Gender and design was the focus of a presentation delivered by the University of Leeds’ Dr Lisa-Dionne Morris who visited the Faculty of Informatics and Design recently.
The presentation was one of several activities Morris participated in while visiting CPUT as part of the Participatory Tools for Human Development with the Youth project.
The partners in the project are theUniversity of Lapland, the University of Leeds, PACO Design Collaborators, Italy, the Namibia University of Science and Technology, CPUT and the SA San Institute.
Lecturer Vikki Eriksson, said Morris, who is the Head of Industrial Design at the University of Leeds, had worked with CPUT students from all levels – first years to postgraduates – “to expand their horizons, to share practice and to inspire”.
“The real benefit of research projects is the ability to bring academics and professionals from all over the world into our studios and classrooms. Prof Morris, who recently engaged with students form the Faculty of Informatics and Design, embodies this. As the Head of Industrial Design, at the University of Leeds, Prof Morris provided postgraduate students with interesting discussion points and contributed to the growing scholarship with the design research field,” said Eriksson.
“The practical and ‘hand-on’ sessions with other students focused on learning through prototyping and play. Although the engagement was fun and interactive, the elements explored spoke to global, real-world challenges,” she added.
Asked what she had taken out of the experience Morris said: An understanding of the cultural differences and the significance of cultural differences and diversity when it comes to product development, to establish what the priorities are to different students and to different people.
