The Play Disrupt team holding an award certificate

Inspire Future Generations Award Winners!

A photo of the person.
Dr. Rachel Gwenllian Hughes
22/01/2026

We are thrilled to have been awarded a Thorton Education Trust Inspire Future Generations award in the Materials and Resources category for our work on symbology!

The Inspire Future Generations Awards are in recognition of excellence and impact in empowering children and young people to advocate for a better built environment.

Judges highlighted that it is “An innovative long-term project which gives children authorship over how to communicate via symbols and maps to reflect their feelings and aspirations for public spaces. The team made the process inclusive and represented voices which might ordinarily be missed.”

“It pings…it activates stuff in my brain” - Barnardo’s Future Leader, explaining impact of hands-on symbology making.

If you’d like to learn more about our work on symbology, please read our blog: Making maps move.

Working towards a future that prioritises the wellbeing of people and planet.
Public Map Platform is being led by Cambridge, Cardiff and Wrexham Universities and is part of the Future Observatory - the Design Museum’s national research programme for the green transition. The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. This website does not use cookies and does not collect personally identifying information.