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Helen Simmons

Postgraduate Associate

Department: Northumbria School of Design

My work explores the role of design and the use infrastructuring as a strategy to support co-creation of improved policy and services for social innovation. I am interested in the dynamics of grassroots participatory infrastructuring and the role of design and the Designer in this. I am keen to understand what spaces, roles, tools, languages and practices enable people to be truly innovative and entrepreneurial. I would like to understand this to know how we can help individuals within communities to grow the confidence, agency and skills to be able to address their own needs and desires, creating a culture of sustainable social innovation.

 

I am interested in how to create a vibrant and fruitful research culture within a design school and through micro projects am exploring the role of a design school promoting social justice within a civic university.

I am keen to develop new models of pedagogy making use of innovative technologies and accommodating different learning styles. I believe that providing students with experiential learning opportunities, collaborating with uncommon combinations of organisations and people, will create the environment where we can joinly take positive action on the grand challenges of the modern world.

As Senior Research Assistant on the Arts and Humanities Research Council and European Regional Development Fund supported programme Creative Fuse North East, I design and co-facilitate creative workshops and internship programmes with business owners of cross-sector small to medium enterprises helping them identify how they might innovate within or between their organisations.

My practice-based research is multidisciplinary in its approach and is grounded in values of inclusivity, accessibility empowerment and kindness.

I am currently working on the Creative Fuse North East research programme and co-producing the Designamite Podcast which explores the research, teaching and practice of Northumbria's School of Design.

Helen Simmons

  • Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
  • Final degree shows: culmination or invitation?, Simmons, H., Bailey, M., Spencer, N., Hemstock, O., Mutambo, N. 7 Sep 2023, DS 123, Glasgow, The Design Society
  • Taking the pulse of responsible design: exhibitions as a critical discourse venue, Simmons, H., Bailey, M., Spencer, N. 7 Sep 2023, DS 123, Glasgow, The Design Society
  • Innovation Constellations as a systems approach to social design infrastructuring, Spencer, N., Simmons, H., Bailey, M., Hemstock, O., Carrion-Weiss, J. 3 Aug 2022, dmi: ADMC2022: Design as a Strategic Asset, Cambridge, US, Design Management Institute
  • Three degrees of influence in virtual workshops: towards an understanding of co-creative facilitation practice in technologically mediated settings, Hemstock, O., Bailey, M., Spencer, N., Simmons, H., Coombs, S., Carrion-Weiss, J., Richardson, C. 25 Jun 2022, Proceedings of DRS2022 Bilbao, London, Design Research Society
  • Tipping points in design-led collaboration: attending to moments of emergence in design facilitation practice, Hemstock, O., Simmons, H., Bailey, M., Spencer, N., Coombs, S. 20 Jul 2022, dmi:ADMC 2022: DESIGN AS A STRATEGIC ASSET : Academic Design Management Conference, Cambridge, US, Design Management Institute

  • Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
  • Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Art for Purpose 2023
  • Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: 25th International Conference on Engineering & Product Design Education 2023
  • Invited talk: Innovation Ambassadors 2023
  • Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: Complexity Outcomes 2023
  • Oral presentation: The Power of the Stottie 2023
  • Organising a conference, workshop, ...: COST CA18236 Working Group 1- Multi-disciplinary innovation for social change 2023
  • Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Pint of Science 2023 2023
  • Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Changing Futures North East 2023
  • Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Springboard Event: Experiential Learning 2023
  • Organising a conference, workshop, ...: National Saturday Club 2023

  • Design Studies MA September 30 2021
  • Other Courses BSc (Hons) January 01 1998
  • Other Courses BSc (Hons) January 01 1998

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