Our Approach

I initiated the Positive Technology Lab at Carleton University in 2023 as both a physical space and a digital platform. The School of Industrial Design (SID) tasked me with establishing a lab that not only addressed contemporary design domains but actively contributed to the school’s curriculum renewal process. The goal was to create a space that brought together faculty, students, and industry to explore how design, making, and experience-driven research can improve people’s lives, health, and emotional well-being.

The lab was conceived through extensive research and benchmarking of similar initiatives at leading institutions such as Cornell University, TU Delft, and EAFIT University. These references helped shape the lab not only in terms of infrastructure and equipment, but also in relation to its strategic positioning within the School and the Faculty, supporting teaching, research, and outreach in an integrated way.

With initial funding sourced from internal SID allocations and my own research budget, I developed the physical lab space over the course of seven months. The lab was intentionally designed to support three essential stages of the design process: (1) concept generation, (2) rapid prototyping, and (3) user inquiry. To facilitate these activities, the space was equipped with adaptable, creativity-driven infrastructure, including dry-erase walls for spontaneous ideation, dynamic tables with adjustable height, flip boards, writable surfaces, and integrated power outlets. Mobile chairs enabled flexible group configurations and fluid discussion.

The lab also included ready-to-use ideation tools such as probes, craft supplies, drawing materials, modular storage, a large display for collaborative critique, Arduino boards for interactive prototyping, and an HTC Vive VR system with a high-performance computer, supporting the broader vision of incorporating VR/AR into experiential design and prototyping.

The lab began welcoming students and initiated a collaboration with the HealthVisFuture Lab, led by Dr. Fateme Rajabiyazdi. However, after only a few months of official operation within the School of Industrial Design, and just as it was beginning to engage a wider Carleton community, a faculty-wide space reallocation initiative required the suspension of its physical operations.

While this was an unexpected turn, it led to the strengthening of the lab’s digital identity. The Positive Technology Lab now functions as an online platform, renovated to comply with Carleton’s Responsible Conduct of Research Policy and current accessibility and readability standards, to disseminate ongoing research, student projects, and collaborative initiatives. The lab continues to evolve as a shared knowledge space, even as we await the resolution of physical space availability on campus.

Vision

To advance research and design practices that promote well-being, empathy, and social resilience through human-centred and ethically grounded solutions.

Mission

• To serve as an interdisciplinary platform connecting students, faculty, and community partners in co-creating design interventions.
• To lead and support research projects that explore the relationship between design and everyday human experiences.
• To embed experiential prototyping, responsible innovation, and critical reflection into the educational environment at SID.
• To amplify emerging topics in HCI and design.

Areas of Intervention

The Positive Technology Lab supports diverse applications of human-centred design, grounded in eight primary areas of inquiry, based on SID faculty research of interest:

• Health Technology (eHealth, telemedicine)
• Virtual Reality
• Participatory Design
• Mobile Technology (applications for well-being and self-reflection)
• Psychological Well-being and Emotional Design
• Responsible Consumption
• Retail and Service Experience Design
• Resilience and Community Empowerment
• Education and Learning Technologies
• Workplace Experience and Organizational Design

Future Research Interests and Directions

In the coming five years, I want to expand my research trajectory anchored by Data Humanism as a foundational lens, deeply aligned with Carleton University’s Strategic Integrated Plan (2020–2025), which emphasizes the role of research in shaping the future, serving both local and global communities, and promoting sustainability and wellness across domains. My intent is to continue shaping socio-technical interventions that foreground users’ lived realities, especially those from underrepresented populations, while advancing theoretical and methodological contributions in the fields of HCI, UX, and Human-Centred Design (HCD). My experience in the design of technological solutions for the Global South and my continuing collaboration with the Panamerican Health Organization (PAHO), and the TDR (Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases), will open opportunities for collaboration and expansion of my research program.