Perpetually Searching for Eudaemonia:
A Conversation About Object Wearing
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Thegrowing challenges presented by the current mental health crisis provideopportunities for alternative interventions to support social healthcarepractices. One such example is engagement with objects, which has been found tobe beneficial in a variety of these contexts. These “object-based practices”elicit sensory experience and provide a stimulus for communication, both ofwhich can effectively support mental health and wellbeing.

‍Despitethe multisensory potential of materiality and the impact of this on affectiveresponse, few examples exist of object-based practices which incorporatedeliberately crafted objects. This project therefore combined craft andobject-based practices to create a series of multisensory handmade anddigitally enhanced objects. These were used as “enticatypes” to open upconversation with the research participants about further development ofobject-based practices for mental health and wellbeing.Findingsshowed that handcrafted objects could be more successful in these contexts thanthose traditionally used in object-based practices. Value was also found in thecreation of diverse object-based “communities of practice”, and thepossibilities for handcrafted objects to facilitate difficult conversations inother areas of social research.

Designing Remote Educational Futures
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Designing Remote Educational Futures is a Master of Research project conducted with remote school networks in the Outer Hebrides. It follows a designer-researcher’s exploration of educational reform between 2016 and 2019, culminating in the presentation of findings at the Scottish Parliament.

The research approach is grounded in people, policy, and place, examining the role of schools within rural island communities. These networks share a need for greater creative participation in shaping the future of remote schooling and informing national policy. The thesis analyses contemporary policies and publications that have driven recent transformations in digital learning, assessing how these blueprints influence the plausibility of near-future educational visions and the agency afforded to island learners. An alternative design-research approach is proposed in response.

The research generates impact in two main areas. First, it seeks to increase awareness among educationalists—particularly within Education Scotland—of the importance of young people’s involvement in shaping their futures. Second, it contributes to the Scottish Approach to Service Design by outlining guiding principles and creative engagement methods that promote learner agency, including new design-research practices such as “walkshops” and “futurescapes”.

MRes Abstract
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This MRes project explored how the civic role of the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) could be developed by opening up effective avenues of dialogue with the local neighbourhood of Garnethill. The research ran alongside my role as Community Engagement Officer at GSA with the aim of developing a series of outputs to direct the focus of the role including the co-creation of a community engagement strategy.

Using participatory design methods, this research aimed to provide an insight into the dynamic context and stakeholders within Garnethill and GSA and identify shared values as the basis for future community engagement and development. The research followed a Participatory Action Research methodology and used methods of conversational scoping, walking interviews and co-design workshops, to develop context-specific participatory design tools to facilitate participants in reflection and ideation about the future of Garnethill and the role of GSA within it.

MRes Abstract
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This practice-based research project investigated how participatory design can uncover the barriers and enablers surrounding digital self-management devices, in order to inform more user-centred design principles for people living with long-term conditions. Individuals with type 1 diabetes were selected as the focus due to their continuous and interdependent use of devices such as glucose monitors and insulin pumps.

The study used semi-structured interviews to explore participants lived experiences of self-management, supported by an interactive situational mapping activity to identify relationships, influences and dependencies beyond each individual user. Insights from these activities were synthesised into a relational stakeholder map. A participatory workshop then brought users together to validate and extend this map through generative methods; “what-if” provocations, provotype creation and alternative-now interventions. These activities enabled the co-creation of emerging design principles for improved self-management support.

Analysis of six interviews and a workshop with three participants produced three key principles: self-management extends beyond the individual and their device; trust in self-management systems must account for the user’s holistic experience; and education and experiential insight play a central role. The research concludes that participatory design can meaningfully advance user-centred innovation by addressing relational, trust and educational gaps in current self-management products and services.

MRes Abstract
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This research responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by exploring how in-person arts groups for wellbeing could be shifted to a shared online experience. This allowed participants to overcome the social distancing measures of the pandemic, which were suppressing their wellbeing through the effects of isolation.

Using participatory action research, the project collaborated with diverse participants and practitioners to gather valuable insights. Participants took part in a series of workshops developed as prototype online arts group sessions. After analysis, preliminary findings were presented to expert practitioners for evaluation and refinement. By exploring the setting together, we developed a holistic understanding of the online arts group and co-defined practices for supporting the participants’ wellbeing.

The research answered: what are experiences of supported wellbeing like in the online arts group through the emergent themes of Structured Freedom - an overarching quality for online arts groups that gave participants cohesion yet individual liberties, and Reinventing Ourselves Together - the process of an individual’s positive change within the online arts group; It also answered what practices and resources could support the delivery of an online arts group for wellbeing through the co-created ways of being that describe bespoke techniques used to support wellbeing in the online arts group.

MRes Abstract
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The pandemic of Covid-19 had an impact on art practice, curating and visiting since 2020. This research project used digitally transformed artworks (DTA) as a focal point to explore the materiality of those non-digital artworks presented on online platforms. The project used Merleau-Ponty’s and Moustakas’ transcendental phenomenology in data collection, then interpreted, and framed the physical exhibition experience using ‘Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis’ in fieldwork based on Mhairi Killin’s On Sonorous Seas (2022) at GSA Reid Gallery. The project re-evaluated three online examples using visual methods, and then developed an ‘Object-Oriented’ model to reflect the communication errors, and articulated other issues related to digitally transformed artworks (DTA) in the digitalised contemporary art context.