An experience design project to encourage the general public in coral conservation The project’s aim is to encourage the general public to engage in coral conservation thereby contributing to maintaining marine biodiversity, both now and in the future. This will be achieved through a mixture of design artefacts and activities enabling us to reach a wide range of people. We have designed a self-growing coral kit (which would be publicly accessible) that enables anyone to cultivate coral at home. Once the home-grown coral reaches an appropriate size it can be returned to the sea by experienced divers. We have also developed a workshop format to educate people about the issues and encourage engagement. For this, we have created support tools such as displays of local Singapore corals and flashcards related to coral research. In the future, we would like to build an online network to enhance activities between researchers and local volunteers. A collaborative project between The Division of Industrial Design (DID) under College of Design and Engineering as well as the Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) and DLX Design Lab, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo (UTokyo). The lead designer researcher is Tomomi Sayuda from the DLX Design Lab, at UTokyo who has been kindly hosted at NUS by the DID and the Keio-NUS CUTE Center. The project has been informed and inspired by the coral conservation research activities of TMSI at NUS, in particular those undertaken by Dr Toh Tai Chong and Ms Sam Shu Qin. The projects are kindly supported by: UTokyo Ushioda Foundation
