Silent Designers episode 3 - Marie Williams, Dream Networks

Innovate UK

What happens when you bring children as young as seven together with businesses, senior designers, and architects and ask them to design a space to play?

The third episode of Silent Designers explores the theme of Knowledge Transfer and Design with guest Marie Williams — Chartered Engineer, Design Lecturer, TEDx speaker, and Founder of Social Enterprise, Dream Networks.

Join us as playful engineer, Marie Williams, explains what took her from a career in innovation across aerospace, nuclear fusion, and software engineering to launch a social enterprise, Dream Networks and her drive to address the need for more equitable access to play areas in socially deprived areas.

Marie explains:

· The impact of design on social or environmental value

· How children approach co-design and design thinking opportunities

· The importance of context and equity in effective knowledge transfer

“I think about one in eight children in the UK has no access to a garden and relies on public play areas. However, the data reveals that many of these children live in deprived areas that don’t have play spaces. So that's when design is the catalyst for change and a response to more than an economic need. It can be our response to growing social and environmental needs and problem sets.”

Marie Williams is a playful chartered engineer, design lecturer, TedX speaker, and CEO of Dream Networks. She founded Dream Networks in 2016, and has collaborated with businesses, schools, and communities to co-design and build engaging play spaces in economically deprived communities worldwide. To date, Dream Networks has adopted sustainable design practices to create inclusive play spaces for over 60,000 children in the UK and Africa.

Click here to read the transcript.