Stacey Birkett

Stacey joined the Design Group in June 2006 as a full-time research student and she passed her PhD viva in July 2010. Her PhD research programme concerned ethics and product design, with a focus on the development of responsibility in designers. Her PhD work used interview and card sorting research methodologies, using participants drawn from both education and practice, to explore how designers perceive and understand the idea of responsibility. Her PhD thesis comprises three main studies: first year undergraduate students, graduating design students, and practising designers. It explores the way designers' perceptions mediate the interpretation and application of responsibility in their practice. The results show how concepts of responsibility change and evolve as levels of expertise in designing develop. Stacey is currently working at the BBc in Manchester using eye tracking to assess web usability for pre-school children.

Contact Information

Email: staceybirkett@hotmail.com
Phone: +44 (0)77 398 151 78

Qualifications

2006-2010 PhD 'The Development of Responsibility in Product Designers', The Open University, UK.

2004-2005 MSc Child-Computer Interaction, University of Central Lancashire.

2001-2004 BSc (hons) Web & Multimedia and Marketing, University of Central Lancashire.

Recent publications

Birkett S, Lloyd P and Garner S (2009) 'The Development of Responsibility in Product Designers.' In Proceedings of International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference (IASDR09), COEX Centre, Seoul, South Korea.

Birkett S, Lloyd P and Garner S (2008) 'Graduating product designers and their attitudes towards design responisibility: a survey.' In proceedings of International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE08) pp.631-636, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.

Page Last Updated: 17 August, 2010