CollaborAcademy: Co-creating a syllabus for 'learning to collaborate' Summary Report

Collaboration between different disciplines and system actors is becoming increasingly important in the face of complex challenges. The future sustainability of textiles and clothing is one complex challenge that can benefit from improved collaboration across the value chain.

The Future Fibres Network+ (FFN+) was established with a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) grant to improve collaboration between the environmental sciences, social sciences, textiles and clothing design, and with the textiles and clothing industry. CollaborAcademy is a research study initiated with an FFN+ mini project grant to develop a short course syllabus for ‘learning to collaborate’. The study took a participatory design approach, where 12 doctoral researchers from the environmental sciences, textiles and clothing design worked together to test, explore and propose the features of the syllabus. An industry and academic panel were convened to critique the draft syllabus and provide further direction for its development.

This summary report outlines the key features of the prototype syllabus comprising:
Six Core Principles
Five Learning Units
Six Learning Scenarios

The prototype syllabus can be a starting point for anyone wishing to build collaborative capacity within their institution or organisation. This research will support further pedagogic development within the Complex Collaborations Design Research Hub (Complex Collaborations Hub) at University of the Arts London.