Dr Laura Hay

Personal statement

Laura is a Lecturer in Product Design, with expertise spanning both product and engineering design. Her research explores the neurocognitive basis of design, with a long term vision focused on integrating the imagination with technology to provide more effective and intuitive tools for designers.

She has applied fMRI to study brain activity in design ideation, and investigates design cognition using a variety of quantitative and qualitative approaches. She currently supervises four PhD students working in the design cognition area. She collaborates closely with psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists, and leads an international Special Interest Group on Cognitive Design Science within the Design Society. She co-founded and edits the Research Notes collection on design research quality, is on the editorial advisory board at the International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, and is on the scientific committee for four international design conferences. In addition to design cognition and neural processing, she has interests in systems design and sustainability stemming from her PhD research.

Laura is a member of the EPSRC Early Career Forum in Manufacturing Research, and is passionate about raising the profile of Scottish and UK design internationally. She is committed to equipping the next generation of designers with the skills and mindset needed to tackle complex societal challenges. She teaches foundational product design, emotional design, form and aesthetics, and systems thinking, and has supervised over 50 student design and Masters research projects. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.