With a strong track-record of forming productive partnerships, Matthew works with a range of research and innovation funders to help companies and public-sector organisations benefit from the Design School’s knowledge and expertise.
Trained in both design and business, I manage research and design projects across disciplines, from digital-media through product and brand and into service design. As challenging as that variety can be, I think it’s a great privilege. Improving how users interact with the made world is what it’s all about.
A key area of my activity centres around innovation in business, particularly understanding how design practices and methods drive innovation in such settings. I’m also the School’s lead on KTP, a funded industry-facing programme that helps organisations to adopt and integrate design and innovation in-house.
For more information on KTPs please click here
A second significant area of my research focuses on innovation in Healthcare, through Service Design approaches/methods. For example, this has included developing improved care-pathways for people with Type II Diabetes and better-equipped clinicians advising those people and their carers/loved-ones.
My collaborators in this area of research include: Newcastle University Medical School, AgeUK, Hitachi, Newcastle City Council, NESTA, NHS (healthcare service design), Salford Royal and NIHR.
Prior to joining Northumbria University, I held positions in Design and Product Management in Manufacturing Industry, analysing market opportunities and managing design programmes from a human-centred perspective, from inception to market launch. My experience to date encompasses over forty products and services in production, encompassing national and international Patents and Design Registrations.
Research Interests
My research articulates how Design's human-centred approach contributes to change, improvement and impact in different settings. These themes are explored chiefly through a practice-based approach within partner organisations, where competition, compromise, risk and pragmatics are all at play. I work with public, commercial and social sector partners, particularly in the Health and Care sector. For example:
Public and Social Sector Innovation: I currently lead research and practice-based programmes concerning Person-Centred Heathcare, mapping and improving pathways through the disjointed health and wellbeing landscape. This research is driven through a co-design, participatory approach, which invests time in understanding and collaboratively improving the experiences of staff-teams, patients and their carers. My collaborators in this research include: AgeUK, Hitachi, NESTA, NHS Trusts (healthcare service design), Tiny Lives Trust, EPSRC (humanising health-tech) and NIHR (co-design methods).
Commercial Sector Innovation: I led a programme of activity to embed customer-centric innovation approaches into Parker Hannifin Corp., the world's biggest filtration company. This partnership was graded outstanding by the funder: InnovateUK, and led the company to launch new product lines and win its first Red Dot design award. I also support small firms in healthtech and other sectors (inc. funding via InnovateUK/ KTN and the UK Treasury's Help to Grow: Management programme).
Research Student Supervision Interests
Health & Care Co-design; Design for Person-Centred Healthcare; Design for Behaviour Change; Healthcare Service Design; Design-led Innovation
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