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Co-designing Extended Reality systems to strengthen therapeutic alliance in rehabilitation practices, in Abstracts from the Annual XR4REHAB Conference Lecco, Italy June 26–27, 2025
Get PDFBackground: Extended Reality (XR) holds significant potential for advancing rehabilitation practices. However, its ability to enhance the Therapeutic Alliance (TA)—a fundamental element of effective therapy—remains underexplored. This study investigates how co-design with healthcare professionals can inform the creation of an XR system that incorporates key themes of the therapeutic alliance, including communication, collaboration, and connectedness, to improve rehabilitation outcomes.
Methodology: Co-design workshops were conducted with qualified and student occupational therapists and physiotherapists to design and evaluate an XR rehabilitation system. Participants were required to have clinical experience working with brain-injured patients, ensuring their insights were grounded in practical expertise. A pre-existing prototype was used, enabling the real therapist to exist in the virtual environment alongside the patient. This prototype served as the foundation for discussions and roleplaying therapy scenarios, allowing participants to explore its features, offer real-time feedback, and engage in collaborative ideation to refine the system. AI tools supported participant ideation during the workshops, enabling the rapid generation of concepts and possible system features. Discussions centred on identifying features that could enhance connectedness, strengthen the therapist-patient partnership, and foster safety and confidence within the virtual and real-world environment.
Results: Key design insights emerged, emphasising the need for a patient-centred system that can adapt to individual needs. Participants highlighted the value of utilising passthrough technology for safety and enhancing communication through features such as gestural feedback and guidance in the virtual environment. The prototype's ability to support rapport and empathy by allowing the real therapist to interact directly with the patient in the virtual space was highlighted as a significant advantage. Features such as real-time feedback, agreement on tasks and goals, and personalised activities were identified as crucial for building trust. Themes of communication, collaboration, and safety were consistently recognized as critical to reducing perceived disconnect between therapists and patients and fostering active engagement.
Conclusion: This research underscores the value of co-design in developing XR tools for rehabilitation, prioritising the therapeutic alliance. By embedding adaptability, collaboration, and safety into XR design, this study contributes to the advancement of immersive rehabilitation technologies tailored to real-world clinical practices
'From Mimesis to Symbiosis' in Practicing Landscape Field Guide No. 1: Landscapes of Energy and Extraction: Mining the Animal
No full textMining the animal is concerned to address the relation between the non-human animal, landscape and people. Specifically, we will explore how the voice of the animal reveals itself, whether through its absence or artistic intervention. Michael Mersinis’ presentation will focus on the silk worm as both an agent and an interlocutor. Following a research project in the small village of Soufli in the north part of Greece, Michael Mersinis examined the animal that was single handedly responsible for the rise and fall of a community that solely relied on its existence. People who worked in the factories of silk are brought forward to weave a complex narrative of economy and ecology in fringe societies. Following on from this, Elizabeth A. Hodson will turn to the work of contemporary artists working in Scotland to explore the transformative and disruptive potential of vocal mimesis in art. Speaking as if animal sheds light on our relationship with the non-human; its symbolic function but also its gendered dynamics. From Butler (1990) to Irigaray (1985), mimesis has been theorized as a platform for subversion. But it can also be a route towards a potential symbiosis with the non-human. Contemporary art practice offers us paths through the climate change crisis in the era of the anthropocene by suggesting a reconfiguration between the human and the non-human animal, an realignment which hears the voice of the non-human animal as equal, autonomous and instructive
Indigenous Relations: Craft, Vernacular Materials and Cultural Assets in Borneo
Get PDFThis article explores Indigenous relations to craft, vernacular materials and cultural assets in Borneo to raise awareness around the complexities, entanglements and precarity surrounding natural resources and craft practice(s) located within Indigenous communities. The authors present two case studies based in Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia from the Cultural-Assets and Vernacular Materials project and in so doing highlight the role ancestral wisdom and embodied knowledge play in the cultivation, conservation and crafting of natural materials towards situating craft as a living, ecological and regenerative practice. We locate an expanded notion of craft whereby the intimate relations to materials - growing, harvesting, preparing - are integral to materialities of place as site-specific, place-based and communal bodies of knowledges that reside within Indigenous communities. We position an ontological framing of design research as a set of practices that broaden the ways craft can advance new ways of understanding, becoming and doing. In such a reframing design-led innovation approaches are cognisant of and informed by the plurality of contexts that reside within and emerge from Indigenous communities as sites of situated knowledges
Revisiting Cognitive Maps to Promote Transdisciplinary Working
No full textThe urgency for transdisciplinary research to address complex global challenges is increasingly being recognised and reflected in calls driven by research funders seeking synergistic research at the interface between different disciplines (UKRI 2023). While potential collaborators, responding to these calls, coalesce with mixes of disciplines each with their preferred approaches and methods, will they conduct truly synergistic research or operate in default ‘work package’ mode? During formation of teams and formulation of proposals, what might help each discipline understand the relative merits of complementary but perhaps unfamiliar approaches and methods which may have a useful role in addressing complex challenges?
