Team

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FARNAZ
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CARA
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LUKA
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ANDREW
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ISOBEL
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FAZIL

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Farnaz’s Expertise:

Advanced Design Research; Inclusive Design; Human-centred Design; Design Thinking; Healthcare Design & Innovation; Design in Palliative and End-of-life Care; Inclusive Mobility; Human Factors & Ergonomics; Design Higher Education

Farnaz’s Work:

Dr Farnaz Nickpour.

Director

Dr Farnaz Nickpour is an inclusive and human centred design researcher, educator and scholar with over 13 years of award-winning design research leadership embedding inclusive and human centred design expertise in mobility and healthcare, particularly in cross-sector partnerships within the third and public sectors and NHS organisations. Farnaz’s diverse portfolio of “Design Research for the Edges” focuses on just, diverse and innovative applications of inclusive and human-centred design research in health and mobility, actively targeting unmet needs, excluded and marginalised populations, sensitive settings and unhealthy systems.

Farnaz has established theoretically-empirically-critically informed conversations between design and other fields (Design Meets Death) and advanced the critical agenda (Psychosocial Inclusion, Critical Inclusive Design), knowledge (Inclusive Paediatric Mobility Design, Inclusive Oral Health) and know-how (Inclusive Med-Tech Design for CYP, Design in Health courses) for inclusive and human centred design. Her Inclusionaries Lab for Design Research has won awards for cross-sector inclusive med-tech design for disability, design and palliative care innovative collaborations, and child health technology research.

Farnaz is the Founder and Director of the Inclusionaries Lab in the UK, Reader in Inclusive Design and Human-Centred Innovation and Design Lead at the Department of Materials, Design and Manufacturing Engineering at The University of Liverpool, and Health and Care Systems Co-lead at Civic Health Innovation Labs in the UK. Farnaz has 50+ peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, book chapters, editorials and articles spanning inclusive mobility, psychosocial inclusion, design for end of life, and healthcare innovation. She holds inclusive design leadership positions at DRS, AHFE and CWUAAT, and design advisory and consultancy positions in public and private sectors. Farnaz acts as External Examiner at the Royal College of Art (QS Art & Design Ranking: #1) and the University of Brighton, alongside acting as reviewer for 10+ Design journals and conferences.

Farnaz is particularly interested in transdisciplinary and design-informed collaborations with non-design and non-HEI partners and has established strategic research partnerships with UK health and social care organisations including honorary Design position as Researcher at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, and the Designer-in-Residence Programme in Palliative and End-of-life at Marie Curie UK; an award-winning design-led collaboration in sensitive healthcare settings.

Over the past 15 years, Farnaz has undertaken design research in several national and international research projects funded by the European Commission, EPSRC & NIHR, Clinical Commissioning Group, third-sector organisations and health and mobility national enterprises. These include interdisciplinary research collaborations across a broad spectrum of sectors including:

  • Mobility & Health Public and Private sector (Transport for London; The Motability Trust; PA Consulting; Sainsbury’s; Hillingdon Council)
  • NHS Trusts (Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust; Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Innovation Hub; Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
  • The Third Sector (Duchenne UK; SMA UK; Marie Curie UK; The Accessibility Institute; Whizz Kidz; Hugh Greenwood Legacy for Children’s Health Research; People Postcode Lottery; Claire House Children’s Hospice).
  • Research and Innovation Organisations (NIHR Devices for Dignity MIC; Medipex; ARC NWC; Palliative Care Institute Liverpool; University of Glasgow; University of Lancaster; University of Southampton; Alba University)

Farnaz has extensive experience in and passion for Design higher education with over 13 years in academic appointments at leading Design schools and prestigious HEIs in the United Kingdom – external examining, teaching, curriculum developing and managing a multitude of UG and PGT Design programs (BEng; BSc; BA; MSc; MA). She has initiated cross-disciplinary curriculum development, taking Design outside the School of Engineering; training the medical workforce of future. Farnaz is currently External Examiner to Royal College of Art and Imperial College MA-MSc Global Innovation Design (GID) Programme and University of Brighton UG BSc Design Programmes. Farnaz is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA); Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and Member of Institute of Engineering Designers (MIED).

Through establishing The Inclusionaries Lab for design research, Farnaz’s work focuses on advancing four strategic design research themes:

1. Inclusive Mobility

Within the Mobility sector, Farnaz’s research focuses on advancing adult, public and paediatric dimensions of inclusive mobility – in particular, psychosocial constructs of an inclusive mobility experience, going beyond the physical accessibility of a journey. Funded by key mobility providers in the UK, including TFL (inclusive public transport) and The Motability Foundation (inclusive personal mobility), Farnaz’s research has led to the development of frameworks and guidelines for the inclusive mobility industry. She currently leads a major strategic knowledge partnership between The University of Liverpool and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Project MOVE. Farnaz has led UG and PGR research and education projects on smart and inclusive paediatric mobility design in collaboration with local, national, and international partners including MERU, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, and The Accessibility Institute (TAI). Her latest research project funded by Hugh Greenwood Legacy for Children’s Health Research as a PhD studentship, targets strategic knowledge gaps within inclusive paediatric mobility design, focusing on inclusive mobility narratives.

