Dr Lara Salinas

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 as part of Prof Rodgers’ AHRC Design Leadership Fellowship and her KE research published and presented internationally.