School staff
Dr Val Mitchell
Research Fellow
Tel +44 (0)1509 226967
Email v.a.mitchell@lboro.ac.uk
Location LDS 2.14
Personal profile
Val graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in Ergonomics after gaining a years work experience with an Ergonomics design consultancy in Stockholm Sweden.
After working as an ergonomist in the health service, Val joined Loughborough University as a researcher at HUSAT. Val has managed and worked on many research and consultancy projects particularly relating to the design of ICT and mobile communication product and services.
Val has over 15 years multidisciplinary research experience specialising in the development of User Centred Design (UCD) methodologies for eliciting user requirements for future technologies and services, in particular understanding user needs and requirements for mobile communication and other interactive products.
She is particularly interested in the communication of user needs and requirements to designers using scenarios and personas and the design of creative Participatory Design and Co-design methods for eliciting needs from users.
Current research interests focus on the use of ICT to promote sustainability both within the transport and domestic sectors. She was the lead human factors researcher in the Services Aggregation Trials for the DTI under 'The Application Homes Initiative' (TAHI).
She is currently a senior researcher on the EPSRC/E.On funded CALEBRE project which is investigating user behaviours and comfort relating to the implementation of energy saving technologies within the home. She is also a senior researcher on the EPSRC/DoT/TSB funded User Innovation project which is investigating how user driven innovation can be used to inform the design of sustainable transport and travel product and services.
She is Co I on the recently funded EPSRC LEEDR project which is seeking to reduce energy demand in homes through the innovative application of ICT.
Her PhD entitled: "Methods for exploring user needs for future mobile products and services." was conducted in collaboration with a major UK manufacturer of mobile communication technologies.
Teaching
10DSC022 Interaction Design and 10DSC118 Ergonomics of HCI.
Research
Research groups
- Sustainability School
- User Centred Design Research Group
- Active Travel Research Group
Principal research activities and interests
FITS 'Ideas in Transit' (2007-2012)
5-year project is one of 3 funded by the UK government initiative "Future Intelligent Transport Systems" which aims to address "the challenge of delivering better passenger and freight transport services while at the same time reducing negative environmental impacts especially the carbon footprint."
It is joint funded by EPSRC, the Department for Transport and the Technology Strategy Board. Partners are the University of the West of England, Ordnance Survey and Ito. The aim is to understand non-conventional (and particularly user-generated, bottom-up) sources of innovation which can improve the transport system in the UK. Val's research interest focuses on the development of user centred design methods to capture user needs relating to methods.
EPSRC/E.ON Consumer-Appealing Low Energy Technologies for Building Retrofitting CALEBRE (2008 - 2012)
CALEBRE, is developing technologies to improve the energy efficiency of solid-walled housing, particularly in the owner occupied market. Val's research interest within CALEBRE focuses upon the development of practice orientated User Centred Design tools and methods to capture the requirements of householders and for communicating these requirements to other project stakeholders.
Featured publications
- Probing User Values in the Smart Home Environment within a Technology Driven Smart Home Project. Haines, V. Mitchell, V., Cooper, C and Maguire, M. Journal of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, Special Issue: Pervasive Computing in the Domestic Space. July 2006 Springer London ISSN 1617-4909 (Print)
- Designing Interactive TV Services for Older Users. Mitchell, V., Nicolle, C., Maguire M and Boyle, H. Journal of Gerontechnology Jan 2007.