Catharina Thiel Sandholdt, former guest ph.d. student at CODE defends her Ph.D dissertation at a public defense Friday, June 20th, 2018 at Experimentarium, Tuborg Havnevej 7, 2900 Hellerup.
The PhD-project explores ways of working with a participatory design approach in a science centre setting. The PhD-project was conducted as part of the collaborative exhibition development project PULSE, aiming to increase physical activity in families everyday-life. The objective of the PhD-project has been to explore methods for involving family visitors in the exhibition development process; specifically in relation to exhibits on health. To meet this objective, the project combines museum research, design research and health promotional research in the field of science education. The PhD study builds new bridges between topic and method and unfolds concrete challenges and benefits of a participatory approach in exhibition development processes at a science centre.
The project contributes to the field of out-of-school science by introducing new methods for exploring the links between the topic of a science centre exhibition and the perceptions and values of the intended visitors (end-users). Further, the thesis contributes to a conversation about how bringing together the knowledge and experiences of researchers and exhibition designers is a fruitful endeavour with much potential, but that it also presents some challenges due to differences in the ways researchers and designers approach the process.
The dissertation is available here: https://www.ind.ku.dk/begivenheder/2018/catharina-thiel-sandholt/V3_Can_a_Participatory_Approach-.pdf
Everyone is welcome
