WMG’s design for life

Dr Rebecca Cain, Assistant Professor in Experiential Engineering with WMG at the University of Warwick has been awarded £1.3 million for a programme designed to engineer better medical environments.

She has been given a prestigious Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Fellowship through their Challenging Engineering award scheme.

The scheme places emphasis on the vision for new innovative research and on leadership. It is designed to challenge the research leaders of the future to be creative and ambitious in the early stages of their career.

Rebecca started the application process in March 2009 and finally found out that she had been successful in August 2010; it is the first fellowship that she has been in charge of. The £1 million grant should support the programme for five years but the team are planning to continue beyond this with further funding.

Cain said: “I think that hospital environments are the environments most in need of improvement, and I am really interested in how buildings and spaces make people feel. There is also a need for new research in this area.

“The key thing with my research is that it is all about how to involve users in the design process and I’m looking at new ways of engaging people in the design of their healthcare environments.”

The research will involve expertise from a wide range of engineering sectors including disciplines of design, architecture, anthropology, psychology, science, ICT and healthcare. It is providing the opportunity to test novel design approaches. The programme will mainly focus upon the physical properties of the hospital layout such as architecture, design, layout, colour, sound and how these combine to create a user experience within the hospital.

It is hoped that the design of the new environments will encourage privacy for patients so the relationships between them and medical staff can be greatly improved. Patients, staff, and decision makers will be involved throughout the process.

The new research team will be based in the Digital Lab at the University of Warwick and the programme is supported by the following partners: WMG; Arup; NHS West Midlands; Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust; Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust; Warwick Medical School; Edward Cullinan Architects; and Enprecis Inc.