People

Ian Gwilt is a Professor of Design and Visual Communication at Sheffield Hallam University. He holds a Phd from the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales, examining the theory and practice of mixed-reality art. He also has an MA in Interactive Multimedia, conferred by the University of Balears(UIB) in Spain, and the Royal College of Art (RCA) London and a BA Hons in Communication Design from Manchester Metropolitan University. In addition to a number of years working in the field of visual communication design and visual communication design education he has shown interactive installations and digital work at a number of international new media events, galleries and exhibitions. His current practice/research is concerned with augmented reality and locative media, the graphical user interface as creative/cultural artefact, and exploring new forms and contexts for information design and post consumption visual communication forms.

Alaster's primary interests in research are threefold. Firstly, the understanding of how people access and use products, using technologies such as computational simulation, analytical analysis, force sensors and motion capture, along with other techniques such as video ethnography and qualitative interviews to analyse and understand this issue. The second strand is how this work can inform design thinking and conversely how design thinking can inform this work. As an engineer there's a lot to learn from the design community about what and how we generate our knowledge and data, and how it can be contstuctively used. Finally, he's interested in the application of numerical models and mathematical techniques to the solution of everyday problems. An example of this is developing research into the use of uncertainty principles to understand pain and discomfort.

Koutaro received a Bachelor of Art and Design (Zoukei) degree in 1993 from Musashio Art Univeristy, Tokyo, a Bachelor of Architecture (Constructional Engineering) degree in 1996 from Kanto Gakuin University (KGU), Yokahama, a Master of Engineering degree in Architecture in 1998 from KGU, and a Ph.D degree in 2010 from Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Ishikawa, in Social knowledge Science and Art and Design.
Since 2003, he has learned the Pottery Art apprentice under Masahiro Asukara, Ishikawa. From 2004 to 2006, he was involved in the Pottery and Ceramics Art program in Ishikawa Prefecture Ceramics (Kutani-Yaki) Educational Center. In 2007, he established Karuizawa Design Laboratory, Nagano. Since November 2011, he has been a special researcher in JAIST.

Nick Dulake is a senior product designer at Design Futures. He has extensive experience in production design for industry, taking many products through from concept design to production, from one-off and low volume products to mass produced goods.His consultancy experience includes designing and developing products and managing new product development (NPD) projects across consumer, medical, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and industrial sectors for diverse clients - from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to major multinationals, including brands such as Gripple, Unilever, Panasonic, Spear and Jackson and JCB.
He has been involved Rand D fir sensor-rich wearable devices for the precise monitoring of body movements for the purpose of health and medication and electronic controllers to be used in hospitals by patients.