Hi there,

I’m a researcher, designer and artist. My interdisciplinary practice draws on a wide variety of media, methods and processes.

UXR, STRATEGY, LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

I specialise in cultural anthropology, social and cognitive psychology, human computer interaction, UX research, inclusive and ethical design, and data science for social good, working with the UK Government, private and not-for-profit organisations.

My background is in Human Computer Interaction (MSc – University College London – UCL) and Psychology (BSc – University of Westminster). Prior to that I studied MSc in Social Psychology at SWPS University (Poland), Game Design at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Finland), and Occupational Therapy at a medical college (Poland). Also, I earned a certificate in Buddhist Studies from the Asia-Africa Institute, University of Hamburg, Germany. My special interest was in Neuroscientific and Psychological Perspectives with Dr. Peter Malinowski (directs the Meditation Research Lab at LJMU’s Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour).

Together with 50 founders I was selected to take part in Zinc Mission 2 (2018/2019) to unlock new opportunities for people in places that have been hard-hit by globalisation and automation.

I have extensive experience devising and leading community-based social innovation projects i.e. MakeSense; I established an award winning voluntary organisation – Bepartofit Hub – to address some of the world’s largest social issues in an inclusive way by creating opportunities and implications of accessible technology to champion and support people with disabilities, hearing impairments, and mental health conditions.

The Grameen Creative Lab & Yunus Centre, Global Social Business Summit in Vienna, Austria – Young Challenger Meeting with Prof Yunus – Nobel Peace Prize Winner – microcredit (I was a member of the community representing Slovenia as a Young Social Innovation Lead).

My recent research at UCL (MSc in HCI) has centred on inclusive design education, accessibility technology, and maker or hack space movement. The project partners involve the Global Disability Innovation Hub and Extant Theatre. The project attained a distinction and I’m determined to further reflect upon the process and implement the research findings in practice involving an extended collaboration with the disability community and theatre sector. Project page: www.tinkerprop.com.

TinkerProp: Audio Gamification for Blind and Partially Sighted Novice Designers. Designed an app using AI and VUI (Voice User Interface) to enhance vocational training traditionally associated with needing sight. Further work and academic publication in progress.

ART EXPERIENCE

As an artist, I’m interested in immersive multimedia technology, theatre and film.

Most recently, I completed creative writing and directing courses at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Young Vic theatre. 

Creative Writing for Performance course delivered by Maddie Rice – known for her work on Fleabag (2016), Every Blank Ever (2018) and Handy (2019), and Tom Machell – an award-winning writer and actor, his latest short film A Spoonful won Best Short Script at the UK Film Festival, Los Angeles Motion Picture Film Festival and Changing Face International Film Festival, his debut play Ticker, was published by Play Dead Press and completed a run at the Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 to critical acclaim; and Core Directing Skills led by Katie Mitchell.

I’m also a founder of Other Symmetry (www upcoming) – an open project offering mixed-method research, tools and creative art and design explorations focused on the social, cultural, and ecological aspects of innovative technologies.

For example:

  • Other Symmetry’s theatre project devises music, movement, text based performance, and digital arts, bringing together theatre and technology to create a unique and poetic visual world in which artists, scientists, audience, and non-human entities meet between real and virtual.
  • And immersive game-based projects may address environmental hazards and health risks – https://theglobalwarninggame.tumblr.com

My collaborations are with multidisciplinary designers, artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs. I also work with non-human entities i.e., nature, bio-materials, robots etc., but also, technologies of existence.

Please check out the Art Projects page to find out more: https://magdalenajanowicz.com/art-projects/

My practice and approach are constantly evolving and most current interests focus around interfacing with breath, digital health and care in dementia, using multisensory aspects to enhance visually fixated conventional approach toward design, using VR/Haptics/Multimedia and digital storytelling technologies to design liveness and Mystical Type Experiences (MTEs), creation of new formats of theatrical experiences in a sustainable and innovative way using digital technologies and more-than-human design approaches, socio-emotional augmentation of interaction in VR using psychophysiology, bioart, multimedia, wise vs smart homes, post humanism, and social and data science. 

Other research interests include inclusive product design education for blind and partially sighted people, game-based learning, AI ethics in healthcare, wisdom and mental health, chatbots in mental health, affective interaction, loneliness vs solitude.

Thank you for your time looking through.

Contact: magdalena.maria.janowicz@gmail.com