Technology should adapt to the diversity of human lives — not the other way around.

My philosophy

I see design as more than problem-solving; it's a way of surfacing tensions, understanding systems, and expanding what people are empowered to do. I often reflect on whether a given context demands evolution or revolution — whether the right course is to iteratively improve existing systems or to fundamentally rethink them.

But regardless of the path, my starting point is always the same: to deeply understand people, their histories, the cultures they inhabit, and the systems they navigate. I draw on life-course perspectives to explore how past experiences shape users' present needs, and I use ethnographic methods to uncover the lived realities that often go unseen in conventional design processes.

Design work should be reciprocal — never extractive. Meaningful engagement demands mutual benefit, transparency, and a sensitivity to power dynamics.

I'm a strong advocate for community-led and participatory design approaches, particularly when working with under-represented or minoritised groups. Whether I'm co-creating tools for health, facilitating stakeholder workshops in engineering contexts, or building playful learning experiences with children, I strive to create space for genuine user agency.

My career journey

My academic foundations are in computer science and human-computer interaction. I completed a BSc at Heriot-Watt University, followed by a PhD in HCI at the University of Edinburgh, where I explored how mobile and mixed-reality games could support children's cognitive development. That early work deepened my interest in how playful, embodied, and situated interactions can shape behaviour, learning, and wellbeing.

I then spent six years as a Research Associate in Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Bristol, where I led user-centred design activities across diverse projects — from digital health tools and ageing technologies to animal-computer interaction and speculative design ethics. My research consistently focused on participatory methods and creative approaches to engage users as collaborators, not just participants.

Since transitioning into industry, I've taken on a senior role in the development of some of the largest and most complex engineering projects in the world, working as a Human Factors Engineer in a major defence and engineering organisation. My current work involves guiding the design of high-consequence systems — including human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and HCI systems — within safety-critical environments. I facilitate a wide range of activities across the project lifecycle:

• Functional and hierarchical task analyses
• Assumptions, requirements, opportunity, and constraint workshops
• Design ideation and prototyping sessions with multi-disciplinary teams
• Scenario-led ergonomic and operability assessments

In addition to supporting the design process, I contribute directly to systems requirements development — authoring HF requirements and aligning them with operational use cases — and conduct spatial review activities, evaluating systems in situ and feeding insights back early and iteratively to influence design direction.

My methods

The projects I take on vary widely in topic, audience, and technical context — children's physical and mental health, animal-computer interaction, inclusive technologies for older adults, digital tools for social care, and complex engineered systems in safety- and mission-critical environments. What unites them is a consistent attention to real-world use, stakeholder needs, and systems thinking.

My design approach is always tailored to the project context. I frequently draw on design-thinking frameworks such as the Design Council's Double Diamond, alongside methods from user-centred design, co-design, and participatory design — adjusting the proximity of users to the process depending on the group and practical constraints.

In some cases it's possible to empower users to act as designers in their own right. In many real-world environments — particularly complex engineering projects — time, culture, or context can limit the depth of participation. There, I focus on mutually beneficial knowledge exchange, ensuring stakeholders feel heard and have meaningful ownership over outcomes even when they aren't leading the process directly.

Ultimately, I treat methodology as a toolkit, not a dogma — choosing the right methods to match the problem, the people involved, and the goals of the work.

Technical & UX skills

My skill set spans the full research–design–delivery spectrum, grounded in strong foundations from both HCI research and applied UX practice. I'm comfortable working in interdisciplinary teams, navigating between engineering, design, and stakeholder groups to align intent, evidence, and implementation.

Research & insight generation

• Contextual inquiry, semi-structured interviews, ethnographic observation, and cultural probes
• Thematic analysis using NVivo, Excel, and visual mapping methods
• Surveys, usability testing, heuristic evaluation, card sorting, and A/B testing with Qualtrics, Maze, and SPSS
• Structured task analysis, operability assessments, and scenario walkthroughs in high-consequence domains

Design & facilitation

• Ideation using Crazy 8s, design-sprint exercises, and journey mapping
• Requirements, assumptions, opportunities and constraints (RAOC) workshops
• Stakeholder alignment and down-select sessions
• Rapid lo-fi prototyping with sketching, paper models, and scenario boards

UX design & prototyping

• Wireframing and interface prototyping in Figma, Adobe XD, and InVision
• Layout and design documentation in Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign
• Visual specification for engineering teams and documentation for usability reviews

Development & implementation

While I don't position myself as a full-stack developer, I frequently use code to support prototyping and implementation — building functional prototypes and research tools with HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery, Java-based Android development, and Git for collaborative projects. This fluency lets me bridge communication gaps between design and development, test concepts rapidly, and bring greater realism to user testing.

Achievements & recognition

I've authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications, presenting work at leading international venues such as CHI, IDC, and CSCW, and have been invited to speak and facilitate sessions on participatory design, ethical technologies, and applied human factors. My research has contributed to funded programmes in digital health, animal-computer interaction, and cognitive development, supporting partnerships with schools, NGOs, and research institutions — with several projects featured in national media and industry showcases.

In industry, I've led and supported design and assessment activities on major multi-year programmes in the defence and engineering sectors, helping shape mission-critical systems from early concept through iterative prototyping, spatial review, and requirements delivery. I've also mentored early-career researchers and junior designers and contributed to internal capability development and communities of practice.

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