Dezeen has teamed up with The World Around and Future Observatory to share the highlights from the In Focus: Research event, which focuses on the "critical importance of research in design today".

Taking place at the Design Museum in London, the event will feature speakers including Forensic Architecture director Eyal Weizman, Faber Futures founder Natsai Audrey Chieza and AMO director Samir Bantal.

Curated by The World Around founder Beatrice Galilee and Future Observatory director Justin McGuirk, the event aims to draw attention to the importance of research as a critical tool for contemporary architecture practice.

"The conditions and constraints that contemporary architects must respond to in their daily work – climatic, social, economic, material, technological – are in a state of transformation on a planetary scale," explained Galilee.

"Access to and interpretation of cutting-edge research is therefore a critical element in design and culture today," she continued.

"The World Around is proud to be collaborating with the visionary team at the Future Observatory to join them in spotlighting the urgent role of research as design, as art and as architecture. We hope it will prove to be a provocative and important discussion."

The event will be the first to be hosted in London for The World Around, which launched with its inaugural event in New York in 2020.

In Focus: Research is being presented in partnership with the Design Museum's Future Observatory, which is the organisation's national research programme for the green transition.

"The crises facing the planet today demand that architects and designers challenge 'business as usual'," said Future Observatory director McGuirk.

"Driving the transition by definition makes research a critical aspect of what it means to design. Future Observatory is dedicated to supporting and championing research, and we are delighted to be collaborating with The World Around to bring these pioneering practitioners to a broader audience."

Along with Weizman, Chieza and Bantal, confirmed speakers for the event include architect Feifei Zhou, artist Sammy Baloji, dean of the Royal College of Art's School of Architecture Adrian Lahoud, architect Julia King, executive director of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water Henk Ovink and architect Indy Johar.

To view more about the event, visit its website.

Partnership content

Dezeen is a media partner for The World Around 2024. Find out more about our partnership content here.