From engineering to inclusive design and back again - a virtuous circle

Prof. P. John CLARKSON, FREng, University of Cambridge

This talk will reflect on the presenter’s personal experience of acquiring the knowledge and skills of the systems engineer whilst working as a technology consultant and more recently as a researcher in engineering design. Through stories of firefighting, beer and micromorts he will explore the engineer’s world of systems design and risk. He will then describe his research journey of many years through inclusive design and healthcare design, illustrating the parallels experienced in exploring questions of design, systems and quality improvement. Finally, he will describe the relevance of the lessons learned to policy making, public health and, ultimately, engineering design.
 

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Prof. P. John CLARKSON

John is Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre and Professor of Healthcare Systems at Delft University of Technology. His research interests are in the general area of engineering design, particularly the development of design methodologies to support healthcare design and inclusive design. He is currently leading a team with the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal College of Physicians, The Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Academy of Medical Sciences to develop ‘Engineering Better Care’, a systems approach to health and care redesign and improvement, and an accompanying toolkit for ‘Improving Improvement’.