The author proposes that cognitive maps may be useful in modelling topographies of research and for identifying opportunities for combining mixed approaches and methods in trans-disciplinary studies. In this paper, as his point of departure, the author revisits the ‘cognitive collage’, first proposed by Sanders (2006), further discussed in Sanders (2008), inspired herself by Tversky (1993), for the mapping and relative positioning of the many different design research methods within the landscape of design research (figure 1). Since first publishing her work, Sanders’ model has proved a seminal point of reference for designers, design researchers and doctoral students discussing the design research landscape and the different approaches to, or types of design research methods, tools and specialisms within this.
Figure 1: Diagram adapted from figures in Sanders 2006 and Sanders 2008.
However, the field has moved on. In this paper, the author discusses his rationale for revisiting Sanders' model and proposing a revised version which reflects a more participatory landscape in which different disciplines have the opportunity to bring together mixed methods from different fields to meet a common objective. In so doing, author questions some of Sanders’ original terms of reference for the vectors used in her model. By way of illustration, he references a set of four collaborative design- and healthcare-related research case studies (Macdonald et al. 2012; Loudon et al. 2014; Jones et al. 2020; Macdonald et al. 2020) to discuss the role of different participative processes, and the expansion of what is normally regarded as evidence (Glasby et al. 2007; Draper 2018). He then proposes a new framework drawing from experiences and insights from these case studies (figure 2). Through this he also illustrates where different research questions may be located, again helpful in identifying the types of engagement and evidence required.
Figure 2: The proposed axes delineating the model for promoting consideration of collaborative, transdisciplinary, mixed method studies involving design and healthcare.
The author proposes that the construction of cognitive maps such as in the example provided may be helpful to those engaged in the collaborative design and healthcare research space, particularly for those designers who wish to achieve wider legitimacy for their approaches and their design methods, and for these to be assimilated into transdisciplinary healthcare-related research.
Selected references
Draper, J. 2018. “Healthcare Education Research: The Case for Rethinking Hierarchies of Evidence”. [Editorial], Journal of Advanced Nursing (14): 2480–2483. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jan.13697
Glasby, J., K. Walshe, and G. Harvey. 2007. “What Counts as 'Evidence' in 'Evidence-based Practice'?”, Evidence and Policy 3 (3): 325-327. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426407781738038
Jones, F., K. Gombert-Waldron, S. Honey, G. Cloud, R. Harris, A. Macdonald, C. McKevitt, C., G. Robert, and D. Clarke. (2020). “Using Co-production to Increase Activity in Acute Stroke Units: the CREATE Mixed-Methods Study”, Health Services and Delivery Research 8:35. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK561473/
Loudon, D., A. Taylor, and A.S. Macdonald. (2014), “The Use of Qualitative Design Methods in the Design, Development and Evaluation of Virtual Technologies for Healthcare: Stroke Case Study”, in Virtual, Augmented Reality and Serious Games for Healthcare 1, edited by M. Ma, L. Jain and P. Anderson, 68: 371-390. Intelligent Systems Reference Library, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54816-1_19
Macdonald, A.S., G. Teal, C. Bamford, and P.J. Moynihan. (2012), “Hospitalfoodie: an Inter-Professional Case Study of the Redesign of the Nutritional Management and Monitoring System for Vulnerable Older Hospital Patients.” Quality in Primary Care, 20 (3): 169-177.
