Lynn-Sayers McHattie
Lynn-Sayers McHattie
- Senior Researcher: Research Lead
- ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2790-5187- Professional Title
- Professor
- Job Title
- Senior Researcher: Research Lead
- School or Academic Area
- School of Innovation and Technology
- School or Academic Area Supervised for
- School of Innovation and Technology
- L.McHattie@gsa.ac.uk
- Contact Number
- 0141 353 4516
- Professional Address
- 167 Renfrew St, Glasgow, G3 6RQ
- Country
- Scotland
Biography
Professor Lynn-Sayers McHattie holds an AHRC funded PhD in Design from The Glasgow School of Art. Her place-based research interests are located within geographically distributed and Indigenous, island communities. Her cross-cultural research explores craft and textile practice(s) as ‘cultural assets’, which connect to the landscape and culture of communities and the role design-led innovation can play in socio-cultural renewal. She focuses on the relationship between people, place and practice towards a deeper understanding of ‘tacit wisdom’ as a foundational concept. Her practice encompasses textiles as ‘knowledge artefacts’ that provide an interdisciplinary link between crafting conversations, materialities of place and ideologies of identity, which interact to inform a wider research agenda around the political economy of craft. Lynn publishes widely in peer reviewed Journals and sits on the Editorial Board of CoDesign. She is a member of the AHRC Peer Review College, a Trustee of Craft Scotland and Visiting Professor at The Belfast School of Art, University of Ulster.
Research Interests
Lynn’s research interests are located at the nexus between design and craft domains that are co-constituted between the human and material world. Her place-based interests are located within geographically distributed and Indigenous Island communities.
Grants
Lynn has extensive experience directing UKRI funded bids including Principal Investigator (PI) on AHRC funded Resonance, Design Innovation & Land-Assets (DI&L) Network and DI&L Follow-on-Funding (FoF) as part of the UKRI Strategic Priorities programme on Landscape Decisions. She was PI for the Royal Society of Edinburgh funded ‘Craft Futures’, which explored textile practices and the role ‘Indigenous Innovation’ can play in socio-cultural renewal. She was PI for Design Innovation for New Growth, AHRC FoF from Design in Action, an AHRC funded Knowledge Exchange Hub, where she acted as Co-Investigator. Lynn is an academic partner with the British Council (BC) in the Crafting Futures, Cultural-Assets & Vernacular Materials and Human-Nature research programmes. Working with communities across Borneo, she explores craft practices as ‘cultural assets’, which are intimately connected to the landscape of communities. Her research aims to better understand situated knowledges through paying attention to place-based narratives, practices and tacit wisdom aligned to particular cultural and ethical sensitivities.
PGR Supervision Interests
Lynn is interested in supervising PhD inquiries that address contextually located socio-cultural challenges, materialities of place and design-led innovation through practice-based critical inquiry. She currently supervises seven PhD students and has four PhD completions.
Current PGR Students
Chris Wild Hopeful Gestures: Exploring Care through Community-Centred Design in Shetland SGSAH CDA Funded;
Mhari McMullan Patterning Paisley: Museum retail and strategies for commercialising a historic textile collection through contemporary textile practice SGSAH CDA Funded;
Shona Noble: The digital otherworld: accessing place-based folklore through digital space GSA PhD Scholarship;
Sabrina Ilma Sakina Co-designing by the Ethnomathematics of Weaving in Indonesia Indonesia Government Funded;
Elodie Nowinski Portrait of The Women in Tartan: An enquiry into the (in)tangible matter of the Scottish Icon;
Ailsa Morrant Jewelleryness: Ubiquitously hiding in plain sight GSA Scholarship.
Master of Research
Sally Buxton Collaboration and Care: Bridging Disciplines Through More-Than-Human Care Ecologies in Biocolour.
Former PGR Students
Joyi Li Visualisation and Design Research: Traditional Handicraft Knowledge SAFA Exchange Student;
Gamia Dewanggamanik Indigenous Innovation in the Changing Landscape of Borneo: Cultural Assets, Contested Indigeneity and Inclusive Innovation ODA Funded;
Saoirse Higgins Survival Tools of the Anthropocene Creative Futures Partnership Funded;
Michael Johnson Mapping Design Things: Making design explicit in the discourse of change AHRC funded;
Marianne McAra Participatory Design with Young People: Exploring the experiential, relational and contextual dimensions of participation;
Angela Fernandez Orviz One among many, learning and evaluating design in the public sector AHRC Funded.
Teaching
Lynn is Senior Researcher, Research Lead and PhD Co-ordinator for the School of Innovation & Technology and Programme Leader for the Master of Research (M.Res.). The M.Res. is a postgraduate research degree, which provides students with the opportunity to design and undertake a discrete research project, either ‘by practice’ or ‘by Thesis’. The programme is offered at GSA’s Campuses in addition to a Low Residency (Blended) mode of study delivered both online and on campus. The Master of Research prepares students for doctoral study and provides tailored postgraduate research training utilising established design-led innovation research methods delivered in week-long seasonal
Latest Additions
- McHattie, Lynn-Sayers and Teo, Wendy (2026) Human-Nature: Relations, Resilience, Reciprocity. Project Report. British Council, UK/Malaysia.
- McHattie, Lynn-Sayers (2025) ‘Weaving dreams’ and ‘Whispers across Borders’ in conversation with Wendy Teo. In: Our Climate Glossary: On Reciprocity. B Crafts Atelier, Kuching, Malaysia. ISBN 9786299885740
- Mcara, Marianne and McHattie, Lynn-Sayers (2025) Engaging Young People in Heritage Contexts: design-led approaches to support collaborative participation within the cultural sector. In: Routledge Handbook of Co-creation and Collaboration in Museums, Heritage and the Arts. Routledge, London. ISBN 9781003222804 (eBook)
- McHattie, Lynn-Sayers, Dixon, Brian and Prosser, Zoe (2025) Communities of hope: design-led innovation for landscape decision making. Landscape Research. ISSN 0142-6397
- McHattie, Lynn-Sayers and Teo, Wendy (2024) Indigenous Relations: Craft, Vernacular Materials and Cultural Assets in Borneo. CoDesign, 20 (1). pp. 194-217. ISSN 1571-0882
- Teo, Wendy, McHattie, Lynn-Sayers, Dewanggamanik, Gamia and Mcara, Marianne (2024) Serumpun: crafts across borders. B. Crafts Atelier, Borneo. ISBN 978-629-98857-0-2
- McHattie, Lynn-Sayers and Stewart Sherrod, Lindsey (2023) Designing in-between: Innovation from field to fabric. Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice, 11 (1-2). pp. 61-80. ISSN 2051-1787 (Print) 2051-1795 (Online)
- McHattie, Lynn-Sayers, Johnson, Michael and Prosser, Zoe (2023) Place-based Research: Landscape Decision-making in Scotland Design Innovation & Land Assets (DI&L) Design Innovation & Cultural Resonances (Resonance). Project Report. The Glasgow School of Art.
- Mcara, Marianne, McHattie, Lynn-Sayers, Teo, Wendy and Dewanggamanik, Gamia (2023) Impact Report: Cultural Assets & Vernacular Materials: exploring sustainability challenges in the creative economy (SE Asia) through creative practice. Project Report. The Glasgow School of Art.
- Mcara, Marianne, McHattie, Lynn-Sayers, Dewanggamanik, Gamia and Wendy, Teo (2022) Serumpun: crafts across borders. Borneo Cultures Museum, 3rd December 2022 onwards
