P.J. White

South East Technological University · Humanities

Design methods and processes are now commonly used across disciplines as an approach to gain deeper and more connected understanding within complex or wicked problems. However, little research exists on the use of Design to facilitate and grow interdisciplinary research culture within higher education institutes. This paper discusses how and why De...

Personas can be an effective means of communicating and synthesizing design ethnographic field data by helping designers maintain focus on users and make sense of complex needs. Personas have however been criticized on scientific grounding and methodological weakness in their creation. Furthermore, few detailed examples of their creation have been...

Creative problem-solving has been identified as one of the most critical future-proof skillsets we can develop in our society. When educating future designers, entrepreneurship skills are now considered essential; however, designers find it difficult to establish themselves as entrepreneurs. Therefore, graduate designers are increasingly in need of...

Co-design is seen as crucial for designing solutions for resource-constrained people living in developing countries. To best understand their needs, user engagement and co-design strategies need to first be developed. In this Design Practice Brief, a process of co-design was created and used to understand ways telecommunication engineers could enga...

Complex research challenges facing society today require an integrative approach, therefore, interdisciplinary research is now required more often. By creating interdisciplinary research communities, we facilitate communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing between researchers from different fields. It can however be difficult to create int...

Population aging will challenge us to integrate technology, health sciences, social sciences, business, and public and patient engagement into our research to be truly successful and impactful. Here we describe how the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging – an interdisciplinary Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario -- cultivated...

Introduction: Co-design has been cited as playing a major role in the future of effectiveintegrated care, however, there is a lack of reporting and reflection on the methodsused. Information sharing is fundamental when working in integrated care, howeversharing across professions, service settings and localities can be complex. Throughco-design, we...

Opinion: a rapidly ageing population means we need creative approaches to help us understand complex needs and allow freedom to define our future Article from RTE Brainstorm: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2022/1114/1336022-how-to-design-a-future-ireland-for-an-ageing-population/

The last one hundred years has seen great changes in Ireland’s culture and its economy from its accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973 to the rise and fall of the Celtic tiger in 2008. While entrepreneurship is widely celebrated, steady employment is the preferred route for many third level graduates. Where a participation in ed...

The Integrated Care Programme for Older People (ICPOP) is part of how health and social care delivery is being envisaged in Ireland (ICPOP, 2018). The Living Well at Home piece of ICPOP, includes community and the community and voluntary sector in healthcare delivery (ICPOP, 2018). This research looks at the role of co-designing with community the...

The products that we use in our living environment greatly assist us in maintaining health and independence as we age. Much research has been conducted on the physical ergonomic needs in product design for older people, overlooking an understanding of the 'softer' functionality that domestic products offer. Through an ethnographic case study of old...

Aging research is increasingly seeking to solve complex challenges in a context where discovery to implementation and impact may take decades. Design thinking is an approach to problem solving that can accelerate impact by incorporating multiple perspectives, including those of interdisciplinary colleagues, stakeholders and end-users (including old...

Standards are essential instruments to ensure the safety, efficiency and quality of products, services, systems, processes, and environments. In pre-pandemic times, the standard development process used to happen through in-person consultation and meetings, however, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the whole routine. A team of technical experts from...

Standards are essential instruments to ensure the safety, efficiency and quality of products, services, systems, processes, and environments. In pre-pandemic times, standard development process used to happen through in-person consultation and meetings, however, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the whole routine. A team of technical experts from the...

An ageing global population has led to increased costs for health and social care delivery. This has created a move away from acute hospital to integrated care across and between the acute, primary and community health and social care systems. In Ireland, Sláintecare, the ten-year plan to reform healthcare, has co-produced, integrated, person-centr...

COVID-19 has had an extreme effect on older people. Now more than ever we need collaborative approaches to address complex issues within research on aging. However, the pandemic has dramatically changed the way we conduct, interact, and organize research within interdisciplinary groups. This paper describes a case study of how an interdisciplinary...

COVID-19 has had an extreme effect on older people. Now more than ever we need collaborative approaches to address complex issues within research on aging. However, the pandemic has dramatically changed the way we conduct, interact, and organize research within interdisciplinary groups. This paper describes a case study of how an interdisciplinary...

An increase in the cost of healthcare provision is directly related to an ageing demographic nationally and internationally. It is, therefore, imperative that the system of health and social care provision for the older person is reformed. The Integrated Care Programme for Older People (ICPOP) envisages moving the locus of care from the acute syst...

Background An increase in the cost of healthcare provision is directly related to an ageing demographic nationally and internationally. It is, therefore, imperative that the system of health and social care provision for the older person is reformed. The Integrated Care Programme for Older People (ICPOP) envisages moving the locus of care from the...

Increasingly, gerontological research requires interdisciplinary approaches to address complex research questions. Design methods have been proven to facilitate the growth of interdisciplinary research as they are agile, adaptive, and iterative (White and Deevy, 2020). Involving 140 researchers across 6 faculties, this study used design methods to...

COVID-19 has impacted not only the health of citizens, but also the various factors that make up our society, living environments, and ecosystems. This pandemic has shown that future living will need to be agile and flexible to adapt to the various changes in needs of societal populations. Digital technology has played an integral role during COVID...

As user centred design methods become more important for inclusive design, designers increasingly use methods borrowed from other disciplines such as Ethnography to gain insights into user behaviour. But what are the advantages in using ethnography to understand ergonomic requirements? And what form of insights does it result in? This paper offers...

In March 2020 the United Nations published an open brief for the creative community to propose interventions to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. However, when faced with unprecedented wicked problems such as these, the rigour of design and creative processes can tested. COVID-19 has demonstrated how important human centred design responses are in u...

