportunities for much debate and inspiration.
Designers involved: Tanya, James, Jon, Michiko, Michael, Tuur, Revital,
Fiona and me.

Michael Burton and I recently introduced our work to the BA Fine Art students at Lancaster University. We discussed how it might be possible to use Superfictions & Self-Fulfilling Prophecies as a tool for idea generation when addressing the future implications of utopian science and technologies on our society. I presented the FATE institute and the 6sense / NANONOIA project whilst Michael introduced THE RACE.

In July I was involved in the Active
Welfare Workshop, as part of the World Design Capital International Design
Summer School in Torino. The workshop focused on the collaboration between
designers and local public health representatives to explore the future
potential of the local health system in south Torino.
I worked alongside a number of international designers who were working
in various design arenas including strategic design, service design &
urban design. Together with the workshop leaders, Lesh and Laszlo from FuelFor,
we focused on rehabilitation, obesity and access to care. We worked in teams
and carried out fieldwork at a rehabilitation hospital in a town called
Fossano, interviewing various patients, family members, therapists, doctors
& nurses. We gathered insights from the fieldwork creating various opportunities
for a number of design proposals.
This image illustrates a number of issues that related to the freedom of
patients when in rehabilitation and their desire to feel a sense of belonging
when forced apart.

In October I will be exhibiting The Delphi Party service at EPIC,
the ethnographic conference in Copenhagen.
The Delphi Party, a futures forecasting workshop, is a service offered by
The Futures Association for Therapy and Entertainment (FATE
Institute).
The Delphi Party draws on an area of horizon scanning known as the Delphi
Technique; a roomful of experts are brought together in a workshop format
to determine the future likelihood of a certain technology being adopted
and utilised in society. In place of industry experts, friends and family
members of a loved one are drawn together under the guidance of an experienced
facilitator from the FATE institute to discuss his/hers future life path.
Using the collective mindset of the 'panel of experts', the FATE facilitator
guides them to generate their own speculative outcomes of possible, probable
and/or preferable variants of the loved one’s invisible future.
Visit my research blog
for more background material

In December, Michael Burton and I were invited by FutureLab
to a one day event as part of their long term futures programme; Beyond
Current Horizons.
This research programme looks at the future of education, beyond 2025, in
the context of social and technological change and investigating its implications
for education.
We presented some of our current and past work to highlight ways of discussing
futures that would provoke ideas to help other people to think about the
future more critically. Our Foresight
Tackling Obesities project work was also presented for the first time
illustrating one way to synthesise science opinion and hypothesis into thought
provoking What If? scenarios.
More can be read of the outcomes of this futures programme on the Beyond
Current Horizons blog
>

What if an education curriculum could provoke pupils to simulate
their own utopian/dystopian society? sketch by dcillustration
In December ‘08 I was asked to be an ‘embedded reporter’
for the Royal college of art
MA Design Interactions 'Tribal Futures' project, sponsored by Vodafone.
Working alongside Matt Jones, Onkar Kular and Tony Dunne, my duties included
attending talks and tutorials in order to populate the Tribal
Futures research blog that was used as a shared communication channel
between all students of the MA course and members of the Vodafone UX team
in London and Dusseldorf.
The 4 week project asked the students to consider the implications the emergent
changes in communications technology will have on group behaviour. To identify
or create a group and propose design interventions to support, subvert and
celebrate tribal connections.

A presentation given to the 1st and 2nd years of MA Design Interactions at the RCA about my Post RCA adventures since 2007. A great opportunity for reflecting on my past and deciding on my future.
Recent collaborative work to create five 'ad-hoc' book boxes with Tim
Parsons for the Airmail
exhibition at the GOODD gallery space in Glasgow.
Lightness can be seen as a state of being & thinking as well as a physical
quality of material. The book Adhocism by Charles Jencks & Nathan Silver
published in 1970s presents a treatise on lightness through the re-use of
what is around us. The book boxes express the philosophy of the contents
of the book they contain.
Airmail presents twelve new products that deal with lightness in everyday
objects. Open from 29 May - 28 June, show open to public, (28 May, private
view)
A set of individual ad-hoc book boxes using a variety of mixed media
available to hand.
Tackling Obesities: the two-year project Michael Burton and I were involved
in during our internship at the FORESIGHT government think tank was nominated
for the:
Science and Technology Civil
Service Awards for 2008 !
"An award that recognises best practice in the innovative
use of science and technology as part of the policymaking or business planning
process. "

In January I was involved in a 5 day workshop focused on discovering future
applications for Decision Support Systems (DSS). As part of a team of designers,
developers, risk managers, facilitators + SME investors, we discussed the
near to far future implications of DSS applications in various sci/tech,
geopolitical and socio-demographic contexts.
More topics relating to DSS will be covered in my
research blog in the near future.

I recently presented my nanonoia project at
the Institute for Advanced Studies at Lancaster University as part of their
academic research programme entitled New Sciences of Protection:
Designing Safe Living.
Over the year a range of experts will present their research relating to
the notion of safe living. I presented my project for their 'Proximities'
workshop session and will be attending their next workshop entitled 'Protocols
and Procedures' in February 2008.
I am currently their rapporteur for the year long programme attending workshops
and creating an online presence to engage a wider audience.
Please visit the blog to learn more about telecare robots, slash proof school
uniforms and robotic cow milking machines

The FATE institute, founded in 2021 is a quasi-scientific institute which
applies an holistic approach to developing techniques of future self-knowledge.
The institute is divided into three therapy groups:"nature, nurture
and neither" This system of services implements design-led strategies
to create new personalized future forecasting methodologies in times of
genetic determinism.
The FATE institute brings together research and design ideas to underpin
"The Future of Self-Knowledge” philosophy; the cross fertilisation
between three methodologies of future forecasting; ancient divination, corporate
futurology and predictive gene testing.
Visit my research blog
for more background material

The fATE INSTITUTE @ rca graduate show