The research platform afforded by the DHW lab allows PhD students like Guy Collier to conduct forward thinking, rigorous design/health research.
Guy embarked on his PhD earlier this year, 'Medical Anthropology, Collaboration, & Designing for Mild Cognitive Impairment.'
The research aims to understand the experience of people living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and analyse the day-to-day strategies and supports they find most helpful in managing their condition. In collaboration with AUT’s Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies and the Person Centred Research Centre (PCRC) , the interdisciplinary project will design and deliver a ‘user-centred’ digital resource for people with MCI.
The PhD component nested in this project applies an anthropological lens to the transfer of knowledge between design and the health sciences. The goal of this research is to promote critical reflection on the historical, cultural, social, and political-economic underpinnings of the MCI project in ways that (1) ensure more reflexive engagement between applied, social and scientific knowledges, and (2) contribute to the development of an appropriate design intervention.
Guy is currently at the AFRM/NZRA Combined Rehabilitation Meeting presenting his research project. We look forward to following Guy's research project as it develops.