UCL and RISE Launch Collaboration for Neuroarchitecture and Neurodesign Innovation

On 16 May 2024, academics from The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment and UCL’s Faculty of Brain Sciences met with stakeholders from RISE to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the new transdisciplinary fields of neuroarchitecture and neurodesign.

This partnership comes on the back of the new bilateral strategic partnership agreement between Sweden and the UK to jointly deliver outstanding scientific research for sustainable development. UCL and RISE will work together to explore how the human brain interacts with built environments, with the aim of designing sustainable and inclusive surroundings that enhance people’s health and wellbeing.

RISE is Sweden’s research institute and innovation partner, collaborating internationally across industry, academia and the public sector. This new initiative creates a joint force highlighting the importance of leveraging the combined expertise of both the UK and Sweden in research, innovation and sustainability to help tackle global challenges.

Commenting on the partnership, Dr Fiona Zisch, Lecturer in Architecture and Programme Director for the Design for Performance & Interaction MArch, said:

The arts, humanities and design fields have a rich history of intersecting with and being informed by relevant disciplines studying mind, brain and body. Twentieth-century interdisciplinary work across architecture, design, technology and the brain sciences has already yielded substantial knowledge which is now being expanded further into transdisciplinary research that integrates further fields of study and more ecologically rich approaches. This is and will be enabling further insights and innovations, leading to more diverse and inclusive understandings of the interplay between different environments and their inhabitants.”

Carina Carlman, Director of Research and Business Development at RISE, said:

“By deepening the understanding of neuroarchitecture and neurodesign, we can identify keys and tools to shape future living environments in a way that supports health and wellbeing. We address these challenges by collaborating for providing new insights into how conscious design choices can help balance risk and resilience factors, promoting healthier living on a global scale.”

Dr Fiona Zisch and Carina Carlman are joined in this initiative by Isabelle Sjövall and Prof Hugo Spiers from the Faculty of Brain Sciences, who said:

“The built environment significantly impacts health and quality of life. By identifying risk and resilience factors in architecture and design and utilising new UCL facilities and mobile brain recording technology, researchers can better understand and improve the built environment to enhance health and wellbeing.”

Through their joint vision to address urgent challenges by offering new perspectives on how conscious design choices can better balance risk and resilience factors in the built environments, UCL and RISE hope to contribute to healthier living environments for people and planet.

More information

• UCL and Sweden launch pioneering collaboration in Neurodesign and Neuroarchitecture
• Visit Dr Fiona Zisch’s profile
• Visit Prof Hugo Spiers’ profile
• UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences
• Read the RISE press release

Images: UCL Global Engagement