Recent UK research council initiatives have encouraged the formation of mixed discipline teams to address complex and perplexing societal issues such as those associated with an ageing population recognising that for new thinking and innovation to occur a mix of disciplines require to work together. Despite the inclusive design community’s long-held interest in this area, very few designers lead or are involved in mixed discipline teams within these types of initiatives. In this context, what do people-centred design methods have to offer and could these be assimilated into a complex healthcare project’s over-arching research methodology? What effect would the way that design thinking and methods are integrated into the study have on the ability to generate innovative outcomes? To explore these questions, the author discusses methodological issues using two studies, funded through recent initiatives, to discuss how design research methods have been employed, one using an open innovation approach where a range of qualitative people-centred methods was central to the design of the research, and the second which took a much more cautious approach to integrating design and people-engagement methods. The likely impact of these different approaches on generating innovative solutions and the lessons to be drawn are discussed.