What did you study at A-level?
I studied equivalent of Math and Physics.
What degree/PhD did you study?
I studied BA and MA Industrial Design, followed by MA in Design Strategy and Innovation, and a PhD in Design.
What inspired you to choose and study your degree subject?
I was always interested in innovation and design, with a focus on improving quality of life for people, and being transformative in my problem-solving approach.
What key skills did you learn at university?
In my Industrial Design undergraduate course, I learnt about human factors and ergonomics (which I really enjoyed), design for manufacturing, model making workshops working with various materials, idea generation, sketching and prototyping and testing, and product form and aesthetics.
What is your current job and what do you enjoy about it?
I am a Reader in Inclusive Design and Human-centred Innovation at the School of Engineering and Director of the award-winning Inclusionaries Lab for Design Research in the UK, where I work with my team of Design researchers on a diverse range of design and innovation projects that focus on the more extreme health, mobility and inequality challenges we currently face in the world. We call this “Design for the Edges” and it is about making the best use of advanced design engineering and innovation where it is most needed - to help populations currently disserved by innovation.
Some of these “Design for the Edges” projects including improving health and mobility for children and young people living with neuro-muscular or life-limiting conditions, people living with multiple long-term conditions who may not have good access to healthcare services, people going through the final stages of their life, and people living with mobility impairments.
I also work as a Design educator at the university and teach on undergraduate and postgraduate Design programmes as well as training PhD students. So, I work with young Design minds, teaching them about how they can use their design engineering expertise to innovate and improve quality of life for people who most need it.
These are all very rewarding and meaningful to me, where I can work on a wide range of interesting and worthwhile projects applying advanced design research.
Do you have an area of expertise?
I am an expert in Inclusive Design, Human-centred Innovation, and Inclusive Healthcare and Mobility Design.
What has been your most exciting project?
I have applied my inclusive and human-centred design research skills on multiple Design projects that I am proud of, such as designing a mobile toilet (commode) for use in NHS hospital wards, designing an upper body exoskeleton for children and young people living with DMD and SMA, and introducing a Designer-in-Residence model for innovative and collaborative research in hospice care.
Any advice you’d like to share?
Be an inspired person! Always follow your passion and do what inspires you and makes you proud. Do not compromise, nor settle for the mediocre. Know your strengths and build on them, and keep learning. Always remember, there will always be a path for you - no matter how common or uncommon. Stasy focused, proud and inspired by your own work. As long as the inspiration and intrinsic motivation is there, it will be difficult to stop you.
More resources:
Film: The upper body exoskeleton for children with disabilities
Article: Double award success for inclusive MedTech design project
Article: University success at North West Coast Research and Innovation Awards
Article: £1.25M to design revolutionary upper body mobility suit for progressive neuromuscular diseases
Website: Duchenne UK - Keeping our Children Moving
Research Group: The Inclusionaries Lab for Design Research
Find out more about Farnaz on her University of Liverpool staff profile and on LinkedIn