Transform Academy: making good design count in public sector reform

This year Cabinet Office and Policy Profession published a landmark report: The Public Design Evidence Review (PDER).

Launched by Georgia Gould MP OBE, the Review is the biggest single piece of research into the role and value of design in the public sector. It shows that design is a key facilitator and enabler of successful end-to-end policy design and delivery, and describes the systemic and organisational factors that can promote the best outcomes by design.

This immersive half-day academy, aimed at non-designers, will give public sector leaders the chance to learn how design enables policy and public service success (and experience design techniques too). Our design leads will share insight through case studies, including our design work for HMCTS' Immigration and Asylum Tribunal (one of the 13 exemplars featured in the PDER case study bank).

Participants will learn about:

• How to get set for design success

• How design de-risks complex evolving problems

• Co-design as an enabler to building trust with citizens and stakeholders

• Inclusive policy and strategy outcomes by design

• Design as tool to make sense of and tackle wicked problems

This academy will be hands on too. The PDER shows that co-designing with citizens and stakeholders is not optional but a key driver of trust, equity and successful policies and services. Participants will have a chance to experience accessible co-design techniques the PDER evidences - a chance to share and tackle their local challenges and work them through with peers and our design leads. They can tackle blockers to design like, fast policy cycles, the risks of co-design with citizens and introducing design too late into projects and programmes. 

Key take aways:

By the end of the academy, participants will have stepped beyond theory and through a co-design experience. They will have: 

• Explored compelling case studies that clarify the value of design in public sector settings 
• Learned how design creates impact at all stages of policy and service creation and delivery 
• Identified ways to address barriers limiting effective design in their localities 
• Gained energising direct experience of co-design

Details:

What: Transform Academy: making good design count in public sector reform

When: 5th November 2025

Time: 9.30am - 2.30pm (lunch included)

Where: Transform London HQ - 60 Great Portland Street, W1W 7RT, London

Target audience: senior public policy and service leaders from a non-design background

To allow attendees to actively participate to this F2F workshop, spaces are strictly limited - if you'd like to join us or to suggest someone from you team, fill the form at this link and we'll be in touch to confirm your spot.

Transform’s Academy programme is a series of workshops delivered every few months, covering a variety of topics around the key areas impacting organisations today.