Jacob Buur
Professor
Denmark
buur@mci.sdu.dk

I am proud to be responsible for the IT Product Design programme. My background is in mechatronics engineering and design methods, and I have been designing user interaction with Danfoss for 10 years before I joined the Mads Clausen Institute.

My main interest is in how to design good IT products for people and how to create good design processes with people. I am very keen on Action Research, which means learning through experimenting with actual design projects in industry. And it is amazing how much you can still experiment and learn about designing!

On the side I have been movie making (from the time of editing tables and 16 mm strips all over the floor) and I play folk music (though not as much as before).

Wendy Gunn
Associate Professor
Scotland
gunn@mci.sdu.dk

Studying the interrelations between perception, creativity and skill, I am interested in how movements and gestures of skilled practice are connected to wyas of knowing. My doctoral research in social anthroplogy was concerned with architectural knowledge and changing technologies of contemporary architectural practice. My postdoctoral work (see www.abdn.ac.uk/creativityandpractice/) examined the ways in which storytelling, drawing and writing mediate the processes of situated learning.

Marcelle Stienstra
Assistant Professor
The Netherlands
marcelle@mci.sdu.dk
Marcelle's Research (opens new window)

Trained as an Industrial Design Engineer in the Netherlands, I've become interested in how people interact with artefacts, especially the gender aspect of that: do girls really find computers more fun when these are pink, or is that just sales talk? I believe that expressive and aesthetically pleasing interaction styles that bridge the virtual and physical world offer unexpected and non-stereotypical ways for people to engage in using electronic devices. I like to explore these directions by not only thinking about them, but also by building interaction concepts and trying them out with people. Besides that, I enjoy playing the violin, and reading Dutch & English literature.

Ben Matthews
Assistant Professor
Australia
matthews@mci.sdu.dk
Ben's Homepage (opens new window)

I was trained as a mechanical engineer at the University of Queensland in Australia. I've become fascinated with the creative work involved in applying knowledge from the "hard" sciences (physics, electronics etc.) to the design of new things. The leap from "what is" to "what could be" is a mysterious one, and understanding science hasn't really helped us understand the design process. So the focus of most of my work has been on the "softer," social aspects of designers' work in creating products and systems. I have an inexplicable fondness for abstract ideas, especially those found in philosophy and the sociology of knowledge. While this is arguably a virtue for my academic discourse, it often renders me an awkward socialite and mind-numbing conversationalist.

Jared Donovan
Research Assistant
Australia
jared@mci.sdu.dk

I was trained as a children's book illustrator at Griffith University and as a computer scientist at the University of Queensland in Australia. In my PhD research, I've been investigating the design of a gesture interface for the setting of the dental surgery. In my research, I am interested in the area of movement-based interaction. This is an approach to interaction design that takes the movements of the people who use technology as a central point of interest. This kind of research involves questions such as: * Can we treat movement as a design material? * Can we find ways to engage design participants in exploring movements for design? * What role to movements and gestures play in current interaction settings? * How could technologies be more responsive to people's abilities for movement?

Chris Heape
Senior Researcher
England
chris@mci.sdu.dk

I was originally trained as a fine arts painter and then as an industrial designer. I have extensive design experience with my own firm and as an employee of the User Centred Design group at Danfoss A/S. I am now a senior researcher at MCI and my area of research is "design learning" in both educational and professional design contexts.

Brendon Clark
Post Doc
USA
brendon@mci.sdu.dk

I came to MCI in 2002 as a research assistant trained in applied anthropology (MA from Northern Arizona University). I previously worked as a practitioner in community development and disaster relief projects in Bolivia. Here, like there, I focus on awakening people‚s voices during the design process. My fascination lies in how we influence, and are influenced by, the social activities we take part in. My recently completed PhD dissertation draws on dramaturgy and performance theory to create a framework for planning and analyzing design events that makes central the format of the activity, how the people and materials are prepared to participate, and how their participation prepares them for future activities. I am thrilled by kitesurfing and calmed by fishing. Or is it the other way around?

Mads Vedel Jensen
Post Doc
Denmark
mads@mci.sdu.dk

Originally educated as a potter and with a colorful rag rug of experience from jobs in many different areas, I crowned my bachelor in Industrial Design with a Cand.IT from The Mads Clausen Institute. I recently handed in PhD thesis with the title Tangible Interaction in Industrial Plants. This draws a clear line back to my first education, the pottery, with the extensive use of all the things we can do with our hands, things that often are neglected in the development of technological products. In my spare time I enjoy working in and around my little green house in Egernsund.

Kyle Kilbourn
Ph.D. Student
USA
kyle@mci.sdu.dk

My work experience ncludes working as a web designer for a large hospital and clinic organization, which worked out perfectly as I have created my own bachelor degree in biology and scientifc communication at the University of Minnesota, USA. I have recently completed the IT Product Design course and experience the disorientation of a new city. I also enjoy rollerblading and playing volleyball.

Larisa Sitorus
Ph.D. Student
Indonesia
larisa@mci.sdu.dk

Having the rocky paths of the Highlands in Papua as my hometown, high mountains and less travelled trails have always become inspirations for me. I stayed four years around the area of Vermont, where I attented Middlebury College and studied Economics. Though my main focus was on issues in economic developments and fair trade, I also discovered my interest in new areas such as cultural anthropology, architecture, studio art, steel drumming and gumboot dance. My B.A. in Economics became a passport for an internship, where I sharpened my web design skills. After that I studied IT Product Design, now pursuing a PhD that deals with user involvement in the design process and Configuration as the main theme.

Mette Mark Larsen
Ph.D. Student
Denmark
metteml@mci.sdu.dk

After having completed the Bachelor of Science in International Management, just south of the border in Flensburg, I found my way to the IT Product Design Master. I believe that products may have strong effect on our everyday life, work practice and in general social behaviour. Therefore I specifically am interested in how User Centred Design and the notion of tangibility in product interfaces can support us as social human beings, rather than us being forced to understand the technology behind the product and adapt accordingly. My Ph.D. research is on User-Driven Innovation.

Willem Horst
Ph.D. Student
The Netherlands

Soon after I started my Bachelor in Industrial Design in the Netherlands, I visited the ITPD programme in Sønderborg. What started off as an exchange evolved to something more lasting, and from that point on I have been moving back and forth between the Netherlands and Denmark, which has truly become a second home - and just starting my PhD in the area of Skilled Innovation, it will be my home for several years to come. In my work I like to combine very practical work with more abstract underlying concepts. In my spare time I like to play the piano or hang out with friends.

Mark Asboe
Ph.D. Student
Denmark

M.Sc. in IT Product Design & B.A. in anthropology & organizational studies. My primary research interest is the challenge of adapting and implementing user-centred design and user-driven innovation approaches to small & medium sized enterprises (SMEs). I did my master thesis in collaboration with Focon Electronic Systems, Sønderborg with a particular focus on the organizational issues arising from engaging in user-driven innovation.

Sarah Matthews
Design Skills Tutor
Australia

I'm an Industrial Designer, educated at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia. I spent several years designing play equipment for a design and manufacturing outfit in Melbourne before doing a Graduate Diploma (also in industrial design) at the Queensland University of Technology. I have spent the last few years since then designing architectural and commercial lighting for Intralux Australia.

Rune Wulff Christensen
Course Coordinator
Denmark
rune@mci.sdu.dk

I am an cand. it in IT, organization and communication, educated in Århus and my BA is in Nordic literature and language from SDU in Odense. I am interested in communication and organizational processes and I enjoy working with these topics every day. When I'm not working at ITPD I like to cook, read, play football and to free my inner nature boy and get out and enjoy the nature.