Welcome to RAAD
Welcome to the blog for RAAD - the Centre for Research in Art and Design at Birmingham City University. We are a community of artists, designers, makers, thinkers and writers. We believe that creative practice in art, architecture, and design matters and that it can make a difference - transforming individuals, communities, and society. In our research we collaborate, explore, and share knowledge in order to make a difference.
Programme for JOIN
The programme is now available for our 2026 conference Join: Crafting Conversations with Communities on 1 July. Our 2026 conference focuses on how participatory art, craft and design practices are understood in relation to shifting institutional, social, and economic conditions today. We are really looking forward to welcoming artists, makers, and writers to join our conversation.
Global Surrealist Photography
I’ve been fortunate enough to receive joint funding from the Association of Art Historians and RAAD for a week-long trip to archives and libraries in Paris. In this project, I aim to combine unpublished elements of my PhD thesis with new research to form a monograph entitled Global Surrealist Photography: A Cosmopolitan Lens…
11 Mile NearFuture Pluriversity
From 13-16 March 2026 RAAD researchers Becky Shaw and Cathy Wade took part in the 11 Mile NearFuture Pluriversity - a group of artists, researchers, educators, planners and historians working together to think about the future value of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal UNESCO World Heritage site (WHS) as a sustainable and equitable tourism and lifelong learning model…
