The Re:Design Podcast
Design that connects us
Re:Design: the human centred design podcast
We live in a world that is always evolving, changing and re-building itself. Mima is on a mission to ensure that in this fast-moving world we don’t lose sight of what matters - people.
In this Podcast Mima brings together thinkers from parallel industries to discuss how human-centered design can solve complex and crucial business challenges - and what that really looks like in practice - not as a checklist, not as an afterthought, but as thinking that has the power to transform the spaces, systems and environments we interact with every day.
The podcast shares ideas, the opportunity to step into different terrains, create connections and the creative thinking we need to keep designing and creating a better world.
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What makes an exhibition truly inclusive, and why it matters
What does it really mean for a museum or gallery to be inclusive - not just physically accessible, but genuinely welcoming to everyone who walks through the door? And what happens when inclusive design is embedded from the very start of a project, rather than added as an afterthought?
With guests, Anat Talmor and Fiona Slater.
What makes an exhibition truly inclusive, and why it matters
What does it really mean for a museum or gallery to be inclusive - not just physically accessible, but genuinely welcoming to everyone who walks through the door? And what happens when inclusive design is embedded from the very start of a project, rather than added as an afterthought?
From multisensory interactives and sensory friendly programming, to co-design workshops with local communities and audience testing with children as young as two, this episode explores what it takes to create exhibitions that offer genuine choice, permission and representation for all visitors. We hear how centring lived experience early in the design process leads to richer, more surprising outcomes, and why the timing of that engagement matters. Plus, we explore the role of the accessibility consultant in the design team - not just as a technical sense-check against access standards, but as a source of creative provocation that pushes projects further. A practical, honest and inspiring conversation about why design equity in cultural spaces isn’t a nice-to-have - it’s where the most creative, rewarding work happens.
Guests include:
Anat Talmor
Design Director at award-winning architectural practice De Matos Ryan. Anat has significant experience across museum, cultural and educational projects, and has been responsible for key design development and delivery on projects including WonderLab: The Bramall Gallery at the National Railway Museum in York, the Young V&A base build in Bethnal Green, and the Tullie House Museum redevelopment in Carlisle. Anat is passionate about working with communities and has led many of the practice’s ambitious co-design programmes for cultural institutions.
Fiona Slater
Head of Access and Equity at the Science Museum Group, Fiona joined the group in April 2021 in a newly developed role overseeing the group’s public commitment to being open for all. With over 15 years championing inclusive and accessible practice across museums and the third sector, Fiona brings deep expertise in making cultural spaces work for diverse audiences - from Relaxed Sessions and Community Access Schemes to the development of on-gallery Access Hubs and online access resources.
How do you create spaces for all?
Discover the fascinating world of human-centered design in two vastly different domains - museums and airports!
In this captivating episode, we bring together two incredible guests: Fiona Slater, the Head of Access and Equity at Science Museum Group and Kirk Goodlet, Senior Director who specialises in strategic planning, border facilitation, biometric technologies, the future of mobility and helping organisations identify and remove barriers to equal access.
Guests include:
Fiona Slater
Fiona joined the Science Museum Group in April 2021, in the newly developed role of Head of Access and Equity, to oversee the group's public commitment and core value of being ‘Open for All’. For over 15 years Fiona has worked within Museum and third-sector organisations to champion inclusive and accessible practice and is passionate about working collaboratively to create public spaces where we all feel ‘at home’.
Between 2011 – 2018, she played a central role in the development of ‘Unlimited’, a ground-breaking commissioning programme for disabled artists, working in partnership with cultural venues across the UK and internationally. At The British Museum, Fiona worked with colleagues at a strategic level to embed Equality and Diversity across working practices and, in response to the altered world of Covid-19 developed a digital accessible events programme during the Museum’s 163 day closure.
Kirk Goodlet, PhD, IAP
Kirk is a strategic and cross-functional leader with experience in both private and public sectors. In his role at InterVISTAS, he specialises in strategic planning, border facilitation, biometric technologies, the future of mobility, and helping organizations identify and remove barriers to equal access. Kirk believe in a future in which transportation is truly barrier-free.
Previously, Kirk held a number of senior-level positions in the aviation industry. As Director, Airport Services, for example, he oversaw landside and airside operations at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport. In this role, he developed and implemented award-winning accessibility programming recognized in 2020 by both the province of Manitoba and Airports Council International (ACI). Additionally, I led the implementation of Canada's first facial verification eGates as part of YWG's NEXUS modernization project.
How do you design customer-centric operations / business?
Happy customers mean happy business right? So, how do you make sure that the customer’s voice isn’t lost in the maelstrom of all the moving parts of your business?
A common failing across multiple sectors and industries, in this episode we discuss how you can overcome it with a world-renowned expert in culture change and employee experience and a hugely experienced Head of Train Service delivery, as we find out how to put the customer at the heart of your business and create a step-change in performance by changing your business culture.
Guests include:
Derek Bishop
Derek Bishop is a world-renowned expert in culture change and employee experience with over twenty years’ experience who is currently Director at Culture Consultancy.
