School staff
Dr Elaine Williams
Research Associate
Tel +44 (0)1509 228816
Email e.y.williams2@lboro.ac.uk
Location LDS 1.20
Personal profile
I have a BA (2005) and DPS (2004) in Industrial Design and Technology, and a PhD in IndustrialDesign (2010), from Loughborough University. My interest area for my PhD was in user-product interaction with public convenience sanitaryware products and how users’ emotions and abilities affect product interaction.
Following my Undergraduate studies I began researching towards a Ph.D., which I was awarded in 2010. My interest area was in user-product interaction with public convenience sanitaryware products and how users' emotions and abilities affect how the users choose to interact and use products.
My interests in inclusive design developed through researching and conducting investigations for my Ph.D, as well as my previous job at the Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge where I was involved with developing methods for accurately calculating exclusion of product and service use, through the employment of exclusion audits. I also worked with the development of impairment simulator software and hardware.
Presently I am working for the New Dynamics of Ageing (NDA) project. I am examining the ways in which design impacts on workability and am focussing on the role of good design and ergonomics in healthy working.
Research
I am working with Dr. Diane Gyi on a New Dynamics of Ageing project called 'Working Late' and is part of the Working Late network.
This four year collaborative research project is supported by the New Dynamics of Ageing programme which is funded by the AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and MRC. The Working Late project involves evaluating existing occupational health strategies and developing creative and innovative interventions aimed at maintaining the health and workability of the older worker.
The findings will be used to create an online resource called OWL (Organiser for Working Late) which will help employers to understand how best to support employees in productively 'working late'.
Featured publications
- Waller, S.D., Williams, E.Y., Langdon, P.M. & Clarkson, P.J. 2010, "Quantifying Exclusion for Tasks Related to Product Interaction" in Designing Inclusive Interactions, eds. P.M. Langdon, P.J. Clarkson & P. Robinson, Springer, London, pp. 57-68.
- Waller, S.D., Williams, E.Y., Langdon, P.M. & Clarkson, P.J. 2010, "Understanding the Co-occurrence of Ability Loss" in Designing Inclusive Interactions, eds. P.M. Langdon, P.J. Clarkson & P. Robinson, Springer, London, pp. 35-44.
- Williams E. Y. 2000, "User-Product Interaction: Users and the Design of Public Convenience Sanitaryware in the UK" Doctoral Thesis, Department of Design and Technology, Loughborough University, UK.
- Williams E, Bhamra T. 2007. The Product Design of Public Use Sanitaryware Products in the UK and how this affects the Users with Specific Reference to Age, Gender and Religion World Toilet Summit 2007, New Delhi, India. 31st October to 3rd November 2007.