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The HCDI Seminars Series

The HCDI seminars series are events designed to encourage communication and teamwork with colleagues across the academia and experts leaders in human-centred related topics. The HCDI seminars bring together expertise in Human-Centred Design which combines methodologies and technologies from design, engineering, computer science, artificial intelligence and philosophy. If you wish to contribute as a guest speaker to one of our seminar series please email the HCDI seminar series coordinator Dr Marco Ajovalasit

Past Events

	Design and competitive advantage: collaborative strategies enabling radical innovations of meanings Monday 30/04/2012 13:00-14:00 Location: Brunel University, Howell Building, Room H313 Speaker: Dr Claudio Dell'Era, Assistant Professor at Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering - Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
Customers are paying increasing attention to product design, whether the aesthetic, symbolic or emotional meanings of products. Designers can support companies in exploring customers’ needs and the ap read more [...]

	Exploring the ethics of human-centred design Friday 27/04/2012 12:30 - 13:30 Location: Brunel University, Howell Building, Room H313 Speaker: Marc Steen, senior scientist at TNO, an independent research organisation in The Netherlands.
This seminar will explore the ethics of human-centred design (HCD), where HCD is meant to refer to innovation processes that include user involvement and co-design (ISO 13407). Based on critical refle read more [...]

	Laptop and tablet use influences for seat design Wednesday 18/04/2012 15:30-16:30 Location: Brunel University, Howell Building, Room H313 Speaker: Prof Peter Vink, Research Manager TNO Interior Design Group / Professor at Delft University of Technology, Faculty Industrial Design Engineering, The Netherlands
The use of laptops and tablets is increasing. In 2008 more laptops than desk tops are sold and tablet sales is increasing as well. This has influence on the design of office and vehicle interiors. How read more [...]

	Not all Sheep are White: Lessons about designing from close analysis of design collaboration Tuesday 20/03/2012 13:00 - 14:00 Location: Brunel University, Howell Building, Room H313 Speaker: Prof. Janet McDonnell, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London,UK
The seminar will present a series of examples of recent studies of design activity that pay close attention to the interactions taking place between participants. It will raise questions about what su read more [...]

	Human Centred Design: a paradigm for 21st century enterprise Wednesday 07/03/2012 13:00-14:00 Location: Brunel University, Howell Building, Room H313 Speaker: Prof. Joseph Giacomin, Director of the Human Centred Design Institute, Brunel University, London, UK
The 21st century is characterised by ever growing expectations regarding experiences, quality of life, privacy and ethics. With the growing pressure for human centred products, systems and services, t read more [...]

	Design for Services Wednesday 29/02/2012 15:00-16:00 Location: Brunel University, Lecture Centre LC 266 Speaker: Dr Daniela Sangiorgi, Lecturer in Design at Imagination Lancaster, a design-led Research Lab, Lancaster University, UK
This presentation will provide an overview of Design for Services as a discipline considering where it comes from, what it is doing now and a reflection of where it is going. It will draw on research read more [...]

	Human-centred engineering in neuroprostheses Tuesday 24/01/2012 12:30 - 13:30 Location: Brunel University, Howell Building, Room H313 Speaker: Dr Xiao Liu, Lecturer in Industrial Design & Technology, School of Engineering & Design, Brunel University, London, UK.
Diseases or injuries that affect the nervous system can result in some of the most devastating medical conditions. Thanks to the recent breakthrough in engineering and neuroscience, it is now possible read more [...]

	DESIGN FOR A BETTER LIFE - What Should We Do? Tuesday 22/11/2011 14:00 – 15:00 Location: Brunel Design, Design Exhibition Centre, Room TA045 Speaker: Prof. Patrick W. Jordan, Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine
This seminar will look at how we can design products, services, the environment and systems in order to maximise the benefits that they bring to people and create a more positive society in which peop read more [...]

	Packaging Design and Communication Accessibility Monday 26/09/2011 11:00am - 12:00pm Location: Brunel University, Howell Building, Room H313 Speaker: Dr Erik Ciravegna, Politecnico di Milano, INDACO Department
By assuming a communication design perspective, the seminar will outline the user-centred approach to address the packaging design area and explore the potentialities of the project of information acc read more [...]

	Fashion and technology evolution and the design of consumer products Monday 12/09/2011 12:30pm-1:30pm Location: Brunel Design, Tower A, Room TA049 Speaker: Dr Andrew Muir Wood, Plan Strategic
The world of design is becoming increasingly aware of the dynamic nature of the context in which products are created and consumed. Designers must ensure that the products they develop will be releva read more [...]

	Engineering the Brand Wednesday 07/09/2011 12:30pm -1:30pm Location: Brunel Design, Tower A, Room TA049 Speaker: Dr Marcus Abbott, Platform Manager - Continental Series at Bentley Motors Ltd
In mature product markets competitive advantage is increasingly associated with the strength of the brand; what it stands for and what owning a brand’s product says about the consumer. Successful bran read more [...]

