The Royal Academy - Architecture, Design, Conservation

The strategic cooperation with the Royal Academy was established in 2016 with a focus on strengthening research knowledge about universal design and ensuring a link to teaching. The grant at that time amounted to just over DKK 3.7 million for the Academy, supplemented by just over DKK 1.1 million for two business PhDs at the drawing studios Force4 and Gottlieb Palludan.

In 2021, the cooperation was further strengthened with a new grant of DKK 6,935 million and an extension of the cooperation until 2026. At the same time, the collaboration was lifted into the cross-cutting unit Innovation and Business to strengthen the dissemination of universal design across the Academy's institutes. At the same time, cooperation was strengthened by the establishment of a steering committee with the participation of the two deans of the Academy. It really gave a boost and a burgeoning interest in universal design. Also well helped along the way by strengthening research, hiring a project manager, establishing a teaching pool and joining another of the Foundation's partnerships: the Association of Young People with Disabilities (SUMH). An effort that was also reflected in the great representation from the Academy in the first round of the Bevica Scholarship, and which led seven scholarship winners.

In 2022, the Royal Academy produced a video-narration of the partnership. You can see it here:

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Over the years, cooperation with the Academy has also resulted in a number of derivative collaborations with, among others, the Lonely Gamles Værn Foundation, the Health Foundation, the City of Copenhagen and the UIA Congress, which have led to debates and happenings at Folkemødet and under the auspices of the Association of Architects, summerschool, films and a high-profile exhibition in Milan. And most recently a PhD in collaboration with Realdania.

We have compiled the various initiatives of the partnership below.