S.H.E.D is a research and innovation space that engages with lifelong learning, public engagement and teaching through creative industry and cultural practice.
Since its inception, S.H.E.D has worked on 27 different projects, engaged with over 42896 people and worked with over 40 partner organisations in 6 UK cities and over 12 countries.
S.H.E.D can adapt to multiple possible configurations, all co-designed – it can be what you want it to be. It is a space that invites action through socially, politically and culturally charged practice. Its flexibility supports diversity, designs for dialogues and untold stories, from multidisciplinary fields, and for all people, especially from those who usually do not have a voice. It has been designed for the shedding of preconceptions of people and place.
In 2025, S.H.E.D was one of the few recipients of the new, first-of-its-kind Arc Accelerator award.
We invite you to collaborate and co-create with S.H.E.D. We work with cultural venues and public providers to bridge the gap between the arts and higher education.
S.H.E.D is delivered by Designing Dialogue CiC (community interest company), the first spin-out company from the University of Derby.
Dr Rhiannon Jones is an artist-researcher and thought leader in Social and Design innovation through Civic Practice based at the University of Derby. In 2012, she co-founded the artistic research network InDialogue, an international artists’ research network that has commissioned and curated four international symposia and artist residencies.
As founding CEO of Designing Dialogue CIC in 2019, Dr Jones co-created S.H.E.D, a unique public arts space co-designed with communities and providing a platform for emerging and established practitioners and artists. S.H.E.D is a collaborative initiative with a wide range of stakeholders that works strategically with large organisations such as the Football Association Charitable Trusts, local authorities, National Museums, Design Council, Arts Council England, Derby Opportunity Area, higher-education sector and creative industries to stimulate debate on regenerative place-making.
S.H.E.D stands for The Social Higher Education Depot, reflecting its position as a social and transient, yet expansive and dynamic space. It is a mobile shed that acts as a bridge between Higher Education and the public in a safe and inclusive way.
The concept for S.H.E.D was developed in 2019 in partnership with a core team of ‘shedders’, including Dr Victoria Barker, Sarah Webb, Simon Burrows and Barend Slabbert and a group of stakeholders. They have created 32 possible S.H.E.D configurations (and counting) as an initiative to generate opportunities for people to talk. Sheds are safe, familiar, common spaces that can also spark curiosity.
S.H.E.D explores creative place-making as a methodology to address civic, societal and economic issues through the design of a unique site for public discourse. It does this by creating innovation projects that embed teaching and learning opportunities through research. This is manifested through co-designing bespoke S.H.E.D environments for performative, sporting, cultural and artistic engagement; and achieved in partnership with students, stakeholders, local authorities, policy makers, academics and the business sector.
