Designing Human Technologies - Event Report

What was the event?

As a PhD student within the ACRC Academy, I was fortunate enough to attend the 10^th Designing Human Technologies (DHT) doctoral summer school (https://dht10.disi.unitn.it/) at Trento, Italy at the end of May this year.

DHT offers an excellent opportunity for PhD students working with, or having an interest in, participatory design, that is, projects conducted in close collaboration with users, citizens, patients, or other external stakeholders. The event features a mix of lectures and small group discussions where invited speakers share key theories, methodological reflections, and novel approaches within the field and participating students discuss their PhD projects with peers and senior academic staff to receive valuable feedback for improvement.

What drew you to attend this event? 

One of my supervisors shared the event via the mailing list, and it fits well with my PhD research topic (participatory design and technology).

How was your experience attending the event? What were the highlights and key moments? 

Overall, my experience at the event was very positive. It’s nice to connect with other PhD students from universities across Europe (and one from America), who share similar research interests but never got the opportunity to learn about each other. 

The format of the small group discussion is especially beneficial for PhD students in their early stages of research. Before the event, each student submitted a position paper describing their PhD project. Based on the themes of these projects, we were then divided into smaller groups of 4-5 students and 1-2 supervisors (for example, everyone in my group connected their research to feminist theory in some way). The most interesting part was that students presented each other’s paper rather than their own. This helped me understand how well others comprehended my project by reading the paper. I was particularly impressed by my presenter, who not only explained my project clearly, but also created a diagram to visually present it. The subsequent group discussion was very in-depth, since everyone had read each other's papers beforehand. I received a great deal of advice during these conversations.

I also enjoyed the enlightening talks given by senior academics in the field. The one impressed me most is the presentation by Mika, who is from Japan and currently works in Denmark. She shared her reflections on the cultural aspects of participatory design based on her practices in both countries. Her speech resonated with me, as there are many similarities between Japanese and Chinese cultures (my own background). This provoked my thinking about how to adapt participatory practices to better suit local cultures.

On top of all that, I must mention the amazing natural surroundings of the summer school. Nestled in one of the mountains in Trento, it boasted great sunshine, fresh air, and almost no other people. Trento, a beautiful town in the Italian Dolomites with excellent hiking spots and great food, is worth a visit in its own right!

How was this event relevant to your research, interdisciplinarity and the ACRC Academy? 

The theme of the event is closely related to my research, and I gained valuable feedback and constructive suggestions on my PhD plan.

The event reflects well the importance of interdisciplinarity, and patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) as highlighted by the ACRC Academy.

I’m very grateful that I was given the support of my supervisors and the ACRC Academy to attend the summer school, and I would strongly recommend students who use or have an interest in using participatory design methods to attend this event in the future.