Staff
Head of the Design for All Research Group
Gill Whitney MIET, MSc, BSc, CEng, FRSA
Gill is Chair of the European Design-for-all and Assistive Technology Standardisation Co-ordination Group (DATSCG, a working group of the ICT standards group), and is a member of the Design for All Working Group of ANEC (the European Association for the co-ordination of consumer representation in standardisation). Gill Whitney worked for the Royal National Institute for the Blind for 13 years as a researcher and a research manager. For the last five years she has continued to be active in Design for All Research at Middlesex University. She is chair of the European Design-for-all and Assistive Technology Standardisation Co-ordination Group (DATSCG - a working group of the ICT standards board).
Gill is a member of the DTI’s `eInclusion Working Group’. Where she is involved in contributing to the EU eInclusion Work including providing input to the Commission Strategy on eInclusion to be published in 2nd half of 2008. In addition she a member of the DTI’s UK Disability and e-Accessibility Working Group which has been set up to assist the DTI with providing information on solutions and provisions within the e-accessibility area with respect to the review the European Commission is carrying out of the legislative framework for Electronic Communications.
Executive committee of Design for All Research Group
Judy Wilson BSc MBCS
Judy is Learning & Teaching Strategy Leader in the School of Computing Science at Middlesex University. Her interest is in how people think and learn and how technology can support this. She is currently undertaking a PhD investigating the potential for computer navigation systems to support internal human processes for developing a mental model in a navigational context. Such representations are referred to as cognitive maps and are by definition instantly applicable and useful but also incomplete and inaccurate.
Suzette Keith MSc, FErgs
Suzette is a Research Fellow in the School of Computing Science at Middlesex University. Currently she is Co-Investigator to a SPARC funded research project on the needs and wants of older car drivers. This is an interdisciplinary project between product design and computing science and has set up a user panel of over 200 drivers aged between the ages of 50 and 90 to help support a participatory design process. She has interests in improving usability and accessibility of information communications technologies and relevance of the content.
Mike Bradley MSc
Mike worked for 10 years at the Ford Motor Company, and was for 5 of those years Head of Human Factors. He is Principal Investigator for the project 'An investigation into the advanced technology desires, needs and requirements of older drivers' funded by EPSRC/BBSRC SPARC. He is a Senior Lecturer in Product Design and Engineering at Middlesex University, and is Programme Leader for the BSc Engineering Product Design course.
Research community
The Group welcomes the participation of research active staff from the School of Computer Science and from Product Design and Engineering. Interdisciplinary collaborative links are encouraged from within and outside Middlesex University.
It has an ongoing relationship with many professionals in the field including:
- Sue Hewer, Head of Design, RSA
- Professor Peter Lansley, Director, SPARC - Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity
- Professor Alan Newell, academic leader of the Queen Mother Research Centre for Information Technology to Support Older People, University of Dundee
The Group has good and regular contacts (via EDeAN and its research and policy work) with representatives of the user community. In addition the Group maintains a list of approximately 200 local older people who are willing to participate with us in research.
