Jan Fredrik Schønheyder forsvarer sin doktoravhandling "Method development for the design of safety-critical systems. The space between design research and professional design practice" for ph.d.-graden ved AHO fredag 14. juni.

Prøveforelesning kl. 09.00. The gap between HCI research and practice.
Disputasen starter kl. 10.30
 

Sammendrag

Design methods developed through research with the aim of supporting design practice are not always adopted by professional designers. Practitioners express that researchers do not address the problems of real-world practice, and that most research developed methods are irrelevant or inapplicable because of their failure to consider real-world constraints.
 
This industrial PhD thesis explores this problem from an insider’s perspective at Halogen, a Norwegian design company. Focusing on interaction and systems design, Halogen specializes in safety-critical systems, a field in which poor design might result in the loss of human lives or damage to the environment and the economy.
 
The contribution of this thesis falls into two categories: (1) It offers a theoretical framework for explaining how professional designers use design methods in an unfamiliar, high-risk domain. (2) It offers a mutual framework to help improve the relationship between design researchers and practitioners. Combined, the two contributions form new opportunities for research and practice to understand and improve methods for the design of safety-critical systems. 

Jan Fredrik Schønheyder (1976) is an industrial and interaction designer with more than ten years of experience in the domain of safety-critical systems. He is especially interested in simplifying information and function in interaction-heavy applications through conceptual and explorative user-centric approaches. Schønheyder earned a master´s degree in Industrial Design from The Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) in 2005.
 

Veileder

Kjetil Nordby, Institutt for design, AHO
 

Bedømmelseskomité

• Første opponent – Professor Erik Stolterman, Indiana University, USA

• Andre opponent – Professor Alma Leora Culén, University og Oslo (UiO), Norway

• Tredje medlem og koordinator – Professor Martina Maria Keitsch, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway