Dr Lara Salinas
Title
Senior Lecturer in Service Design
College
London College of Communication
Email address
Tags
Researcher Research

Biography
Dr Lara Salinas is a design researcher with over 10 years’ experience in Creative Exchange, carrying out research into/for/through Knowledge Exchange in arts and design. Her work is concerned with Creative Exchange as a form of KE characteristic of participatory art and design disciplines, applying creative techniques to enable multi-sector and institutional collaboration and co-create value.She is Senior Research Fellow in Knowledge Exchange at UAL (2017), Senior Lecturer in MA Service Design (2016) and Knowledge Exchange Coordinator for the Design School (2017) and co-founder of Service Futures Lab (2019) a Service Design Research and Knowledge Exchange Lab at LCC.
Lara holds a PhD in Creative Exchange (2016) from ImaginationLancaster, pioneering novel approaches to ‘research-through-knowledge exchange’ in one of the AHRC KE Hub for the Creative Economy (2012-2016).
She joined UAL in 2015 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Public Collaboration Lab (2015 – 2016) investigating the potential of design education in supporting innovation practices within local government through collaborative design practice.
She joined the MA Service Design team in 2016. As a Senior Lecturer she brings her Research and Knowledge Exchange activities into the classroom, leading collaborative activities of international outreach with organisations such as the multinational sport retail Decathlon, Design Council, European Commission, Mutual Aid groups and local authorities. Concurrently (2016-2018) she has held diverse positions at UCL, the European Commission and was Research Fellow in several multi-disciplinary and institutional international research projects such as the EU Horizon 2020 Pharma-Factory (2017-21).
Since 2017 she is Senior Research Fellow on KE at UAL and in 2019 she became KE Coordinator of the Design School, a leadership role where she actively supports the development of KE at Design School/LCC, in collaboration with School Management Team, fellow coordinators and Business and Innovation. In 2020 she was awarded an AHRC Fellowship to research the contribution of design to public services in the context of KE.
She is an associate at Design Against Crime Research Centre (UAL). Her ECR journey and work has been featured nationally her research published and presented internationally.
Grants and awards
(Figures indicate amount awarded to UAL)
- European Commission H2020, Plant Molecular Farming, £443,638.00, (2017-2021)
Research Outputs
Article
- Thorpe A, Prendiville A, Salinas L, Rhodes S. Anatomy of Local Government/Design Education Collaboration (2017)
- Salinas L, Coulton P, Dunn N. Using Game Design as a Frame for Evaluating Experiences in Hybrid Digital/Physical Spaces (2016)
- Huck J, Gradinar A, Paul C, Salinas L. Paths of Desire: Dynamic Visual Hierarchies to Intentionally Influence Route Decision (2016)
- Salinas L, Sebastian W, Serena P. Transforming the planning progress – challenges for the service designer. (2014)
- Salinas L. Entrevista a Drew Hemment (2013)
Book
- Salinas L. Arte 2.0 (2011)
Book Section
- Coulton P, Huck J, Salinas L, Gradinar A. Mapping the Beach Beneath the Street (2016)
- Thorpe A, Prendiville A, Rhodes S, Salinas L. Public Collaboration Lab (2016)
- Salinas L. Open Planning (2014)
Conference, Symposium or Workshop item
- Salinas L, Thorpe A, Prendiville A, Rhodes S. Civic engagement as participation in designing for services (2018)
- Salinas L. What is the value of knowledge exchange? (2018)
- Gradinar A, Huck J, Coulton P, Salinas L. Beyond the Blandscape: Utilizing Aesthetics in Digital Cartography. (2016)
- Salinas L, Weise S, Pollastri S. Transforming the planning progress – challenges for the service designer (2014)
- Salinas L. Digital media to enhance the planning system: a case study in Liverpool (2014)
- Salinas L. Digital public space(s): redefining publicness (2014)
Report
- Malpass M, Salinas L. AHRC Challenges of the Future: Public Services (2020)
- Salinas L. Understanding Knowledge Exchange at University of the Arts London (2019)
- Eilbeck A, Stewart H, Jacbos N, Quick A, Salinas L, Porter J, Harvey G. Meyouandus: Interactive in-venue displays. Research and Development Report (2015)
Thesis
- Salinas L. The Production of Digital Public Space(s) (2016)
Teaching
Current research students
- Jia Ying Chew, Transitions towards design-driven transdisciplinary higher education: Identifying the roles of design and solutions for systems-level change (Lead supervisor)
- Marida Maiorino, Community engagement for placemaking actions as a strategic resource to generate social resilience. (Lead supervisor)