2. Psychosocial Inclusion

Within inclusive design, Farnaz’s research focuses on shifting three strategic agendas:
1. From physicality of an accessible experience, towards overall quality of a psychosocially inclusive experience.
2. From age (ageing population) and physical ability (people with physical disabilities) to neurocognitive (neurodiversity and mental health) and socio-economic/technical/political (lifestyle exclusion, intersectionality, and design justice) inclusion.
3. From categorisation by condition to recognition by spectrum of experiences.

This has led Farnaz to establish a research area called Psychosocial Inclusion. Her past research has resulted in developing definitions and constructs of Psychosocial Inclusion in Design. Funded by Motability and Sainsbury’s, Farnaz’s work has further detailed psychosocial inclusion constructs within two key contexts of personal mobility and supermarket shopping. Farnaz is currently working on creating a Taxonomy of Design Exclusion, as well as further investigation of concept of True Inclusion in design. Within this, she questions whether we are becoming truly more inclusive, or simply moving towards a version of inclusion which is ‘realistic’, ‘achievable’, and ‘measurable’. Interrogating whether there is a common ground between the ideal and the real. And which vision, if any, can and should inclusive design care about.

3. Healthcare innovation

Within Healthcare sector, Farnaz has pioneered application of human-centred design principles, practices, and processes to help develop effective and desirable products, services, and systems; improve health outcomes; and prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals. Examples range from design of effective hospital commodes for the NHS (DBO commode for hospital wards, Department of Health and Design Council) to application of inclusive design to interrogate and reimagine future oral health pathways. Farnaz is interested in interdisciplinary education and transdisciplinary application of healthcare design and innovation and currently leads a cutting-edge initiative on teaching Human-centred Design at Medical School. The aim is to embed design within healthcare education, at the right time, and the right level, in order to better prepare the clinical workforce of the future. Kicked off in 2019-20, this first-time initiative saw Design becoming part of core curriculum in MBChB Medicine and Surgery course at the School of Medicine at The University of Liverpool.

4. Design for End of life

Farnaz’s newest area of research is coined ‘Design Meets Death‘; aiming to initiate a theoretically and empirically informed discourse between the two fields of design and end-of-life in order to identify critical questions, strategic opportunities, and significant contributions. And subsequently, to interrogate and reimagine the high-level narratives as well as the nuanced experiences in end-of-life, through inclusive and human-centred design and innovation. Farnaz’s research focuses on the currently disjointed contributions of design to end-of-life, and challenges the lack of foundational design research and strategic vision. Some recent projects include revisiting ‘legacy’ in the context of paediatric palliative care; improving Advance Care Planning (ACP) practice and experience through use of visual touchpoints; and reimagining the Hospice of The Future through the lens of human-centred design and advanced robotics. In 2022, Farnaz initiated a new innovative program of design research in palliative and end of life care that places designers at the heart of a busy hospice through a Designer -in-Residence-in-Hospice model for design-driven innovation in future hospice care.

“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can, without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the centre.”

– Kurt Vonnegut

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

– James Baldwin

Cara’s Expertise:

Inclusive Design Research; Narratives; Assistive Technology; Mobility Design; Child-centred Design; Co-design; PPIE; Design Justice; Human Factors; Usability Testing.

Cara’s Work:

Dr Cara Shaw.

Designer & Researcher

With a decade of experience in the inclusive MedTech design and research field, Dr Cara Shaw applies user-centred knowledge to co-design meaningful and innovative assistive technologies that improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. Specialising in the design of inclusive mobility devices – ranging from dynamic exoskeletons and all-terrain wheelchairs to evolvable walking aids and paediatric power chairs – her design and research work has earned over 20 awards.

As well as hands-on design and engineering, Cara has led academic research, ethnographic studies, and usability trials for companies, start-ups, and charities internationally, including Duchenne UK, Motability Foundation, The Accessibility Institute, MERU, Project MOVE, and Kiya Survivors. Cara has a PhD in Inclusive Mobility Design, in which she focused on advancing knowledge in the field through a child-centred investigation of voice and narratives. Her doctoral research was supported by the Hugh Greenwood Legacy for Children’s Health Research and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Cara’s research has been published through 25+ peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, book chapters, editorials and articles.

Since 2016, Cara has served as Chief Technology Officer at The Accessibility Institute (TAI), where she spearheads frugal innovation and manages the design of assistive devices for people with mobility disabilities in low-resource settings; these devices are distributed through the TAI Livelihood Program, which pairs them with skills training to offer comprehensive pathways out of poverty. Through her varied experiences as an Inclusive Designer and Researcher, Cara has come to appreciate the significant impact mobility has on various aspects of life, and the importance of understanding people’s lived experience perspectives, narratives, and lifestyles in order to meaningfully address their requirements and desires when designing with and for them.

“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.”