Macdonald, A.S., M. Chambers, R. La Ragione, K. Wyles, M. Poyade, A. Wales, N. Klepacz, T. Kupfer, F. Watson, and S. Noble, S. (2020), “Addressing Infection Risk in Veterinary Practice through the Innovative Application of Interactive 3D Animation Methods.” The Design Journal. 24 (1): 51-72.
Sanders, E. B.-N. 2006. “Design Research in 2006”, Design Research Quarterly 1 (1): 1–8.
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/5f4a9a22-5569-4876-880a-58927836546a/downloads/DesignResearchin2006_Sanders_06.pdf?ver=1600007016962
Sanders, L. 2008. “An Evolving Map of Design Practice and Design Research.” Interactions 15 (6): 13-17.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1409040.1409043
Tversky, B. 1993. “Cognitive Maps, Cognitive Collages, and Spatial Mental Models.” in Spatial information theory, edited by A. Frank and I. Campari, 14-24. Berlin: Springer.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). 2023. “Transdisciplinary networks to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR).”
https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/transdisciplinary-funding-to-tackle-antimicrobial-resistance-amr
Decoding the Jewels: Renaissance Jewellery in Scotland [Book review]
No full textA book review of, Decoding the Jewels: Renaissance Jewellery in Scotland, edited by Dr Anna Groundwater (2024).
Book published by Sidestone Press: https://www.sidestone.com/books/decoding-the-jewel
A Not So Silent Archive
Get PDFReflections on research done with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh library, archive and herbarium collections and the artwork created for the exhibition A Silent Archive, shown at Inverleith House, RBGE, January. - March 202
Investigating the Effectiveness of In-Game Advertising: The Role of Mental Load on Ad Awareness
No full textConsidering the distinct interactivity features of video games, they place a mental demand on players when performing the game tasks. Hence, in-game advertising (IGA) is unlikely to receive full attention, and the mental demand of the game is central to IGA processing. This thesis asked how we can effectively increase awareness of in-game advertising by understanding the role of mental load imposed on players while interacting with games on their awareness of IGA. To answer this, this thesis ran three studies in which it investigated the mental load imposed on players of video games using two sub effects: game difficulty and game genre. In this regard, two different games were designed and developed with incorporated ads and an off-the-shelf game was also used to investigate how each type of mental load affect IGA awareness.
These three studies consisted of several major contributions. The first of these contributions was conceptualising the mental load imposed by video games as two types: cognitive or perceptual loads and each type affects IGA awareness in distinct patterns. High-perceptual load games induces early selection towards game-relevant information and filters out any ad processing, however high-cognitive load games induce late selection that facilitates IGA awareness. In addition, this research has several contributions to IGA research, in relation to the effect of brand familiarity, game difficulty and game genre. Familiar brands were found to achieve better awareness than unfamiliar brands, especially when placed near the end of the game. Findings also demonstrated that video games that imposed a high perceptual load on players, i.e., football and difficult driving games, decreased players’ awareness of IGA. However, games that imposed a high cognitive load on players, i.e., the sliding puzzle game, demonstrated higher awareness of IGA. Additionally, this thesis examined how different game logics and parameters of different genres determine the type of mental load imposed by the game which consequently affect ad awareness in distinct ways. Finally, this thesis introduced an advisory code for advertisers to achieve the highest awareness of their IGA
Instant Whip: The Textiles and Papers of Fraser Taylor 1977-1987 Revisited
No full textThis co-edited publication by Panel and Helena Britt was produced to accompany the exhibition 'Instant Whip: The Textiles and Papers of Fraser Taylor 1977-1987 Revisited', Reid Gallery, and Window on Heritage, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, 16 March to 20 April 2024. The publication explored and expanded on themes connected to the exhibition and included an editorial by Panel and an introductory text by Britt, which provided insight into Fraser Taylor's collection within GSA's Archives and Collections, how Taylor's creative practice has evolved and returns to previous work to inform new ideas and collaborations. The publication featured a series of invited texts by Theresa Coburn, Laura Guy, Graham Lister, Mairi MacKenzie and Iain R Webb, with contributions from Gillion Carrara, Robert Hodgens (The Bluebells), Gerry Kelly and Morag Ross.
