The Goldsmiths Project
The Goldsmiths Project is a second-year module taken by students from a range of courses across Goldsmiths.
In September 2023, Goldsmiths introduced a Connected Curriculum – a shared set of modules taken by a cross-section of students across the university.
This new curriculum is focussed on boosting student employability and ‘world readiness’, alongside enhancing their social and cultural awareness and research skills. Civic University Agreement Partners have been directly involved in designing a core module at the university, ‘The Goldsmiths Project’.
Interdisciplinarity work
The Goldsmiths Project is a second-year module taken by students from a range of courses across Goldsmiths. It sees interdisciplinary groups of students develop a research project over the course of a term, working towards group presentations and a critical reflection essay delivered at the close of the course. The module aims to build teamwork, project management and other practical skills as well as creating interdisciplinary links across Goldsmiths and deepening students’ engagement with the local area.
CUA partners were involved in a co-production process that led to a series of ‘Civic Challenges’ which students respond to and in many cases directly adopt in their work. These challenges are wide ranging, from issues linked to culture and the creative industries, housing and urban development, to climate, environment and biodiversity, through to issues around mental health and homelessness.
This project is not just an assignment, it is more like a turning point in my life, allowing me to develop in a better direction, do more research, and do meaningful things.
Student involved in the Goldsmiths project
Students responding to challenges
As of 2026, over 200 students have taken the Goldsmiths Project module, with students responding to a cross section of the challenges set by partners. Projects have been delivered focussing on gentrification, homelessness, and mental health, among other issues.
Partners from outside the university have been involved in the delivery of the module, giving guest talks for students, setting challenges to work on, and benefitting from research outputs. In some cases, reps from these organisations are also Goldsmiths graduates who have stayed in the local area – meaning that current students benefit from connecting with socially committed Goldsmiths graduates.
The students asked such brilliant, thoughtful questions. It’s inspiring to see so many of them engaged in conversations about homelessness and deeply aware of the systemic and intersectional issues around it.
CEO of local charity involved with the Goldsmiths Project
Engagement with the local area
The Goldsmiths Project is helping to embed a deeper knowledge of and engagement with the local area into the core student experience at Goldsmiths. Through a deeper knowledge of the locale, students are encouraged to explore how issues impacting Southeast London inseparably intersect with global issues and challenges.
Local issues that our civic partners and communities are working on day to day are mapped against global challenges, including the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Learning from the Goldsmiths Project is also informing other curriculum-focused work at Goldsmiths, with a number of other departments adopting civic engagement and community engaged learning as key aspects of their pedagogy.