Service and Support
Bridging the Gap between Design and Research: A Designer's Guide to Conducting Research View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Georgia Markham
Design methods are often described as non-linear, collaborative, creative, and innovative. These are great qualities when trying to solve an ambiguous problem. But can these methods of thinking and working be applied to a task that is seen as very linear such as conducting research or writing a paper? This is a question that I had to ask myself at the beginning of my design PhD. With a strong design background, I struggled to research and write in the way that was seen as normal, my brain struggled to absorb information in this way. I was forced to think outside the box and come up with new ways of working, which allowed me to think creatively about the research. Taking my inspiration from design methods, and tweaking them, I developed a group of tools and techniques that helped me conduct research. In this paper, I talk about my journey of learning to adapt and develop different creative processes that continue to help me through my PhD. These methods have allowed me to make key connections in my research, write papers, read papers and make presentations etc. The aim of this paper is to help designers and creative thinkers who are interested in pursuing further education by showing them the methods and tricks I developed through my research journey.
Model to Support the Creation and Management of an Internal Design Structure in Engineering-based Organisations View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sofia Dinis Esteves, Katia Amaro
The expansion of experience design has led many non-design-oriented companies to form internal teams of designers to meet the needs of their clients, especially large engineering organizations. However, the value of design is still hard to grasp, and there are many challenges in creating and managing internal design structures within organizations whose core business is not design. This research focused on gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges and existing opportunities to create a model for supporting the creation and management of internal design structures in organizations. It promises to contribute to a better understanding of the value and impact of design in these organizations, with the aim of transforming the perception of the role of designers. A case study was conducted through interviews and questionnaires in an engineering consulting firm, which revealed that there is little investment, both financially and strategically, to promote design practices and management, and thus the value generated by collaboration between teams. Communication differences were highlighted as one of the main barriers, which could be overcome with closer collaboration between teams and by disseminating success stories throughout the organization. The conclusions of this study were organized into a model describing the journey of creating and managing an internal design structure in engineering organizations. It consists of four stages: creation of the unit, awareness, internal selling, and operationalization of the team. This model is intended to support engineering organizations that are interested in creating and/or developing a design team/structure to help them achieve their strategic goals
Featured A Service Design Approach to Improve the Accessibility of War Refugees to Psychosocial Therapeutic Interventions
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Davide Antonio Gambera
In this era of social unrest and refugee crisis caused by wars, such as the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, there’s a growing awareness where it concerns the mental health of the populations affected by these traumatic events. Still, the measures being taken aren’t enough to prevent a later and severer onset of mental health illnesses such as PTSD. This paper presents a literature review to identify gaps within the mental health services provided to war refugees in terms of accessibility and efficacy. While trying to evaluate what are the most prevalent mental health problems faced by these communities (like PTSD, depression, and anxiety) and how the host countries are trying to mitigate the growth in severity and the number of cases of these diseases. This study besides a two-phased literary review, presents two semi-structured interviews with two clinicians of different health areas and also a questionnaire to better understand the state of the art of this subject in Portugal, our chosen area of focus, and pinpoint what are its major gaps. The findings suggest that through further development of the project and using interdisciplinary methods from Service Design, Social Sciences, and Psychology, it is possible to co-create with all the stakeholders a solution that helps diminish the challenges to the accessibility of mental health diagnosis and treatment faced by war refugees and forcibly displaced people.
