Alastair Macdonald

http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/profile/197

Senior Researcher

Design-School of Design

The Glasgow School of Art

Research Interests

design-led research, participative co-design, ageing, health and care-related research, intervention co-development, iterative prototyping

Research Profile

SENIOR RESEARCHER SCHOOL OF DESIGN

How can users, as 'experts' of their own experience, become central to the design process?

This question has pervaded my research and teaching, and is one which I have explored broadly within the field of healthcare for many years.

My research operates at the interface between design, health and care practice, and people’s experience of products and services, using both evidence-based and speculative approaches, as either principal- and co-investigator within multidisciplinary research teams, integrating design approaches into the overarching research methodologies.

Adopting participative co-design and advocating the use of mixed methods to develop, iteratively prototype and evaluate healthcare interventions within, e.g., stroke rehabilitation, ageimore...

SENIOR RESEARCHER SCHOOL OF DESIGN

How can users, as 'experts' of their own experience, become central to the design process?

This question has pervaded my research and teaching, and is one which I have explored broadly within the field of healthcare for many years.

Adopting participative co-design and advocating the use of mixed methods to develop, iteratively prototype and evaluate healthcare interventions within, e.g., stroke rehabilitation, ageing, nutrition monitoring and management, end-of-life care, and infection prevention and control. My work is funded through competitive bids to UKRI, NHS and charitable trusts.

I was winner of the 'Best Research' category of the inaugural 2018 AHRC / Wellcome Health Humanities Medal Awards, named in 2017 as a Key Change Maker and Thought Leader in the British Council’s Design for Disability and an Ageing Society a Review of the State of Play in the UK (UsCreates), was winner - jointly with Dr David Loudon – of the Nexxus Life Sciences Award (West) 2011 for Innovation, and in 2004 received a Japan Foundation Research Fellowship for a Japan-based study Inclusive design and technologies in Japan, (a study which ran with support from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation until 2014).

CURRENT RESEARCH GRANTS

AMRSim: A Microbial Reality Simulator for Veterinary Training and Practice: AHRC AMR Theme 3b grant. PI. https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FR002088%2F1

CREATE: Collaborative Rehabilitation Environments in Acute sTrokE: using co-production to improve patient carer and staff experiences in health care organizations: a multi-centre, mixed methods evaluation in inpatient stroke units. https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/hsdr/1311495/#/

Da VINCI: Developing a visual identification method for people with cognitive impairment in institutional settings. https://www.thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk/research-projects/davinci/

SELECTED PREVIOUS GRANTS

mappmal: multidisciplinary approach to develop a prototype for the prevention of malnutrition in older people: products, people, places and procedures ESRC New Dynamics of Ageing Programme (2008-2011). Co-I: https://vimeo.com/35915591

envisage: a means to promote independence by involving users in their physical rehabilitation through the use of visualisation methods. MRC’s Lifelong Health and Wellbeing programme. Co-I. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21266301

OUTPUTS

Radar: http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/view/creators/197.html
Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9282-6229

PEDAGOGY / ACADEMIC PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT / TRAINING

I am a product designer by training and part of the founding team for GSA’s award-winning MEng/BEng Product Design Engineering (PDE) programme; I was lecturer then senior lecturer in the PDE department from 1989 before becoming its Head of Department from 1996-2006. In 1995-1996 I helped establish the PDE programme at The Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, based on the Glasgow PDE model and have advised a number of other institutions developing similar programmes, including Groningen in the Netherlands, Kingston and Dundee universities. I have designed and delivered specialist intensive programmes and workshops for e.g., an annual series of inclusive design courses for the Ritsumeikan University, Japan, an inclusive design workshop for the Building and Construction Authority Academy, Singapore; and design courses and workshops for the Groningen Hanzehogeschule Faculteit Techniek; and the Fachhochschule Trier, Germany. I have been external examiner for academic design programmes at both undergraduate and graduate level at the University of Dundee, the Royal College of Art, Loughborough University, and Sheffield Hallam University.

ADVISORY

I have been an advisor to the UK’s Royal College of Art, The Royal Society of Arts, the Design Council; and the Policy Planning and Architecture Division of The Scottish Government.

STUDY TOURS

2007-2010: Inclusive approaches to healthcare provision for ageing and disabled populations (Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Butterfield Award)
2004: Japanese Inclusive Design (Japan Foundation Research Fellowship)
1993: German product design programmes (ERASMUS award)
1991: Netherlands Design (Scottish Development Agency award)
1990: US and Canadian industrial design programmes (Fraser Foundation award)
1990: Czechoslovak Design (British Council award)

CURATION

I have also recently embarked on curation, exploring the historical contribution made in Glasgow to the development of medical obstetrics ultrasound in the Ultrasonic Glasgow exhibition (2019) and associated publications.

http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/7256/
http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/6988/
http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/7171/
https://vimeo.com/303013461
https://vimeo.com/310066410

Qualifications

Associateship Glasgow School of Art (AGSA) 1977 (Product Design)
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA)
Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (FHEA)
Fellow of the Design Research Society (FDRS)
SEDA qualified for supervising postgraduate research

