Our research environment

Schools of Thought

While our Communities of Practice, research hubs, and networks support focused and cross-institutional collaboration, the Schools at Central Saint Martins provide the disciplinary foundation of our research culture. Staff, professoriate members, and doctoral students act as subject stewards—aligning research activity with curriculum development and disciplinary advancement. Each School fosters inquiry grounded in its subject specialisms, with a thematic focus on Culture, Systems and Materials.

UAL Research Centres and Networks

Central Saint Martins researchers are active contributors to UAL-wide centres and networks that support specialist activity and collaborative work across Colleges.

Image courtesy of UAL

Afterall

Based at CSM, Afterall researches the role of contemporary art in society, focusing on the individual artwork, its exhibition and its wider socio-political context. The centre collaborates internationally through publishing, events and online access.
Photo: Adam Razvi

Design for Social Innovation towards Sustainability (DESIS)

Part of the international DESIS network, UAL DESIS fosters socially responsive design research and knowledge exchange around sustainability and social innovation.

Research labs and studios

Research hubs that create spaces for focused inquiry and public engagement, often working in partnership with local communities, global institutions, and cross-sector organisations.

© Design Against Crime

Design Against Crime Lab

A pioneering initiative in socially responsive design, the Lab tackles social issues through design innovation. Its work prioritises public good, community engagement, and social impact.
Alexandra Gulea-Maia, Portrait with Hands, 2024. Courtesy of Fashion in Film 2025.

Fashion in Film

We work with filmmakers, scholars and critics, distributors, fashion designers, artists and film archivists internationally to develop new thinking on both fashion and the moving image, and to provide an independent platform for critical debate.
Future Philosophical Pills, Tokyo, 2023. Photo courtesy of Betti Marenko.

Hybrid Futures Lab

Situated at the intersections of philosophy, technology, and design, the Hybrid Futures Lab provides a platform for speculative-pragmatic enquiry. It brings together diverse thinkers to prototype alternative futures through critical making and research.
The Physarum Experiments by Heather Barnett (left); Barleycorn by Rob Kesseler (right), Living Systems Lab research working with slime mould networks and plant systems.

Living Systems Lab

This lab investigates the properties of biological living systems through creative practices in art, design, and architecture, generating new ecological knowledge and approaches.

BA Culture, Criticism and Curation exhibition at Swiss Cottage Library, 2024. Photo: Jieying Shao

Policy Futures Studio

Research and practice development at the intersection of public policy, design and futures.
A shipping container with the word "MAKE" on the side

Public Collaboration Lab (PCL)

PCL facilitates collaboration between local authorities and design researchers. By embedding design in public sector challenges, it delivers projects that raise awareness, shift behaviours, and connect higher education with civic innovation.
Future Philosophical Pills, STADHI Hybrid Innovation session, Tokyo

Science & Technology + Art & Design Hybrid Innovation (STADHI)

A long-standing transdisciplinary partnership between CSM and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, this collaboration fosters hybrid research practices across science, art, and design.
Mapping water flow under the city of Recife in Brazil from 1850 - present. By MA Cities Y1 student Gaia Maria Vignali

Climate Cities Lab

A multidisciplinary hub for research, knowledge exchange and innovation. Bridging global south and north, Climate Cities is a centre of knowledge-production and exchange between cities, researchers and practitioners.

Communities of Practice

Communities of Practice (CoPs) at CSM bring together individuals united by shared interests, challenges, or questions. They foster collaborative environments where practice is shared, collaborations formed, ideas are tested, and innovative ways of working emerge. Our CoPs are inclusive of all staff at CSM working across schools, job groups and PhD community.

Dr Krys Osei, Lecturer in Cultural Studies, Fashion, Jewellery Textiles and Materials

Black Studies

Centring Black thought, history, and lived experience, this CoP creates a critical space for dialogue and practice. It challenges dominant narratives and amplifies marginalised voices to reshape discourse around race, identity, and culture within and beyond CSM.
Commoning Ecologies

Commoning Ecologies

This CoP explores collective practices as tools for place-making, community-building, and ecological sustainability. Engaging with indigenous knowledge, heritage craft, and resource sharing, it cultivates a culture of shared agency and reciprocity across disciplines.
'Tending to the Heap', Jenny Maxwell

Creative Practices of Care

Investigating the intersections of creativity and care, this community focuses on how art, design, and performance might foster more compassionate, ethical, and care-driven practices in education, research, and community settings.

'Black Under the Bark' Gannon Falconer, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, and CSM Graduate Award 2024

Material Culture, Equity and Social Justice

This CoP brings together those working with archives, collections and museums to question inherited structures of inequity. Emphasising grassroots and egalitarian approaches, it reframes material culture as a tool to disrupt normative canons and enable inclusive futures.
Technologies in Question

Technologies in Question (TiQ)

TiQ takes a critical and transdisciplinary approach to technology—from AI to bioplastics, UX to the printing press. It investigates the implications of technological developments on creative practice and seeks to develop new methodologies and hybrid perspectives.