Andrew Dickinson
Andrew Dickinson is a hugely experienced Head of Train Service delivery, with prior roles at South Western and Great Western Rail. He’s currently working as Service Delivery Director at KeolisAmey Docklands.
How do you make travel more accessible?
A billion people - that’s 15% of the world’s population - live with some sort of disability, so ensuring equal access to travel is not just simply the right thing to do not just from an ethical standpoint but it’s also just good business.
From temporary and permanent disabilities to impairments to speech, vision, hearing, communication, sensory processing, and physical limitations such as people who require walking aids and wheelchair users, there is a significant and growing need for accessible travel.
In this episode we chat with an award-winning writer, speaker and patient advocate and a leader in accessible project development from Heathrow Airport, to find out how instead of expecting people to adapt to the world, we can make efforts to adapt the world to the people who live in it.
Guests include:
Jenny McLaughlin
Jenny is a Project Manager at Heathrow Airport and a leader in accessible project development, including the world-leading Heathrow Inclusive Design Standards.
Martin Heng
Martin is an internationally recognised expert on accessible travel who was previously at Lonely Planet for twenty years working as their Accessible Travel Manager & Editorial Advisor.
How can we get to new ideas and solutions?
In the whirlwind of today’s fast-paced modern world, technology ceaselessly advances and improves daily. From the prolific rise of artificial intelligence to the latest smartphones and supercomputers, how can we best apply today’s technology to help us innovate with design solutions that generate positive impact?
Guests include:
Will Reddaway
A combined 20+ years of engineering, change management and innovation. The last 10 years have specifically been around strategic innovation leadership, working in a very traditional environment, Will has supported and led the industry to start to break out its status quo. Challenging and pushing to break the mould and support behavioural and organisational change to create a culture of innovation and the capacity to change, allowing businesses to driving value and impact across various project.
Will has worked in SMEs specifically around technology deployment and integration across the world and for a large FTSE250 (G4S) bringing about change management capability, cultural shifts and technology adoption - driving cultural change. Public sector mega projects (Crossrail, East West Rail) driving innovation and change in a very traditional sector - supporting SMEs, academia and businesses to exploit innovative capabilities to drive value to the projects and create new standards and capabilities.
Tim Murdoch
Tim is one of the original creators of the M-PESA money transfer service for Vodafone, a financial service that has transformed the lives of many millions of people across Africa and beyond and become the poster child for the financial services industry.
Tim co-founded Waymap, a company working with vision impaired and other communities to deliver the benefits of Smart Cities, IoT and Machine Learning to those who might benefit from it most; using hard technology to locate people indoors as they move combined with deep user insights to guide them as walk.
Tim now heads up new business development for digital products at Cambridge Design Partnership - bringing people-centred innovation to the wider healthcare and consumer technology industries.
How do you create positive change in your business that lasts?
Have you ever been frustrated in your attempts to land enduring change in your business? Have you ever just not known where to start or how to make sure you get all the stakeholders to buy into it?
In this episode, we’ll draw from the experience of two prominent innovators and changemakers, giving you real-world insights into how best to create impactful and enduring change.
Guests include:
Matt Marsh
Matt is an internationally renowned human-centred change and innovation specialist. As a Former Director of IDEO, innovation envoy for the UK’s Design Council, a published author, guest lecturer and TEDx speaker, Matt has more than twenty-five years of experience providing the creative, empathetic and progressive leadership that helps organisations change, transform and innovate successfully.
Nicky Longley
A true pioneer, Dr Nicky Longley trained in London, Uganda and South Africa, and is a consultant physician and Associate Professor in travel medicine at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as a member of the faculty of Travel medicine RCPSG, the International Expert Committee for Travel Medicine.
How do you create a seamless visitor experience?
Whether it’s a world-class sporting arena, art gallery, music festival or museum, how do you create an experience for visitors that will keep them coming back for more?
In this episode, we draw on experts from a variety of sectors to uncover what the key factors that go into creating a seamless visitor experience.
Guests include:
Ross Calladine
Ross Calladine is Accessibility and Inclusion Lead at VisitEngland. As part of his role, Ross is VisitEngland’s in-house accessibility specialist developing initiatives that help tourism businesses and destinations tap into the high-value, growing accessible tourism market.
Ross and VisitEngland recently partnered with Mima to create the groundbreaking Accessible and Inclusive Tourism Toolkit for Business and has led the development of an innovative Accessibility Guides website, spearheaded the production of a number of guidance booklets and he also manages VisitEngland’s Accessible & Inclusive Tourism Award, which recognises leaders in the field. Ross also convenes and chairs England’s Inclusive Tourism Action Group comprising leading accessible tourism stakeholders.
As an authority on accessible tourism, Ross was appointed Disability and Access Ambassador for Tourism by the UK Government in January 2022.
Anna Lowe
Anna is CoFounder and Director of Partnerships at Smartify, a global guide to art and culture. Partnering with the world’s cultural heritage organisations, Smartify empowers people to connect with the world’s creativity.
Anna is a Trustee of Tate, the youngest ever trustee of a UK national museum. She is also Trustee of Hope in Haringey. Anna was listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2019 and Apollo Art Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list in 2021. Anna sits on the UK5G Creative Industries working group and Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC).