Simon Bowen, Design Research Associate

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I am a researcher and designer with particular interests in human-centred design, participatory design and critical design, and how they might contribute to a form of participatory innovation. Along with my colleagues in User-centred Healthcare Design we are investigating how such creative methods and thinking can be used within health to design innovative and person-centred services.

Since 2003 I have been developing participatory methods for producing designs that are both innovative and human-centred. In 2009 I was awarded a PhD for the critical artefact methodology I developed to support these methods, which has been applied in diverse projects with colleagues from Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Sheffield and the University of Leeds. I have subsequently been invited to lead seminars on this work in the UK and across Europe.

I have been the principal Design Research Associate in User-centred Healthcare Design (UCHD) since 2009, leading participatory design projects and developing a methodology for health service design. UCHD is part of the Collaboration for Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC), South Yorkshire, funded by the National Institute for Health Research in the UK. For more details, see the UCHD website.

I also continue to work with colleagues at Sheffield Hallam University on exploring the design of digital objects of memory, utilising my critical artefact methodology.