Latest Additions

Efficacy of a Microbial Reality Simulator (AMRSim) as an education tool for antimicrobial stewardship teaching for veterinary undergraduates
Subasinghe, D.W.D., Sofokleous, S., Howgate, M., Bartlett, K., Trace, C., Balloo, K., Lygo-Baker, S., Cockcroft, P., Wyles, K., Macdonald, A. and Chambers, M. (2020) Efficacy of a Microbial Reality Simulator (AMRSim) as an education tool for antimicrobial stewardship teaching for veterinary undergraduates. In: GW4 Multidisciplinary Approaches to AMR; Bench to bedside and beyond, 30 November - 04 December 2020, Online symposium.
Co-designing organisational improvements and interventions to increase inpatient activity in four stroke units in England; a mixed-methods process evaluation using Normalisation Process Theory
Clarke, D.J., Gombert-Waldron, K., Honey, S., Cloud, G.C., Harris, R., Macdonald, A.S., McKevitt, C., Robert, G. and Jones, F. (2021) Co-designing organisational improvements and interventions to increase inpatient activity in four stroke units in England; a mixed-methods process evaluation using Normalisation Process Theory. BMJ Open, 11 (1). e042723. ISSN 2044-6055
Co-designing a Care Plan Guide app to support early conversations about end-of-life care in dementia
Neves, S., Macdonald, A., McLellan, E., Poole, M., Harrison-Dening, K., Tucker, S., Bamford, C. and Robinson, L. (2020) Co-designing a Care Plan Guide app to support early conversations about end-of-life care in dementia. In: Advances in Design and Digital Communication Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Design and Digital Communication, Digicom 2020, November 5–7, 2020, Barcelos, Portugal. Springer Series in Design and Innovation (12). Springer, Cham, pp. 325-336. ISBN 978-3-030-61670-0
Addressing Infection Risk in Veterinary Practice through the Innovative Application of Interactive 3D Animation Methods
Macdonald, Alastair, Chambers, Mark, La Ragione, Roberto, Wyles, Kayleigh, Poyade, Matthieu, Wales, Andrew, Klepacz, Naomi, Kupfer, Tom, Watson, Fraje and Noble, Shona (2020) Addressing Infection Risk in Veterinary Practice through the Innovative Application of Interactive 3D Animation Methods. The Design Journal, 24 (1). pp. 51-72. ISSN 1460-6925
Addressing inactivity after stroke: The Collaborative Rehabilitation in Acute Stroke (CREATE) study.
Jones, Fiona, Gombert, Karolina, Honey, Stephanie, Cloud, Geoffrey, Harris, Ruth, Macdonald, Alastair, McKevitt, Christopher and Clarke, David (2020) Addressing inactivity after stroke: The Collaborative Rehabilitation in Acute Stroke (CREATE) study. International Journal of Stroke. ISSN 1747-4949
Using co-production to increase activity in acute stroke units: the CREATE mixed-methods study
Jones, Fiona, Gombert-Waldron, Karolina, Honey, Stephanie, Cloud, Geoffrey, Harris, Ruth, Macdonald, Alastair, McKevitt, Chris, Robert, Glenn and Clarke, David (2020) Using co-production to increase activity in acute stroke units: the CREATE mixed-methods study. Health Services and Delivery Research, 8 (35). ISSN 2050-4349
Combatting infection risk in veterinary practice through novel animation methods
Watson, Fraje, Chambers, Mark, Wyles, Kayleigh, Poyade, Matthieu, Noble, Shona, Kupfer, Tom, Wales, Andy, La Ragione, Roberto, Klepacz, Naomi and Macdonald, Alastair (2020) Combatting infection risk in veterinary practice through novel animation methods. In: BSAVA: British Small Animal Veterinary Association Congress 2020, 2 - 5 April 2020, Birmingham.
Using novel visualisation methods to combat infection risk during clinical practices
Macdonald, Alastair, Chambers, Mark, La Ragione, Roberto, Wyles, Kayleigh, Poyade, Matthieu, Wales, Andrew, Klepacz, Naomi, Kupfer, Tom, Watson, Fraje and Noble, Shona (2020) Using novel visualisation methods to combat infection risk during clinical practices. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Design4Health, Amsterdam, NL. Lab4Living, pp. 139-141. ISBN 978-1-8381117-0-0
Ultrasonic Glasgow: a celebration of The Glasgow School of Art's contribution to the history and development of medical obstetrics ultrasound
Macdonald, Alastair, Roan, Susan, Keogh, Emma, Robertson, Frances, Whittet, Craig, Biagi, Aileen and Cameron, Dugald (2019) Ultrasonic Glasgow: a celebration of The Glasgow School of Art's contribution to the history and development of medical obstetrics ultrasound. The Glasgow School of Art, Reid Corridor Gallery, 5 - 31 October 2019 [Show/Exhibition]
Human echoes: an oral record of women’s lived experience of ultrasound during pregnancy in 1960s Glasgow
Roan, Susan and Keogh, Emma (2019) Human echoes: an oral record of women’s lived experience of ultrasound during pregnancy in 1960s Glasgow. In: Ultrasonic Glasgow: A celebration of The Glasgow School of Art’s contribution to the history and development of medical obstetrics ultrasound. Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, pp. 28-38. ISBN 978-1-9999073-1-0

Most Viewed Items

#	Item title
1	Design / Healthcare	550
2	Hospitalfoodie: an inter-professional case study of the redesign of the nutritional management and monitoring system for vulnerable older hospital patients	414	84
3	Developing visualisation software for rehabilitation: investigating the requirements of patients, therapists and the rehabilitation process	369	100
4	The Inner Resource: Enabling the Designer within Us All – A Case Study	361	267
5	HAIVAIRN: Report on the HAIVAIRN (Healthcare Associated Infection Visualisation and Ideation Research Network).	355	260
6	The Use of Qualitative Design Methods in the Design, Development and Evaluation of Virtual Technologies for Healthcare: Stroke Case Study	348
7	User-centric and inclusive design methods: implications for e-healthcare	325	256
8	Inspiring service innovation through co-design in public sector healthcare	321	207
9	Care at the End of Life: Design Priorities for People with Dementia	320
10	Reconciling Science and Art within Healthcare Service Design	318

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