I am an Assistant Professor of Design Futures in the Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities, Research Institute for Creative Cultures, at Coventry University. Now aged 37, I graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in 2015 with a PhD in the ‘Environmental Assessment Evaluation of Heating and Cooling in Office Buildings’ funded from EPSRC with a studentship of £60.000 for three years. I also hold an MSc in Architectural Conservation from Edinburgh University in 2008 and a BA Hons Degree with 2:1 in Interior Architecture from the University of Bedfordshire in 2007. 

I led the £3800 internally funded research project WearitWell (Chronic Disease Management (CMD) using Smart Clothing). The project was partly funded by GRP (Global Research Priorities) in Behavioural Science, by WMG-University of Warwick and by the IATL Pedagogic Intervention (2016). This project established a partnership with the Centre for Enterprise Systems Engineering (CESE), INESCTEC Technology and Science Associate Laboratory of Portugal, Printed Electronics from UK, Ecophone from UK, the Biotechnological Functionalisation of Textiles from Gent University in Brussels and with the Diabetes UK group. The purpose of the project was to organise two workshops that focused 1) on scoping out the vision of the project, 2) on understanding patients’ experiences and requirements,3) discussing with the experts ideas, challenges and opportunities using service design methods and user-centred methods like personals, value proposition, business modelling and swot analysis and 4) co-designing with patients, experts and people with sketching skills potential concepts ideas of smart clothing for self-managing diabetes. Results were gathered to write a new funding proposal for a Horizon 2020 project in 2016. Within my current role at Coventry University, I am a co-supervisor of the PhD on ‘The role of design and usability in the adoption of digital self-management technology’, in collaboration with the NIHR Devices for Dignity MedTech Cooperative, and I am contributing to the development of the Diabetes theme with the Devices for Dignity. Across Coventry University, I am part of the Health and Wellbeing ‘Special Interest Group’ and the ‘Patient and Public Involvement Community Group’.  I co-ordinate the ‘Co-Creation Special Interest Group’ in the Centre for Arts, Memories and Communities. In parallel, I am an associated member of the global Design Society and of the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare.

Previously, I was a co-author of the £450.00 EPSRC project (theme Adventures in Energy) PVTree: Imagining a 3D Solar Future (Phase 2), while I was at WMG-University of Warwick. Before that I led the £20.000 internally funded projects by Global Research Priorities on the ‘PVTree: Imagining a 3D Solar Future’ (1^st Phase).  I also contributed to the internal funding generation of the £20.000 from WMG, for the large-scale 3D printing of a solar tree model and for organising the exhibition at the Festival for the Imagination in 2015. I have also directed user experience evaluations, co-design, and prototyping methods on the EPSRC £1,4m ‘Participation in Healthcare Engineering’ (PHEE), that involved various projects in collaboration with NHS Hospitals, Trusts and Health Networks. Also, I delivered the £30.000 KTP Knowledge Transfer Partnership Project with WMG and First Utility on ‘Perceived Quality of Smart Thermostat Controllers’, that led into developing a new smart thermostat controller, which was successfully piloted and launched in the market, into thousands of homes. Further, I contributed to the £495.000 funded project by the Technology Strategy Board with JSJS Design Ltd. That was on Retrofitting an Innovative Wireless Heating Micro-Management System (HMS) to the University’s Social Sciences building. I conducted the user experience smart heating surveys, and I developed a smart heating toolkit that can be used to assess user experience, understand the expectations and the requirements of users by involving the, in the design, prototype and decision-making phase using creative and playful tools. Several publications have been achieved from the Smart Heating projects, from the Solar Tree and from the EPSRC PHEE project.

Before that, I was awarded my PhD in 2015, on ‘The Environmental Impact Evaluation of Heating and Colling in Office Building’, funded by EPSRC the amount of £60.000. The PhD focused on 1) Conducting Post Occupancy Evaluations of sustainable and conventional office buildings to understand the environmental impacts caused from energy’ and on ‘the life cycle environmental impacts caused from energy as well as from materials used in heating and cooling systems’. The outcome of the PhD was the development of a new Sustainability Indicator called Long Run Life Cycle Impact Indicator’ which can be used to predict early what the environmental impacts will be in short-term, medium-term and in long-term depending on what measures have been implemented. Several publications have been achieved, including 3 peered-reviewed chapters in conference book proceedings.

Beyond my academic experience, between 2017-2020, I joined the Automotive Industry, specifically Jaguar Land Rover, as a Pat Leader Engineer in Perceived Quality in the attribute of the Surface Materials Integrations. I led customer studies to understand customers’ perception of materials used in the interiors of the autonomous vehicles, I developed new methods, processes, and tools to evaluate perception in a less biased way and I also led the eye-tracking studies with internal customers to understand what features attract their attention without inside and outside of cars.  I also conducted benchmarking activities across a wide range of vehicles and based on my knowledge in sustainable materials, I contributed to the development of new bio-based creation of materials and I created a process for stakeholder engagement in order to develop materials up to the concept readiness phase. I have delivered perceived quality in I-PACE 23 model year, in XFL China, in Discovery Sport 24 model year and in F-Pace 23 model year. I also worked as a Design Quality Specialist in Geely Design Automotive were I led the interior design quality of the new SUV Lotus, using facilities like the 3D Virtual Environment and the clay modelling studio, I contributed as well to the development of a Verification Review Model to monitor project delivery at different gateways and inputs and outputs by different stakeholders.