– Mahatma Gandhi
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Luka’s Expertise:

Design research; human-centred design and research; inclusive design; participatory design and workshops; social science/ cultural studies; experience design; spatial design; multi-sensory immersive installations; graphic design; empirical research; lived-experience insights; consulting in both inclusive design and inclusive performance arts; design activism.

Luka’s Work:

Luka Kille-Speckter.

PhD Researcher

Luka Kille is a lived-experience designer, consultant, and PhD researcher who is using her first hand experience of psychosocial exclusion to not only outline opportunities for much needed improvement, but to also show designers how impactful conscientious research and design can be in an individual’s life. It is therefore, Luka’s legacy to use her expertise in human-centred academic research and design to contribute to a more inclusive society.

Luka’s unique perspective as a lived-experience researcher and designer as well as her multidisciplinary background of Social Science and Experience Design, are providing her with the tools for implementing empirical and impactful research, design outputs and narratives around design for inclusion, diversity and innovation to the public and practitioners. 

Having recently finished an 18 month project as a Research Associate at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art, working with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to raise awareness around the spectrum of low vision, Luka Kille is continuing to pursue her research through her PhD in Inclusive Design at the University of Liverpool in order to explore, build upon, and develop a robust scholarly argument around Inclusive Design and how we can move towards ‘true inclusion’.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

– Albert Einstein

(The same applies to living with disability and the way people should think about inclusion)

Andrew’s Expertise:

Inclusive Design; Design for End of Life; Speculative Design; Small-Scale Digital Manufacturing; Participatory Design Workshop; Rapid Prototyping;

Andrew’s Work:

Andrew Tibbles.

PhD Researcher

Andrew Tibbles is a speculative designer and a PhD researcher with a fascination for the consequences of new and emerging technologies on individuals, collectives and societies. His background is in product design and he made a career in makerspaces, creating, experimenting and teaching emerging modern manufacturing techniques and machines across the UK.

What began as a pragmatic honours year project towards death, dying and beyond, became a source of constant curiosity and is now part of his PhD research in collaboration with Marie Curie Hospice Liverpool; exploring how, why and should technology and artificial Intelligence play a role in the future of hospice care. And what many forms those technologies could take to strive towards a ‘good death’ in the modern age. Andrew’s PhD is funded by Doctoral Network in AI for Future Digital Health.

“If you can’t make what you need with the tools you have, create the tools that make it possible.”

– Prof Jon Rogers

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Isobel’s Expertise:

Product design engineering; design research; human-centred design; inclusive design; participatory design and workshops; evidence-mapping; transdisciplinarity.

Isobel’s Work:

Isobel Leason.

PhD Researcher

Isobel Leason is a Product Design Engineer and a PhD researcher at The Inclusionaries Lab. She has a background in Product Design Engineering with an M.Eng from the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Glasgow.

Isobel has also worked in the orthodontic technology sector and enjoys bringing these experiences in oral care and design together. During her masters project, Isobel worked closely with maxillofacial treatment providers to design a recovery device which improves patient experience following orthognathic surgery.

Her current PhD research, funded by Doctoral Training Network in Technologies for Healthy Ageing, conceptualises and adopts a Critical Inclusive Design approach to understand exclusion in oral health systems.

“The greatest tragedy for any human being is going through their entire lives believing the only perspective that matters is their own.”

– Doug Baldwin

Fazil’s Expertise:

Inclusive Design Research.

Fazil’s Work:

  • Fazil’s PhD. (2020-present)

Fazil Akin.

Design Lecturer & PhD Researcher

Fazil is a lecturer in Industrial Design at the University of Liverpool, School of Engineering. He has a Bachelor of Industrial Design and Master of Science in Product Design from Middle East Technical University (Turkey), a Master of Arts in Product Design and Management from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Switzerland), and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Interaction Design from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland. He is pursuing his PhD studies in the field of design and philosophy of technology at Hessen State University of Art and Design (Germany).

As an industrial designer, he has worked in the fields of rapid prototyping, educational materials and education environments, brand design, and interactive vending machines. His design approach can be summarised as simple and meaningful interactions with explorative forms. With such an approach, he has designed a Weather Cuckoo Clock: An IoT version of a traditional Blackforest Clock (supervised by: Massimo Banzi & Giorgio Olivero), Table Talk: An Info Kit for Parents and Kids to Learn about Global Food Issues (supervised by: Christoph Zellweger & Stijn Ossevoort), Coffins for Electronic Devices: A Second-Use Strategy for Obsolete Devices (supervised by: Prof. Peter Eckart).

As a researcher, he has prepared theses titled Research and Design for a Material Sample Information System Appropriate to Industrial Design Students (supervised by: Prof.Dr. Owain Pedgley), Future Scenarios as an Appropriate Way for Designers to Anticipate the Future (supervised by: Dr. Axel Vogelsang and Dr. Andy Polaine). Currently, he is working on his Ph.D. dissertation concerning human-world relations through the objects looking to writing tools-devices-algorithms (supervised by: Prof. Dr. Martin Gessmann). He has published several academic works in the fields of material education, critical design, design for experience, design education, and products as mediators.

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