Nesta is an innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better. We use our expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society. Nesta is based in the UK and supported by a financial endowment. We work with partners around the globe to bring bold ideas to life to change the world for good.
Digital platforms offer the potential to assemble people and knowledge as never before. Alongside this there has been rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning techniques that have enabled new ways of capturing, analysing and learning from large amounts of complex data. To date the vast majority of practice, policy and research has focused on these areas separately, with little attention given to the potential for innovation when human and machine intelligence is combined and how this can enable a new form of collective intelligence that make it possible for organisations and societies to think at large scale to solve the great challenges of our time. There is lots of promising practice around the world, but very little systematic theory, codified knowledge, or a profession to do this well. This is where we come in.
Nesta’s Centre for Collective Intelligence Design (CCID) supports the best projects and practitioners worldwide, produces research to uncover new insights on how to best design for collective intelligence and runs practical projects to exemplify how this can be done well.
The role
Do you have a wide knowledge of design-led solutions and use of innovation methods for the development of effective learning and development programmes? If so, join Nesta’s Innovation Skills team as a Senior Learning Experience Designer where you will work on collective intelligence design. This is a unique opportunity to help shape, codify and spread an emerging area of innovation practice – drawing on the best of human and machine intelligence to solve social problems.
Key roles and responsibilities
Focusing primarily on the design and delivery of learning programmes, you will be responsible for shaping the content, materials and tools, and delivering learning programmes to increase the skills and confidence of social innovators to design for collective intelligence. You will work alongside colleagues and external stakeholders to orchestrate existing knowledge, and translate research findings into the design of tools, frameworks and learning processes for a variety of projects. You will also oversee the use and adaptation of collective intelligence innovation methods that draw on the Centre’s knowhow.
CCID has recently agreed a two-year partnership with the UN Development Programme network of 60 accelerator labs. In the first instance, you will help design and deliver learning experiences for lab members, supporting them to apply collective intelligence design to help make faster progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. This will involve a combination of training as part of the broader Labs’ bootcamp programme, remote mentoring and periodic in-country support to a smaller number of trailblazer labs, which will involve regular travel, including to Sub-Saharan Africa.
You will be overseeing the evaluation of learning outcomes and using those insights to continually refine and improve the collective intelligence tools, frameworks and learning journey. You will also work with the Head of CCID to codify insights from the programme, including through developing an open library of design patterns for collective intelligence design. You will proactively ‘think out loud’, communicating your evolving thinking and insights through blogging.
You will engage with the collective intelligence community and related fields (including data science, citizen science, digital democracy, and open innovation) to drive knowledge sharing and content development activities.
You will also support the Co-Heads of the Centre for Collective Intelligence Design with business development activities – supporting on the design of partnerships with organisations where skills development and practical support to apply collective intelligence is a key component.
Experience and skills
With a track record of designing, delivering and monitoring impactful learning programmes, you have planned and managed projects where you’ve been accountable for design quality and delivery, built relationships with stakeholders, clients and team members and kept projects on time and within budget. You have a consultative style and can identify opportunities and address potential problems efficiently. To succeed in this vital, challenging role you will need experience of working in, or closely with, a public sector organisation, charity or other social purpose organisation. A willingness to travel overseas, sometimes at short notice is essential.