Research Through Design: Twenty-First Century Makers and Materialities

Abigail C. Durrant is co-guest editor of this special issue and is an associate professor and Leverhulme Fellow in the School of Design at Northumbria University, UK. Her research primarily explores the design of digital systems and services to support identity management and self-expression in a variety of contexts and cultures, and across the human lifespan. Abigail's fellowship work investigates how design research can deliver transferrable value within interdisciplinary teams. She was a submissions chair for the Research Through Design (RTD) Conference 2013, and general co-chair of Research Through Design 2015 with John Vines.

John Vines is co-guest editor of this special issue and professor in the School of Design at Northumbria University, UK. His research primarily focuses on the participatory design of digital technologies, with an emphasis on how digital tools and platforms might support social innovation, positive experiences in later life, and alternative models of social and community care. With Abigail Durrant he was general co-chair of the Research Through Design 2015 conference, and is a submissions chair for the 2017 edition of the conference.

Jayne Wallace is co-guest editor of this issue and reader in Craft Futures in the School of Design at Northumbria University. Her work spans digital craft, interaction design and Human-Computer Interaction, focusing on co-creative design practice and the development of physical-digital devices that have social and personal meaning to support well-being and a sense of self. She is co-founder (with Joyce Yee) of the Research Through Design conference series.

Joyce S. R. Yee is co-guest editor of this special issue and is an associate professor in Northumbria University's School of Design. Joyce's research focuses on the impact and value of design in social spaces and the epistemological and methodological implications of research through design. She is the co-founder of the Design for Social Innovation in Asia-Pacific network (DESIAP) with Yoko Akama, and established the Research Through Design (RTD) Conference with Jayne Wallace. She co-authored Design Transitions: Looking at How Design Practices are Changing and co-edited The Routledge Companion to Design Research.