A hands-on, collaborative project to solve a real-life challenge

TEDI-London residentials

Are you looking for a chance to work on a design sprint tackling a global challenge? A summer residential at TEDI-London could be the perfect opportunity for you!

A look back at Summer School 2024

Our July ’24 residential centred on the challenge of mitigating the use of single use plastics.

Our residentials are ideal for current undergraduate students seeking practical, project-based experience, but are suitable for anyone who would like to:

Gain experience working on a design sprint with real-world impact and in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Build a compelling and engaging project portfolio to boost CV’s and support future job/internship applications.
Learn workshop skills such as using design software and 3D printing technology, prototyping, and electronics.
Develop key workplace skills including: multidisciplinary teamworking, research, making, life-cycle analysis, evaluation, analytical problem-solving, multi-channel communication, self-reflection, independent-thinking, leadership, project management (i.e. planning, design, delivery), market research, stakeholder management, client work, and pitching.
Work in an interdisciplinary team of students from all over the world.
Work directly with stakeholders and learn how to improve through designs critiques and feedback.
Learn from industry experts and expand professional network.
Experience TEDI-London’s project-based style of teaching.

Programme structure

To prepare you to tackle real-world global issues, you’ll be given some online pre-learning content to work through before you join us on campus in week 4. This includes interviews with industry experts, presentations from leading academics, and interactive content, and is designed to guide you through the relevant global issues, current state of the art solutions, and future concepts. This will be your first opportunity to interact with your fellow course mates, building your groups as well as developing your role within your group. The pre-learning materials can be completed on a part-time basis alongside your usual schedule.
From week 4 onwards, the programme will run on a full-time, in-person basis at our engineering campus in Canada Water. During your first week at TEDI-London you’ll meet your group and interact with a range of key stakeholders, industry and governmental experts, and the TEDI-London team. This week is all about problem setting in a local environment. You’ll start sculpting your problem statement and key focus area, working as part of an interdisciplinary team to understand the problem and its possible solutions from a wide range of viewpoints.
As you progress into your second week on campus, your ideas will start to become reality. Working with key design frameworks and support from our design and makerspace team at TEDI-London, you’ll start developing your own prototypes and see your designs come to life. You will also have opportunities to interact with your stakeholders and various design critics to receive feedback and progress your ideas.
In your final week at TEDI-London you will finalise your design, implementing your prototypes and solutions into the real world. Final reviews with stakeholders will allow you to polish the gold ahead of a final demonstration showcase event, where you’ll present your ideas to the wider community. This is your chance to show how your design solves a global problem in a local context!

“Being part of TEDI-London’s summer school this year has taught me a lot about engineering design. It was really valuable for me to understand that you need a lot of information about the problem at hand, who it is for and the different resources available before even starting to develop a solution or build a prototype. “
Alessandro Summer School student, UNSW
“I enjoyed and learned so much in the 2020 TEDI-London Summer School that I participated again the following year! Having different disciplines come together is the most powerful and productive way to solve the problems that the world is facing. It was great fun to meet so many passionate students and learn from TEDI-London’s partners.”
Danae Matthews Summer school student 2021

Industry partners

Learn about some of the companies previous residential students have worked with:

Previous residentials

Discover previous topics and student designs:

Summer School 2024: Designing sustainable solutions to reduce single-use plastics.

Winter School 2024: Developing prototypes to support the repurposing of urban timber to minimise waste and encourage community engagement.

Summer school 2023: Designing sustainable transport solutions to support the Canada Water masterplan.

Winter school 2023: Creating a long-term community repair initiative to improve circular economy and reduce electronic waste

Summer school 2022: Using urban farming concepts to design innovative solutions which help local charity boost community engagement

Summer school 2021: Creating innovative engineering solutions for Canada Water’s outdoor spaces which support the ‘Net Zero Carbon by 2050’ challenge

Summer school 2020: Developing data-driven indoor and outdoor solutions to make Canada Water a dementia friendly community

Summer school 2019: Designing healthcare and community innovations for Canada Water residents

FAQ's

To participate in any of our residentials, you’ll need to be a minimum of age 18.
If you need to stay locally during the programme, please get in touch with us at residentials@tedi-london.ac.uk and we will do our best to help you arrange your stay.
Please note that the cost of accommodation is not included within the programme fee.
Definitely! Interdisciplinary teams are crucial when it comes to tackling global challenges, and teams that approach problems with each of their perspectives and skillsets in mind often develop better outcomes.
Our residentials run once during summer.

More about residentials

Reasons to study a residential programme