Author_snip

is an Assistant Professor of HCI at Queen’s University (Canada), head of the iStudio Lab, and an alumna of Newcastle University (UK). Her research integrates interior design with interaction design, using soft sensors, fabric circuits, e-textiles and smart materials that are malleable, shape-changing and colour-changing. Her innovative techniques and digital fabrication methods facilitate the design of everyday computational objects, wearables, surfaces and spaces in calm and ubiquitous technology. Her work aims to support the living quality of marginalized groups such as refugees, people with dual-identities, and people with physical disabilities. She has carried out in-the-wild fieldwork in public spaces, design studios, galleries, museums and refugee camps, and has written on Human-Building Interaction (HBI), Interactive Architecture, and Interactive Interior Design, or what she coined as ‘Interioraction’. Her current work explores the interface between physical computing,wearables, interiors, art, and architecture. In 2016, Sara was awarded the ‘Best Design Award’ by the Great North Museum, and in 2022, she won the Best Design Award at the FabFest 2022 Design Challenge. Sara’s interactive prototypes have been displayed at a number of exhibitions including the Carleton Community Art Exhibition (CUAG, Canada 2020), ‘Living with Adaptive Architecture’ (Lakeside Arts Gallery, UK 2018), the ‘Immersive Hive’ (Great North Museum, UK 2018), and the annual London Design Festival (2018).

last update: November -0001

Articles published on IXD&A:

• ‘COVIDware: Designing Interactive Everyday Things as Tangible Homeware for Social Isolation’, N. 54, 2022, pp. 209 – 240, abstract, download, (https://doi.org/10.55612/s-5002-054-009), Google Scholar
"This paper describes our collaborative journey of creating everyday interactive artefacts to help us think, reflect, and live through self-isolation. Through a co-design approach, we designed interact..."

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