A Development project to determine and progress the 'state of the Art' of Design theory and Practice in healthcare

We welcome the AHRC's identification of Design as a strategic priority. The Art and Design research centre at Sheffield Hallam University has a rich tradition of design research and practice spanning over 20 years. Over the last 5 years this expertise has been brought to bear on the complex and hitherto untapped potential of design in Health and social care.

This critical mass of work has been centred around two specific collaborations within the research centre. Firstly Lab4Living, which is a partnership between researchers in health and design, between practitioners and designers and, most importantly between individuals who use products and services and the designers of these (www.lab4living.org.uk). Secondly the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) funded User-centred Healthcare Design (UCHD). UCHD is another multidisciplinary project specifically exploring the use of design theory and practice in healthcare (www.uchd.org.uk).

These collaborations have resulted in the International Design4Health conference being held in 2011 and 2013 (http://www.design4health.org.uk/)

This conference and associated activities have provided an excellent focus for the discussion around the translation of design research into healthcare and have linked business, university and third sectors around a bewildering array of projects. The conversations around the key challenges for this area of design have started in this forum, but the AHRC funding would allow a literature review and a series of seminars to explore the key themes identified at the close of the last conference, namely:

Languages of evaluation across design and health projects
How to articulate Design's unique contribution to the field of healthcare innovation
The range of modes of engagement with health care that designers can have

The first stage of the proposed project would be to commission a comprehensive literature review to determine the range and amount of activity already underway in the UK and internationally in design for health. This would provide a sound evidence base for the second phase of the work.

The conference steering committee already has excellent representation from across the UK design academic landscape, who alongside those with experience of Healthcare and Health research, would be able to start to frame and then answer the questions, and ground the answers in the practical experience of delivering projects.

The latter part of the project will translate the outputs of the literature review and workshops into an engaging digital form of dissemination

All of these activities will have a natural outlet in the Design4Health conference 2015.

As the AHRC's call describes the range of beneficiaries of such work is broad, and in health and social care it is broader still as we look at the potential benefit to service delivery and patient experience.

The work showcased by the unique Design4Health conference has the potential to inform both policy and practice. There are unique challenges for healthcare and design is often sighted as having the potential to offer up the radical solutions required to address these needs. Where there is less written is around the actual practicalities of how to work in this challenging environment.

This proposal will determine the 'state of the art' of design in health. It will identify from peer-reviewed literature the areas where there is a critical mass of research and highlight areas where further research is required. By engaging those at the cutting edge of design research practice we will be able to critically frame the questions realised by the literature review and propose the research questions that will move the discipline forward.