Adela Glyn-Davies
Head of Design Studies
Associate Professor
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Design and Global Sustainable Development BASc (Hons)
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce
Fellow in Design - Warwick Institute of Global Sustainable Development
Fellow of the Warwick Institute of Engagement
Fellow of the Academy of Higher Education
Editor and reviewer: Design Research Society
Full member and editor: Design Society
I am a multi-disciplinary visual artist and designer specialised in systems and interactions. My work is process responsive, which challenges the applicability and adaptability of the following disciplinary practices: audio-visual interactive code, projection mapping, data mapping and radical cartography, product (tangible and intangible), site installation, traditional and digital graphics and experimental video. The focus of my work lies in exploring systems through their imbalances and mismatches in the context of inclusivity and long-term relatability, which seeks methods for the exploration and capturing of overlooked, often neglected and excluded data. My professional and personal practice captures the intersections of high tech and emerging technologies with primitive and radical processes, towards new sense-making in design complexity.
Alongside my role in Design Studies, I am a doctoral researcher in complexity and systemic design at the University of Leeds, where I am exploring methodologies of visual narratives in complex systems. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, contributing to implementations of social design and systems thinking into undergraduate and postgraduate curricula in higher education. Through this, I am also a member of the RSA's Good Work Guild, contributing to the development Education for Sustainable Development within HE.
Practice and research areas: Life-centred Design, Design Complexity, Design for Sustainable Development, Systems Thinking and Systemic Design, Social Design and Design Activism, Inclusive Design, Design for Health, Wellbeing and Belonging, Speculative Design, Graphic Transliteration, Data Design, Cartography and Data Mapping, UX and Product Design, Design Pedagogy.
Pedagogy
I am a holistic pedagogue, dedicated to learner-centred education. I have an established and publicised background in design pedagogy and using creative approaches to learning and teaching with a focus on systems thinking, visual methods and social design. This strand of my practice entails the testing, adapting and progressing of hybrid pedagogies through constructivist and inter-disciplinary methodologies. Seeking to explicate roles of democratised and inclusive curricula and learner-centric methods to knowledge transmission. Specific interests of this practice lies in inter-disciplinary learning within a design studio context, generating incentives for student research and progression of design processes through contextual study.
Practice-led Research
Research of this strand investigates inclusive structures and their systems, relatability, accessibility and balance through visual data mapping and radical cartography. Quantifications of qualitative data are explored and expressed through participatory and co-creative approaches. In search of the beyond inclusive, ensuing systems for belonging. Personal and professional practice of this strand is published bi-monthly and annually via HIPER/RITMIKA, adelaglyndavies.com.
Publications
BOOKS:
Glyn-Davies A., Stewart, H. & Cortez, K. (2022). Spaces for Belonging: A Visual Data Mapping Exploration of Inclusive Spaces in Learning Environments. ISBN: 978-1-3999-2916-5
CONFERENCE PAPERS:
Glyn-Davies A. (2022). Design for Belonging: The correlation between belonging, identity shifts and mismatches in inclusive systems. 1st Civic Lab Symposium on Designing for Civility, Derby, United Kingdom.
Glyn-Davies A.& Russell P. (2021). Adapting social design research methods for socially distanced practice. 23rd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education. 10.35199/EPDE.2021.21Link opens in a new window, Henning, Denmark
Glyn-Davies A. (2021). Porous Institutions: Future thinking in design pedagogy. ELIA Academy, International Conference for Art and Design Education, Brussels, Belgium.
Glyn-Davies A.& Hilton C. (2021).Utilising Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) as a Pedagogical Framework for Design Thinking Projects ®.6th International Conference for Design Education Researchers, Design Research Society, LxD in Jinan, China.
PANELS, TALKS & WORKSHOPS:
Glyn-Davies A. (2023). Systems Thinking in Design Practice. Systems Innovation Hub, London, Systems Innovation Network, United Kingdom.
Glyn-Davies A. (2022). Visualising Complexity: Mapping Belonging through Parameters of Identity Shifts, Inclusion and Space. CePRA Practice Research PhD Symposium, University of Leeds, United Kingdom.
Glyn-Davies A. (2022). Local Regeneration and Social Design. Midlands Design Summit, Derby, United Kingdom.
Glyn-Davies A. (2022). Migration from a Systems Perspective: Design for Belonging as a developing systems paradigm. Systems Innovation Singapore Hub.
Glyn-Davies A. (2021). The Compassionate CRIT: Applied empathy as catalyst for creative constructivism. The Open University, STEM for ALL series.
Glyn-Davies A.,Mahoney J. & Hawthorn M. (2021). The Uncertain Art School. ELIA Academy, International Conference for Art and Design Education, Brussels, Belgium.
RECENT ART & DESIGN PUBLICATIONS:
[2023] Exhibition: Marble of a Man. Format International, United Kingdom.
[2022] Exhibition: Performing Data. CMAC, University of Derby, United Kingdom.
[2022] Exhibition: Moj / Tvoj Istok. Format International, United Kingdom.
[2022] Exhibition: Belonging in Shifts. Artcore, Derby United Kingdom.
[2022] Exhibition: Moj/ Tvoj Istok. Direct Action Galleries, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
[2022] Exhibition: Moj/ Tvoj Istok. Surface Gallery, Abstract, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
[2022] Exhibition: Moj/ Tvoj Istok. Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, CICA, South Korea.
[2021] Exhibition: Cymatic Habitats. SoHo and Brooklyn Art Walk, New York, United States.
[2020] Exhibition: Cymatic Habitats. National Parks Peak District, United Kingdom.
[2019] Exhibition: Cymatic Habitats. Markeaton Park, Arts and Crafts Village, Derby, UK.
[2018] Exhibition: Urban Portraits. The Quad Gallery, Derby, United Kingdom.