Dr Andrea Siodmok OBE appointed as new Chief Impact Officer at the RSA

The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has appointed Andrea Siodmok, to be its new Chief Impact Officer (CIO).

The RSA is an independent charity, founded in 1754, which unites people and ideas to develop practical solutions to solve the challenges of our time. The RSA’s President is HRH Anne, the Princess Royal.

Dr Siodmok has an international reputation for applying design for the public good. She was formerly Chief Design Officer at the Design Council and a Deputy Director at the Cabinet Office where she worked on more than one hundred policy projects under three Prime Ministers. She was awarded the OBE in 2021.

Andy Haldane, the RSA’s Chief Executive Officer said: “Without doubt Andrea is one of the leading thinkers on design and public policy in the UK. Her work in government spanned an incredibly broad range of policy areas including policing, employment, business growth and social and family policy issues. I’m delighted that Andrea is joining the RSA.”

Tim Eyles, the RSA’s Chair of Trustees said: “Andrea is recognised across the world as an expert in finding practical ways to improve people’s lives using design principles and practice. She is already a lifetime fellow of the RSA, and the Trustees feel that appointing her as CIO will add immense value to the society’s work in the future.”

Tom Lloyd, founding partner of Pearson Lloyd and Master of the RSA’s Royal Designers for Industry, said: “Andrea has a long-standing involvement in the RSA’s Student Design Awards; as a student, tutor, sponsor, judge and more recently chair of judges. In 2015 she received the RSA’s distinguished Bicentenary Medal in honour of her government work applying design principles to democratise policymaking. She is a champion of British design and a formidable addition to the leadership team.”

The Chief Impact Officer’s role will be to forge the RSA’s new strategy and oversee the growth of its fellowship body, and its world-leading research and impact programmes.

Dr Siodmok said: “Locally, nationally, and globally the RSA and its fellows are at the forefront of finding answers to some of the greatest challenges of our time. I’m joining an organisation with a remarkable history of collective action for public good. I’m passionate about applying creativity and innovation to enhance people’s wellbeing, address climate change and reduce inequality.

“I have worked with the RSA in one form or another for 30 years and I look forward to engaging with as many of our 30,000 fellows and partners as possible in shaping the debate and delivering greater impact in the future. I’m delighted to be joining the RSA at such an exciting time for the society and at a time of great change and challenge in the UK and beyond.”

The RSA has been at the forefront of significant social impact for over 260 years. Our proven change process, rigorous research, innovative ideas platform and diverse global community of over 30,000 problem solvers, deliver solutions for lasting change.

Andrea will be attending the RSA’s Fellows Festival in London on Saturday 14 May. She takes up her Chief Impact Officer role on 1 June.

To follow the latest from the new RSA CIO you can use @AndreaSiodmok on Twitter.

Notes to editors

• Formerly Chief Design Officer at the Design Council, some of Andrea’s best-known work has been in re-designing hospital furniture and equipment to reduce the spread of healthcare associated infections. Here she co-developed the ‘Double Diamond’ design process which has since had over 50 million views on google.
• In 2009 she led the Design Council’s programme ‘Designs of the Time’ (Dott). Dott’s ten pioneering public projects explored how increasing citizen involvement in tackling local challenges could help create a more inclusive and sustainable society.
• Following the success of this, she became the first Chief Designer in a local authority in the country gaining the coveted ‘Creative Councils’ status by Nesta in 2012 for their multi-award-winning public engagement platform called ‘Made Open’.
• Andrea led the Design Museum’s ‘Future is here’ exhibition for Innovate UK and championed closer connections between science and arts, curating a unique gathering of leading scientists and designers at the Science Museum and Design Museum called ‘science meets design’.
• Over twenty years her clients and commissions have taken her around the world. During that time, she has worked with global corporations, charities and social enterprises and was an early proponent of service design and has been a champion for public involvement in designing better public services.
• As a representative of British design, she has been invited to run workshops across five continents, regularly speaking and writing about design. She was appointed a member of the European Commission’s Design Leadership Board and has been a contributor to a number of books on design and policy.
• Andrea has a first-class honours degree in Industrial Design, a Masters in Public Policy and a PhD in Virtual Reality. She taught product and transportation design and has maintained close connections with academia through fellowships and external examining.
• The UK’s Policy Lab was launched at the beginning of April 2014. Policy Lab is a multi-award-winning creative space where civil servants can experiment with new techniques and approaches to policy problems from data science to design.
• Andrea is available for interview.

About the RSA:

The RSA (royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce) is an independent charity, committed to a future that works for everyone. A future where we can all participate in its creation.

The RSA has been at the forefront of significant social impact for over 260 years. Our proven change process, rigorous research, innovative ideas platform and diverse global community of over 30,000 problem solvers, deliver solutions for lasting change.

Legally, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (‘RSA’) is a Royal Charter Company and registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 212424) and in Scotland (charity number SC037784).