https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4408-1466
Andrea has over 30 years’ experience in the Creative Industries as an academic researcher and practising designer. She studied interaction design at the Royal College of Art and holds a 1st Class Honours Degree in visual communication design. Over the course of her career, Andrea has developed expertise in design-led research methods, including participatory and co-design approaches, visualisation methods (e.g., storyboards and scenarios), qualitative data synthesis (e.g., affinity diagramming) and iterative prototyping and testing. Her research spans a broad interest in health and social care, with past projects exploring topics such as young people’s mental health, palliative care, community-based care, homelessness, bowel health, dysfunctional breathing, respiratory disease, and fuel poverty. She typically uses qualitative methods and participatory design approaches with populations ranging from children and young people to older adults. Andrea has published and presented widely, including as an invited speaker at the V&A (London) museum.
Andrea has a research interest in participatory design of products, services, and systems to address health and social care challenges, often involving digital technologies but not limited to them.
Most recently, Andrea was Co-Investigator on the following UKRI grants:
– OptiMuscle: Improving Health Outcomes Through the Optimization of Muscle Function. Total funding: £404,045. Funded period: Nov 21–May 24.
– On-organ Sensing For Bowel Monitoring. Total funding: £404,195. Funded period: Sept 21–Mar 24.
– Transdisciplinary Research for the Improvement of Youth Mental Public Health (TRIUMPH) Network. Total funding: £1,033,463. Funded period: Dec 18–Apr 23.
Andrea was an advisory group member on the Emerging Minds: Action for Child Mental Health research grant. Funder: ESRC. Total funding: £946,072. Funded period: Apr 19–Nov 22. She was also a researcher on the APAtSCHE: Ageing Population Attitudes to Sensor Controlled Home Energy research grant. Funder: EPSRC. Total funding: £603,328. Funding period: Nov 12–Apr 15.
Involvement in other grant-funded work includes:
– CESAME: Culturally Engaged and Sensitive Approaches to Mental Health Education. Funded by the TRIUMPH Network (above) through ‘plus funding’. Total funding: £29,529. Funded period: 2021–2022.
– HasAnswers; Development of a Digital Tool to Support Young People to Manage Independent Living. Funded by European Social Fund (ESF) Social Innovation Fund. Total funding: £114,699. Funded period: 2018.
– Virtual Hospice: Developing Hospice Care Over a Distance. Funded by The Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher Scheme. Total funding: £7,845.50. Funded period: 2012. Also later funded by the Digital Health Institute. Total funding £6,941. Funded period: 2015.
– 21st Century Telecare: Supporting Safe and Independent Living. Funded by the Scottish Government Joint Improvement Team. Total funding: £14,015. Funding period: 2010–2011. Also later funded by SBRI. Total funding: £30,000. Funded period: 2018–2019.
– Exploratory Projects on Young People’s Mental Health. Funded by NHS Grampian. Total funding: £13,915. Funded period: 2016–2017.
– Developing a Novel Communication System to Deliver Group-Based Pulmonary Rehabilitation to the Home via the Internet: Widening Access for Patients. Funded by Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland. Total funding: £62,845. Funded period: 2009–2010.
– New Technologies to Support Home Monitoring of Patients with COPD in Moray. Funded by Moray Community Health and Social Care Partnership. Total funding: £50,000. Funded period: 2007–2008.
I’m open to supervising PhD research across a broad range of topics. My research focuses on participatory design in health and social care, often involving digital technologies, but I welcome work beyond these areas.
– Shangshu Wang. Communication Through Motion Graphics: A Participatory Design Investigation, Integrating Producer and Consumer Perspectives.
– Yue Hu. Working title: Using Visual Design to Encourage Desktop Computer Shutdown in Higher Education Institutions.
– Jing Li. Working title: Designing and Implementing Hybrid Interventions for Loneliness Reduction: Exploring Digital Combined with In-Person Solutions for the Elderly in Scotland.
– Shuzhong Wang. Working title: Exploring Narrative and Co-Design Methods in Social Care Decision-Making Processes for Older People.
Ziwei Wang (2022). Using design thinking to develop a new narrative-based career construction counselling model for young people in life transitions.
My role is research-only. I do, however, have experience of research–teaching linkage through the 21st Century Telecare project listed above. This is a live student project within the Product Design Engineering (PDE) programme, focused on digital technologies (telecare) to support safe and independent living. The project has been carried out in collaboration with an industry partner, with several of the students’ design concepts progressing to commercialisation.