	Judgments of vehicle approach across the lifespan Tuesday 21/06/2011 at 12:30pm Location: Brunel Design, Tower A, Room TA049 Speaker: Dr Damian Poulter, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London
Estimating the time-to-passage of approaching objects is critical for collision avoidance. Failure to accurately detect and gauge the approach of an object can have serious consequences. Road traffic read more [...]

	Design, mental models and behaviour change Wednesday 15/06/2011 12:00pm Location: Brunel Design, Tower A, Room TA049 Speaker: Dan Lockton
Behaviour change, in one form or another, has become a hot topic, from the 'gamification of everything' to the Cabinet Office's 'Nudge Unit'. Design is central to this subject, whether or not politici read more [...]

	Crossmodal correspondences: Looking for links between sound symbolism & synaesthesia & their application to sensory marketing Wednesday 01/06/2011 2:00pm Location: Brunel University, LC264 Speaker: Prof. Charles Spence, Head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University
In this talk, it will be highlighted a number of case studies demonstrating the existence of a variety of robust crossmodal correspondences between both sounds (phonetic speech sounds, tones, and othe read more [...]

	Theoretically guided HMI development for a driver assistance system Wednesday 25/05/2011 2:00pm Location: Brunel University, Howell Building, Room H313, third floor Speaker: Dr Anke Schwarze, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
This seminar will address the development of an HMI concept according to behavioural principles, exemplified by the development of a driver assistance system called VIDE. This system presents informat read more [...]

	Understanding touch screen mobile phone users by Taxonomy of Experience (ToE) Tuesday 25/01/2011 12pm-1:00pm Location: Brunel Design, Tower A, Room TA049 Speaker: Wen-Chia (Nikii) Wang, PhD Researcher, Brunel University, School of Engineering & Design
The aim of this study is to understand user experience of touch screen mobile phones and to provide design principles from users’ perspectives. The importance of user experience in the product design read more [...]

Design for All, the cutting edge of innovation in social inclusion and economical growth Friday 26/11/2010 12pm-1:00pm Location: Design Exhibition Centre (DEC), Tower A, Brunel University, London, UK Speaker: Avril Accolla, Milan Politecnico, Italy
Soon after its establishment in 1993, the European Institute for Design and Disability (EIDD) developed the mission statement: “Enhancing the quality of life through Design for All (DfA)”. After ten y read more [...]

	Building a Common Language of Design Representations for Industrial Designers & Engineering Designers Tuesday 14/09/2010 12pm-1:00pm Location: Brunel Design, Tower A, Room TA049 Speaker: Dr Eujin Pei, Loughborough University
To achieve success in today’s competitive environment, companies are realising the importance of design collaboration during new product development. The aim of this research is to develop a collabora read more [...]

	Human-Motorcycle Interaction (HMI): Research issues in motorcycle ergonomics and rider human factors Tuesday 23/02/2010 1:00pm-2:00pm Location: Brunel Design, Tower A, TA049 Speaker: Dr Alex W Stedmon, MErgS, CPsychol, FRSA
Riding any powered two wheel vehicle is a very skilled task and larger motorcycles, in particular, are technically complex, high performance machines. The motorcycle and rider can be understood in ter read more [...]

	From Prosthetic Head to Articulated Head: Designing Alternate Embodiments for Artificial Agents Tuesday 09/02/2010 1:00pm-2:00pm Location: Howell Building, Room H313 Speaker: Stelarc, University of Western Sydney, Australia / Brunel University, School of Arts
The PROSTHETIC HEAD is an embodied conversational agent that speaks to the person who interrogates it. It has a data base, real-time lip syncing and a library of facial expressions. Coupled to a perso read more [...]

	Conversations with the sub-physical: Exploring human constructions of existential meaning in interactions with designed objects Tuesday 26/01/2010 1:00pm-2:00pm Location: Brunel Design, Tower A, TA049 Speaker: Dr Ian Coxon, University of Western Sydney, Australia
Hermeneutical phenomenology has previously been shown to be helpful in understanding meta-physical (non-physiological) aspects of human experience for designing purposes. Whether this proposition is a read more [...]

	Towards a convergent model of motivation in the design Tuesday 08/12/2009 1:00pm-2:00pm Location: Brunel Design Tower A, Room TA049 Speaker: Fergus Bisset, BA (Hons), ISIA
This presentation presents a literature supported model of organismic human motivation. Put another way – it presents an updated interpretation of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, an interpretation read more [...]

	The ethics of transport planning Friday 29/05/2009 12:00-1:00pm Location: Brunel Design, Tower A, Room TA049 Speaker: Prof . Stephen Potter
This presentation will explore the ethical issues behind what appears to be a technical design process - that of transport planning decisions. It will draw upon the transport/land use designs explored read more [...]