Announcing NAARCA x Future Island-Island
Rathlin East Light, Courtesy of Clare Mulholland
We are excited to announce NAARCA’s role in the ongoing development of Future Island-Island, an AHRC-funded project led by Professor Justin Magee at Belfast School of Art, Ulster University and Dr Clare Mulholland, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queens University Belfast. This initiative brings together community members, academics, and practitioners to co-create design-led research for a greener, more sustainable Northern Ireland economy.
Future Island-Island is a £6.6M project that started in 2023. As a Co-Investigator partner in phase two of this £2.5M stage (running through 2028), NAARCA will contribute to The East Light – A Creativity-led Strategy for a Sustainable Knowledge Economy on Rathlin Island. This strand supports the Rathlin Development Community Association in regenerating the historic East Light lighthouse into an academic, research, and creative destination, as well as a community and technological hub for the island. The strategy aims to integrate design, skills development, and entrepreneurship, connecting Rathlin with wider green transition networks across Ireland, Scotland, the Nordics, and beyond.
Collaborating with the Future Island-Island team and Rathlin’s creative community, NAARCA will organise sustainability-focused residencies centred on skills development, knowledge exchange, and mentorship. These residencies will foster island-driven creativity around eco-themes and provide training on hosting and facilitating future programmes as part of Rathlin’s emerging Knowledge Economy. Participants will engage with NAARCA partners, learn how each institution operates, and receive support to establish a new sustainability-focused art and science residency programme on Rathlin Island.
This project is part of the Green Transition Ecosystem programme (phase two 2025-2028) funded as part of AHRC’s Future Observatory: Design the Green Transition programme.
About Future Island-Island
Future Island-Island is one of four national Green Transition Ecosystems across the UK. It is led by Ulster University in collaboration with Queens University Belfast, Glasgow School of Art and the University of Arts London, alongside 18 private and third sector organisations across its duration of 4.5 years. This project is funded by the AHRC [AH/Y003780/1] and supported by the Design Museum’s Future Observatory research programme.
About Rathlin Island
‘Rathlin is the only inhabited island off the coast of Northern Ireland, within the United Kingdom, with a growing, deep rooted permanent population of approximately 160 people (141 in the 2021 census). There are also daily influxes of up to 800 visitors varying across seasons totalling approximately 50,000 a year. Linking to this, the local economy includes tourism, hospitality, retail, marine-related industries, farming and the creative industries, with three significant funded projects totalling £14.4m. It is also a Special Protected Area to protect breeding and wintering of migrating birds, with a distinct biodiversity.’
Kimbell, L., Morgan, B., Newell, K., Beattie, M., Dixon, B., Steel, G., Magee, J., Johnson, M., O’Connor, K., & Calderon, E. (2025). Sustainable Futures through Democratic Design: Towards Community-led Democratic Localism in Rathlin Island. Belfast School of Art, Ulster University, p5.