DoWell Co-Design Workshop and Lectures Series 2025
Advertising a series of upcoming lectures and workshops from DoWell – Design for Health and Wellbeing Research group
At DoWell –Design for Health and Wellbeing Research group– we pioneer the use of collaborative creative processes from craft and design to support people’s mental and physical health and to improve products, environments, services and interactions for health and care. We co-design our research into the social and societal aspects of health and wellbeing with the people who will benefit from our studies. Our research contributes to national and international action on mental health, disability, dementia and neurodiversity.
Everyone welcome. Please register through Eventbrite.
Session 5: ‘Designing for children with brain conditions from client initiation to manufacture stages’, Wed 30 April 2025, 3:30-5pm, Online Session
Dr Ross Head, University of Wales and Cerebra Innovation Centre
Dr Ross Head is the Design manager for Cerebra Innovation Centre, and is responsible for leading an innovative team of product designers to create beautiful, functional, bespoke products for children with brain conditions for the national charity Cerebra. In this talk, Dr Head will discuss the process from client initiation, through the design and manufacture stages using case studies to demonstrate successes, failures and best practice.
Session 6: ”The Gallery, Material and Wellbeing’
Wed 11 June 2025, 3:30-5pm, Grosvenor East GE 4.05, MMU
Dr Lynn Setterington & Dr Dena Bagi, Manchester Metropolitan University
Dr Lynn Setterington and Dr Dena Bagi will discuss their gallery-based practices, which aim to improve/maintain the wellbeing of those involved in working with craft materials. The pair, who practice as an artist-academic and pedagogical designer in the gallery context, will explore material-based engagement methods used in the gallery context. They will also touch on the gallery as a space for healing/wellbeing.
Lynn will talk directly about her ongoing project at Gallery Oldham, and Dena will present the outcome of her PhD, Clay Pedagogy. Both projects explore how collective material-based making in the gallery space can aid a healing journey or general wellbeing.