Carlos Peralta Mahecha

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Dr Carlos Peralta PhD (Cantab)

Senior Lecturer

Summary

Carlos joined SHU as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art & Design coming from the University of Brighton in 2021. He is an award-winning designer, researcher and educator with a product design background. His main research interest is centred on design for health and on interdisciplinary collaboration, especially between designers and scientists. His other research interests include service design, system thinking and complexity, user-centred design, and design for society. He pursues both theoretical and practice-based design research.

Peralta Mahecha, Carlos

About

I am the MA in Design for Health & Wellbeing course leader and the collaborative Course leader of the Product Design programme at the SHU/Hong Kong Design Institute. I am also the module leader of the Advanced Design Principles module at Product Design and teaches across modules in the BA (Hons) Product Design Course.

I hold an MA in Product Design from Domus Academy (Milan) and completed my PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2013 with a research project examining collaboration between designers and scientists in the context of scientific research. After graduating with a BA in Product Design in 1987 and practising design as a consultant and entrepreneur in commercial and industrial environments for several years, I started my teaching career as a design lecturer at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia.

I then taught product design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (CSM) and the Glasgow School of Art, where I became the head of its BDes/MEDes in Product Design. My work at GSA, where I integrated social sciences research methods into the product design curriculum and expanded its scope towards services design, earned me recognition from the Design Week magazine as one of the "Hot Fifty" in design in 2007.

Before Joining SHU, I worked at the University of Brighton teaching at the BA Design Futures, the BA in Design and Craft and the BA in Product Design. I also taught at the MA Innovation Management in CSM's. At Brighton, I created and led the Design for Ideology (DfI) Studio for Level 5 and 6 product design students. This studio encouraged students to reflect on the design ethical implications of their ideological stance within social and productive contexts. My research focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration, service design and design for health.

After completing my PhD in 2013, I held a post-doctoral position at Aalto University in Helsinki in 2016-17. I was part of the DWoC (Design Driven Value Chains in the World of Cellulose) project funded by the Finish Government (TEKES and VVT), investigating collaboration between designers and scientists in the context of materials development. On my return from Finland, I collaborated with clinicians and researchers from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School and the Martin Fisher Foundation in projects about HIV transmission and the de-stigmatisation and well-being of people living with HIV. Public Health England and ViiV Healthcare funded these projects.

Subsequently, my team and I received the BMJ (British Medical Journal) innovation award in 2018 for the development of an HIV self-test kit vending machine and its linkage to care services. In 2019, I received the "Beyond Bauhaus, Prototyping the Future" design award for the "Moss Table" project, developed in collaboration with colleagues from the Plant Science and Biochemistry Department and the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) from the University of Cambridge. This award commemorates the 100 years of the Bauhaus. They selected my work from 1500 worldwide entries. I am willing to supervise PhD projects in design for health, interdisciplinary collaboration, design for society and service design.

Senior Lecturer

Teaching

Department of Art and Design

College of Social Sciences and Arts

  • BA (Hons) Product Design
  • MA Design for Health & Wellbeing

  • Advanced Design Principle
  • Professional Design Practice
  • Graduation Design Portfolio

Research

Research interest:

  • Design interdisciplinary collaboration
  • Design for Health
  • Design for society
  • Service Design

  • Design research projects for the prevention of HIV transmission and de-stigmatization of people living with HIV. The University of Brighton and the Brighton and Sussex Medical hospitals, 2017-18

https://research.shu.ac.uk/design4health/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/605.pdf

  • Project for the delivery of HIV self-testing kits via Vending Machines and linkage to Health care services (BMJ 2018 Innovation Award)

https://themartinfisherfoundation.org/british-medical-journal-awards-2018/

  • The Moss Table, Winner of the Beyond Bauhaus, Prototyping the Future design award, 2019 Part of the doctoral project of Carlos Peralta, University of Cambridge, Institute for Manufacturing. Collaboration between Designers and Scientists in the context of Scientific Research, University of Cambridge (2013)

https://land-der-ideen.de/en/competitions/beyond-bauhaus/award-winners/the-moss-table https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245056.

  • Collaboration between designers and scientists in the context of Material Development. Design-Driven Value chains in the world of Cellulose (DWoC) project (Phase II) Tekes, VTT, Allto University, Tampere University and the University of Vaasa, Finland 2015-18

https://cellulosefromfinland.fi/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DWoC_Loppuraportti_FINAL_s%C3%A4hk%C3%B6inen.pdf

Publications

Journal articles

Kaneko, N., Sherriff, N., Takaku, M., Vera, J.H., Peralta Mahecha, C., Iwahashi, K., ... Mirandola, M. (2022). Increasing access to HIV testing for men who have sex with men in Japan using digital vending machine technology. International Journal of STD & AIDS, 33 (7), 680-686. http://doi.org/10.1177/09564624221094965

Raffe, S., Pollard, A., Vera, J.H., Soni, S., Peralta, C., Rodriguez, L., ... Llewellyn, C.D. (2020). HIV self-tests for men who have sex with men, accessed via a digital vending machine: a qualitative study of acceptability. International Journal of STD & AIDS, 31 (5), 420-425. http://doi.org/10.1177/0956462419890726

Vera, J.H., Soni, S., Pollard, A., Llewellyn, C., Peralta, C., Rodriguez, L., & Dean, G. (2019). Acceptability and feasibility of using digital vending machines to deliver HIV self-tests to men who have sex with men. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 95 (8), 557-561. http://doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2018-053857

