RCA
Jenny Hu on designing as a way to explore the friction between technology and everyday experience
12 May 2026
The Innovation Design Engineering alumna and Journee Rentals co-founder discusses her foundational years at the RCA and why building something 'real' is important for designers early on.
TS Ahmed: The pioneering Sudanese artist & RCA alumnus
29 Apr 2026
Prints preserved in the RCA's Special Collections are revealing the remarkable early career of Sudanese artist, T S Ahmed.
RCA offers EPSRC-funded research internships for current undergraduates this summer
27 Apr 2026
The EPSRC’s Vacation Internships scheme gives undergraduate students a taster of what it is like to do research.
Anthony Burrill on the power of words and positive messages
22 Apr 2026
Anthony Burrill (MA Graphic Design & Art Direction, 1991) is a graphic artist renowned for his ability to distill ideas into simple yet striking forms.
Design innovation at the RCA explores the future of mobility in an era of climate challenge
22 Apr 2026
RCA Intelligent Mobility MA student Kian Mokhtarpour reached the final of the BRP International Design Challenge in Lapland with a concept vehicle designed to help firefighters respond to the growing threat of wildfires.
Life at the RCA: Finding your research voice
20 Apr 2026
Communication MPhil/PhD student Laura Boutros reflects on the evolving journey of doctoral study at the RCA. From navigating imposter syndrome, developing discipline and discovering how research can take shape over a simple cup of coffee.
Winners of the Grand Challenge 2025/26: Design for Betterment revealed
20 Apr 2026
RCA reveals the winners of the Grand Challenge 2025/2026: Design for Betterment
RCA and Wandsworth: celebrating a year as London Borough of Culture
25 Mar 2026
How the RCA and Wandsworth's London Borough of Culture year brought creativity to thousands of people across the borough.
Royal College of Art celebrates 12th consecutive year as the world’s leading university for art and design
25 Mar 2026
The RCA has been ranked the number 1 university for art & design internationally for the 12th year in a row, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 – the largest world-wide survey of academic and industry opinion.
SPILLLL Collective, in conversation with Tracey Waller
25 Mar 2026
Tracey Waller, Head of Visual Communication, interviewed the SPILLLL collective at the Feminist Library in Peckham, reflecting together on how dialogic and conversational practice shapes their work.
Featured
Typewriters, the office machines that preceded computers
By Kiron Kasbekar | 10 Apr 2025
You see office tables today equipped with desktop computers or laptops. But think of the 1970s, and what would you have been seeing?
Wishful thinking about cars
By Kiron Kasbekar | 05 Apr 2025
Donald Trump may be many things, but a good economist he is not. Accustomed to dictating terms to people he has worked with,
The history of safety glass
By Kiron Kasbekar | 26 Mar 2025
You probably already knew that the world’s VIPs move around in cars with bullet-proof glass windscreen and windows. But did you know that ‘bulletproof glass’ is not really bulletproof?
German silver: used in cutlery, music, electricals - but it’s not silver
By Kiron Kasbekar | 20 Mar 2025
This material, which was first developed in China, not Germany, and is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc, has lost its sheen in home uses, but finds favor in electrical engineering.
Pioneers – the Wrights and Glenn Curtiss launched the aircraft industry
By Kiron Kasbekar | 17 Mar 2025
First Orville and Wilbur Wright flew their plane, the ‘Wright Flyer’, from near a small town called Kitty Hawk. Then Glenn Curtiss built planes with a very different system of controls, which has lasted until now.
What do aircraft have in common with bicycles and motorcycles?
By Kiron Kasbekar | 17 Mar 2025
From chains and sprockets to direct drives—If someone asked you what aircraft have in common with bicycles and motorcycles, how would you respond?
Radar’s ancestors: From sound mirrors to modern detection technology
By Kiron Kasbekar | 11 Mar 2025
Radar has become a well-settled technology today, especially in the field of navigation.
Nokia Bell Labs: innovations in communication, computing, technology
By Omar Almeida | 08 Mar 2025
Bell Laboratories, or Bell labs, which has now become Nokia Bell Labs, is one of the most renowned research and development organizations in the history of science and technology.
Company story – Quaker Oats
By Kiron Kasbekar | 08 Mar 2024
Quaker Oats is a company whose products I remember from my childhood days. Years before a foreign exchange crisis caused the Indian government to impose curbs on consumer product imports, we used to see a host of foreign brands in the Indian market. Including Quaker Oats, which I remember eating when I was a child, and which has been available for the past two decades or more.
