Innovations in Co-Design: Dr Aaron Davis @ Stroke Society of Australasia Conference

Dr Aaron Davis recently presented at the Stroke Society of Australasia (SSA) Conference on innovations in co-design intervention, development, and engagement. The presentation focused on three main themes:

• Why online or face-to-face shouldn’t be the first question

• Unpacking when and how much to engage

• Capturing the social value of participation

Figure 1: Dr Aaron Davis presenting at the Stroke Society of Australasia Conference

NOVELL Redesign has been an important part of the development of co-design practice globally, and the explorations we have been doing together are informing new models of establishing and conducting interdisciplinary and end-user engaged research. A key part of the presentation was exploring the ways in which a blended assemblage of processes can facilitate the participation of different types of people with different participation requirements. Essentially, this is about looking at the image below, and planning out a process that brings together multiple approaches across these different categories to ensure all of our co-researchers have the ability to participate, regardless of time pressures, geography, or physical or cognitive challenges.

Figure 2: A spatiotemporal mapping of co-design (Davis et al., 2021)

For our community of Stroke Survivors that have been engaged in the project so far, this has meant starting with their needs, and designing processes for working together that enable their participation. We of course don’t always get it right, but we’re enjoying learning and sharing the lessons of this engagement as we go along.

You can read more about these approaches in two publications Aaron co-authored following the NOVELL Workshop Series during Phase 1 of the Project. The first is a paper titled Low-Contact Co-Design: Considering more flexible spatiotemporal models for the co-design workshop and the second a book chapter titled COVID co-design does not *HAVE* to be digital!: Why ‘which platform should we use?’ should not be your first question. These publications introduce the spatiotemporal mapping process as a way of enhancing engagement practices as well as considering how co-design can continue to take place when physical proximity is not possible. The paper describes methods that have been developed through the NOVELL project and provides an overarching structure for planning and carrying out engagement within living labs. The book chapter focuses on the experience of NOVELL as part of a transition to new ways of working in living labs and co-design in response to COVID-19.

NOVELL Members can access both publications via our resources section.