Dr Debbie Maxwell

University of York

Debbie is a lecturer in User Experience Design and Interactive Media at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television. Her background spans computing, HCI and Design and she currently teaches user experience (UX) design and design methods and critical design on the BSc Interactive Media programme.

Her research focuses on the roles of traditional storytelling and engagement in digital contexts. I’m interested in the ways that people interact with and reshape technology through stories, as both method and artefacts, and across media. She is particularly focuses on applying design and stories across health and wellbeing and environmental design drawing on speculative design processes and approaches. 

Debbie uses interdisciplinary approaches that draw on a range of fields including Human Computer Interaction (HCI), ethnography, interaction design, social anthropology, and service design. Her research always involves working with communities using participatory methods.

She is particularly interested in supervising students with a design or HCI background on the following topics:

• design of applied games for environmental education or knowledge exchange 

• design and application of serious games to mental health and wellbeing contexts

• design and application of serious games to outdoor spaces, particularly cultural heritage settings

Research themes:

• Games with a Purpose

• User experience design

• Design methods and ethnography

• Speculative design