Härkäsalmi, T., Lehmonen, J., Itälä, J., Peralta, C., Siljander, S., & Ketoja, J.A. (2017). Design-driven integrated development of technical and perceptual qualities in foam-formed cellulose fibre materials. Cellulose, 24 (11), 5053-5068. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-017-1484-6

Driver, A., Peralta Mahecha, C., & Moultrie, J. (2011). Exploring how industrial designers can contribute to scientific research. International Journal of Design, 5 (1), 17-28. http://www.ijdesign.org/index.php/IJDesign/article/view/834/326

Rodriguez, L., & Peralta, C. (n.d.). From Product to Service Design: A Thinking Paradigm Shift. FormAkademisk - forskningstidsskrift for design og designdidaktikk, 7 (3). http://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.801

Conference papers

Peralta Mahecha, C., Rodriguez, L., Vera, J., & Gillian, D. (2018). Valuing the design process in HIV prevention, diagnosis and stigma. In Design 4 Health, Sheffield, UK, 4 September 2018 - 6 September 2018 (pp. 139-152). Sheffield Hallam University: https://research.shu.ac.uk/design4health/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/D4H2018-Proceedings-Vol2.pdf

Peralta Mahecha, C., Pollard, A., Dean, G., Soni, S., Llewellyn, C., & Rodriguez, L. (2018). EVALUATION OF TARGETED HIV SELF-TEST KIT DISTRIBUTION VIA A DIGITAL VENDING MACHINE. In Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), Boston, Massachusetts, USA, (pp. 4-7). https://user-degqumh.cld.bz/CROI-2018-Abstract-eBook1/383/

Peralta Mahecha, C., Taylor, D., & Kermik, J. (2013). Designing Design Futures. In DesignEd Asia Conference, Hong Kong, 2013 - 2013. http://designedasia.com/2013/Full_Papers/A1_Designing%20Design%20Futures.pdf

Peralta Mahecha, C., Driver, A., & Moultrie, J. (2011). Design in Sciences: Case Studies. In 1st Cambridge Academic Management Conference, 7 September 2011 - 8 September 2011.

Peralta Mahecha, C., & Rodriguez, L. (2010). From Product to Service Design: A Thinking Paradigm Shift. In Sevaldson, B. (Ed.) Relating System Thinking & Design 2013 Symposium Conference, Oslo, Norway, 9 October 2013 - 11 October 2013.

Peralta Mahecha, C., Driver, A., & Moultrie, J. (2010). An Exploratory Study of Scientists’ Perceptions of Design and Designers. In Design and Complexity - DRS International Conference 2010, Montreal, 7 July 2010 - 9 July 2010. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2010/researchpapers/32/

Peralta Mahecha, C., Driver, A., & Moultrie, J. (2010). Discovery and Creation: Explaining Collaboration between Designers and Scientists in Scientific Research. In Durling, D. (Ed.) Design and Complexity - DRS International Conference 2010, 7 July 2010 - 9 July 2010. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2010/researchpapers/94/

Peralta Mahecha, C., & moultrie, J. (2010). Collaboration between designers and scientists in the context of scientific research: A literature review. In Marjanovic, D. (Ed.) The 11th International Design Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 17 May 2010 - 20 May 2010 (pp. 1643-1652).

Book chapters

Peralta Mahecha, C., Vera, J., Dean, G., Pollard, A., Soni, S., Llewellyn, C., & Rodriguez, L. (2018). Digital vending machine technology to distribute HIV self-tests to high-risk MSM populations in Brighton and Hove. In Compendium of Good Practices in the Health Sector Response to HIV in the WHO European Region. World Health Organization: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/342219/9789289053358-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Peralta Mahecha, C. (2017). Collaborative Material Research: Designers and scientists Working with Materials Development. In Kaariainen, P., & Tervinen, L. (Eds.) Lost in the Wood(s): The New Biomateriality in Finland. Aalto Art Books

Books

Driver, A., Peralta, C., & Moultrie, J. (2012). Design in Science Exploring how Industrial Designers Can Contribute to Scientific Research. University of Cambridge. Institute of Manufacturin.

Reports

Kataja, K., & Kaariainen, P. (2018). A Case Study of Designers and Scientists Collaborating in Materials Research in Designing cellulose for the future: Design-driven value chains in the world of cellulose (DWoC) 2013-2018. VTT.

Theses / Dissertations

Peralta Mahecha, C. (2013). Collaboration between designers and scientists in the context of scientific research. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Moultrie, J. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245056

Artefacts

Peralta Mahecha, C., Driver, A., & Bombelli, P. (2011). Moss Table. [Acrylic/Wooden Aglomerate/Carbon Fiber/Moss/ Other]. UK. https://www.facebook.com/MossTable/

Other publications

Peralta Mahecha, C., Pilarski, N., Rodriguez, L., Dean, G., Soni, S., Llewellyn, C., & Vera, J. (2017). P078 User participation in the development of HIV self-testing services: results of co-design workshops. Britsh Medical Journal (BMJ): https://sti.bmj.com/content/93/Suppl_1/A42.2#article-bottom

Postgraduate supervision

Areas of supervision:

  • Design interdisciplinary collaboration
  • Design for Health
  • Design for society
  • Service Design

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