A collection of short films putting the spotlight firmly on the start-up and breadth of a major research project at Lancaster University was premiered on Tuesday.

The team at ImaginationLancaster welcomed an audience of 120 people, including staff, Research England and special guests, to watch the private viewing of the ten short films screened via Zoom.

The films captured the essence of the £13.2 million Research England and Lancaster University funded ‘Beyond Imagination’ project, which got underway in January 2020.

ImaginationLancaster is the exploratory research lab at Lancaster University, which uses design and architecture to make a difference in the real world.

The team’s design-led research explores a broad range of subjects. There are five key research clusters relating to our cities, environments, communities, workplaces, homes and governments along with cross-cutting themes of sustainability, international, health and prosperity and evaluation.

Each carefully crafted film, cleverly shot under social distancing rules, captures the vast array of imaginative work in each cluster and theme currently being explored through more than 50 research projects which seek to intervene, test and push boundaries across the board.

Beyond Imagination Project Lead and Professor of Design and Creative Exchange Leon Cruickshank, who welcomed everyone to the film premiere, said: “Our strength is in our diverse and open approach to collaboration. With partnerships across multiple sectors and industries our research provides fresh perspectives on complex global challenges.

“We can only solve today’s problems with insight and innovation. We can only solve them together. These films are an invitation to open up a dialogue and collaborate with us.”

The Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Professor Paul Connolly, thanked the team and said the films were ‘really exciting and inspiring'.

The films were created in partnership with washstudio.co.uk

To view the films please visit http://imagination.lancaster.ac.uk/films/