In March 2020 the United Nations published an open brief for the creative community to propose interventions to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. However, when faced with unprecedented wicked problems such as these, the rigour of design and creative processes can tested. COVID-19 has demonstrated how important human centred design responses are in u...

ABSTRACT Globally the Older Adult population is increasing; people are living longer and in many cases with some form of physical or functional limitation in their own home. As a result, there is a requirement for support from Stakeholders (family members, neighbours, health professionals and Companies) to enable ageing in place. The concept of ‘Sh...

Objectives: Research in ageing can very often require interdisciplinary approaches to navigate complexity. However, achieving interdisciplinary engagement across differing epistemological domains can be difficult. McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) identified Design as a means to address complexity through interdisciplinary action (Pa...

Intergenerational initiatives in post-secondary settings have demonstrated health and social benefits. However, there is a lack of detail with regard to the process by which such initiatives are conceptualized and the role of older and younger users in their development. Guided by the principles of an Age-Friendly University (AFU) alongside element...

This paper discusses the development of a culture of ‘Universal Empathy’ within Product Design programmes at the Institute of Technology Carlow. The concept draws from the inclusive, holistic nature of Universal Design and its principles together with a deeply human centric and empathic approach to design learning. Focusing on the undergraduate pro...

OBJECTIVES: The McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) supports interdisciplinary research in aging within a context where discovery to implementation may take decades (Morris, 2011). One way to accelerate impact is to incorporate multiple perspectives, including end-users, into the formation of research questions, methods, and implementat...

Large organisations use design and design thinking to create value; however, there is a low awareness and practice of design and design thinking in smaller businesses. 69% of Irish businesses never use design, or use it only at a superficial level (DJEI, 2016). Previous research on the relationship between design and the wider-enterprise base in Ir...

The environments we grow old in present a challenge to be adaptive to our changing needs and limitations. Environments, in the context of this paper, are the spaces, products and product service systems that we engage with, alone or with others, within and outside the home.

Post primary education in Ireland is currently undergoing reform. The Action Plan for Education 2017 aims to develop students' 21st century learning skills such as enquiry based learning, critical thinking and creative innovative problem-solving. However, these skills are mainly in relation to STEM subjects. Design, and more specifically design thi...

Student engagement is important to ensure success towards their desired career opportunities (High and Andrews, 2009). Students engage with their coursework to receive the necessary grades to avoid failure (Covington, 1999). Failure can indicate a disbelief in their abilities, therefore engagement with assignments becomes a zero sum game (Middleton...

It is now well documented that the world’s population is ageing and living longer. Thus, there is a growing emphasis on social inclusion and integration for this ageing demographic. Financial institutions implement self-service technologies to reduce costs and add customer convenience. However, there are many customer segments that do not wish to m...

This thesis follows Irish Design 2015 (ID2015), a year-long Government backed initiative and key component of the Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) 2015-2017. The aim of ID2015 was to grow awareness of Irish Design in order to support job creation, foreign trading and the increased competitiveness of Irish businesses (ID2015, 2016). Building on ID2015, Ma...

It isnowwell documentedthat the world’s population is ageing and living longer. As a result,there is a growing emphasis on social inclusion and integration for this ageing demographic. Financial institutions implement self-service technologies to reduce costs and add customer convenience. However,there are many customer segments that do not wish to...

All life transitions can be viewed as micro deaths and rebirths. The design decisions we make during life transitions are particularly revealing as to how we view and construct our lives. The transitions into and within older age are the most physically, socially and emotionally challenging. Design decisions made within the home in older age are hi...

This paper discusses the development of a culture of ‘Universal Empathy’ within Product Design programmes at the Institute of Technology Carlow. The concept draws from the inclusive, holistic nature of Universal Design and its principles together with a deeply human centric and empathic approach to design learning. Focusing on the undergraduate pro...

The first Automated Teller Machine was introduced to the Irish landscape by Bank of Ireland in 1980, aiming to make the lives easier for its customers establishing the fundamental foundations of the self-service banking industry. It has since then become a ubiquitous and simple piece of technology in 21st century not only Ireland, but the whole wor...

Globally the Older Adult population is increasing; people are living longer, often with physical or functional limitations whilst remaining in their own home. This indicates a requirement of responsibility by Associated Stakeholders to support ageing in place. The concept of shared usability proposes that Older Adults can maintain independence, cho...

Lead Editor Editorial for Iterations Design Review

Globally the Older Adult population is increasing; people are living longer, often with physical or functional limitations whilst remaining in their own home. This indicates a requirement of responsibility by Associated Stakeholders to support ageing in place. The concept of shared usability proposes that Older Adults can maintain independence, cho...

This was early research documenting fieldwork and enquiry as a means to define Shared Usability

Designers have an increasingly important role to play in innovating products, appliances and services to allow for better everyday living conditions for our ageing population. A recent study of domestic product design for older adults identified the concept of “Shared Usability” (White, 2012) as having many beneficial aspects for the user. These be...

As the global population rapidly gets older, designers are continually seeking means to gaining understanding and eliciting true user insights into older people’s design, health and wellbeing needs. Comprehensive field studies that are both empathic and sensitive are cited as essential in this regard, with ethnographies predominantly heralded for a...

In many ways, the design of domestic cooking and heating products reflects the zeitgeist of Irish culture throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. From domesticity to materialism, these products have evolved to meet fundamental human needs within the home. Concurrent with this, the methods and processes designers use to create domestic artefa...

The world's population is ageing; researchers have an increasingly important role to play in innovating new products, appliances and services to allow for better everyday living conditions of this ageing demographic. Health, wellbeing and age in place needs are of particular importance in Ireland as research has revealed that as a nation we are liv...

Empathy over Ego: Designing Cooking and Heating Appliances for the Elderly