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.
Central Saint Martins researchers are active contributors to UAL-wide centres and networks that support specialist activity and collaborative work across Colleges.
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.
Part of the international DESIS network, UAL DESIS fosters socially responsive design research and knowledge exchange around sustainability and social innovation.
Research hubs that create spaces for focused inquiry and public engagement, often working in partnership with local communities, global institutions, and cross-sector organisations.
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.
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.
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.
This lab investigates the properties of biological living systems through creative practices in art, design, and architecture, generating new ecological knowledge and approaches.
Research and practice development at the intersection of public policy, design and futures.
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.
A long-standing transdisciplinary partnership between CSM and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, this collaboration fosters hybrid research practices across science, art, and design.
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 (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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.