'Each [text] is a unique reflection on formative moments in Fraser's career, offering personal references to the culture of dressing up and going out, music, identity and image-making, set against the socio-political backdrop of late 1970s and '80s Britain – with an exacting focus on Glasgow.' (Panel 2024).
Texts by Coburn, Guy, Lister, MacKenzie and Webb, '…provide a distinct set of perspectives that broadly consider the influence of artists and designers on shaping culture. They discuss the act of looking, the role of fashion in queer practices and codification and the craft of styling and promotion in all its forms, as made visible in fashion show documentation, magazine design, record covers, shampoo bottles, shop windows and nightclubs.' (Panel 2024). Contributions by Carrara, Hodgens, Kelly and Ross highlight connections between Glasgow, London and Chicago. The publication includes images from GSA's Archives and Collections, private collections and of Taylor's new work made in response to revisiting his archive, a playlist by Taylor (and QR code link to Spotify) and an advert for new textile products by Taylor produced for the V&A Dundee to coincide with the Instant Whip exhibition.
Graphical House has designed the publication. It is available to purchase from Panel's website and the V&A Dundee
Supporting the mental health of young people from ethnically diverse groups during the transition from primary to secondary school
Get PDFBackground:
The transition from primary to secondary school is a pivotal period in young people’s lives and can significantly impact their mental health. However, the experiences of young people from ethnically diverse groups during this crucial period of physical, social and emotional development are under-researched, limiting the evidence base for meaningful support.
Objectives:
This study explored the experiences of young people from ethnically diverse groups during primary-secondary school transition and co-designed ideas for culturally sensitive support. It explicitly focused on the intersection between ethnic and cultural identity, primary-secondary transition and mental health.
Methods:
The study employed participatory design to collaborate with seven young people from ethnically diverse groups and a peer researcher. Four online workshops mapped participant experiences and ideas concerning the primary-secondary transition, identity and mental health. These were developed into implications for practice, policy and research.
Results:
Participants highlighted feeling unprepared for the transition, with some experiencing poor mental health and difficulty navigating their ethnic and cultural identity during this time. Participants’ ideas for future transition experiences included: supporting a longer transition period, schools promoting diversity among students and staff, enabling education on ethnicity and culture, breaking stereotypes, enabling mutual learning among staff and students and enabling an open and caring environment to support mental health.
Conclusions:
The study provides an in-depth understanding of experiences of young people from ethnically diverse groups during primary-secondary transition and suggests ways of supporting multi-faceted transitions and mental health, with a key focus on ethnic and cultural identity formation
Stirred in the dance, light upon appliqués: Debjani Banerjee’s Jalsaghar
Get PDFExhibition Text for Debjani Banerjee's Jalsaghar, Glasgow CCA, September - November 2024.
The text discusses Banerjee's practice, situating it with historical framings and concerns of Bengali diaspora in the UK (such as nostalgia), and in the context of contemporary Bengali feminist struggles in India and in diaspora (including Reclaim the Night, Reclaim the Rights 2024). It discusses everyday dreaming and Banerjee's feminist refocusing of the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. It considers referencial gazes, materials, threads, agency, gendered forms of violence, representations and community