Co-creation is a phenomenon that integrates services users in each stage of the design process, to ensure we are solving the right problem for our users and creating meaningful solutions to this problem. Co-creation in higher education ensures that each individual within the Higher Education community has a voice and…

The Higher Education Institution can be likened to a large cruise liner sailing unexpectedly in turbulent waters. In March 2020, a storm like no other hit. …

As the new academic year begins, and we begin to return to campus life after 18 months, the beginning of semester one will bring about several changes for many and the start of new beginnings for others. Inspired by Dave Evans’s book, Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived…

In March 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic has uprooted and renegotiated the rules of Higher Education. Students and staff from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the globe were forced to continue their teaching and learning in a remote fashion. Whilst stop-gap solutions ensured that teaching could continue in a virtual capacity…

The Maynooth University Innovation Lab (Mi:Lab) takes a Human-Centred design approach to explore and tackle challenges within the Higher Education system. In a series of Mi:Lab blogposts, we will explore some of the key tools we employ in our projects at Mi:Lab. …

In 2018, The Maynooth Access Office partnered with Department of Design Innovation (DDI) in Maynooth University to examine how design could be used to re-imagine the transition to Higher Education for students from under-represented groups (Vaugh et al, 2018). To design a programme that would maintain the standard and success…

“If you make something work for someone for whom it currently works least, it works better for everyone” (Starr, 2021). In 1972, American Computer Scientist, Vincent Cerf, created the first email protocol. He wanted to be able to communicate with his deaf wife Sigrid whilst he was at work. Cerf’s…

Dr Aldo Valencia | Design Researcher and Brain Enthusiast | Assistant lecturer at the Design Innovation department, member of Mi:Lab linkedin.com/in/aldo-valencia-57a6a598 Two years ago, a world interacting exclusively through screens might have been seen as dystopian. Who would have thought that peoples’ proximity would cause some to get anxious? There…

Build a shared vision & inspire action by communicating simply, creatively & with empathy. “Design envisions the future by taking a felt need or problem or what is a vague and often abstract idea and making it tangible — making it exist in the world so that various stakeholders in…