Caoimhe Mc Mahon

BDes, MSc

Assistant Lecturer

Interests include research through design, the theory and practice of prototyping, the role of designed objects in research, sustainable design research in industrial practice, design and disability, and co-design.


Caoimhe is a designer researcher and lecturer who has worked in industry and academia in Ireland, the UK and Europe. Highlights have included designing equipment for children and young adults with special postural needs for James Leckey Design, and undertaking a design research project on the topic of older people and games with Intel Ireland. She currently lectures in Product Design, and is completing a PhD which explores how practicing design teams evaluate medium-fine prototypes in the wild.


The majority of my work to date has applied research through design methodologies to examine the theory and practice of product design, particularly focusing on prototyping and prototype evaluation at the later stages of the design process. This research also examined how design research methods can be sustainably embedded in practicing design teams. Co-design and the role of the user and the designed object in design practice have also been key in my research practice.


Mc Mahon, C. Back to school: contextual inquiry and design for learning published in Cumulus Working Papers 31/13: More for Less – Design in an Age of Austerity, NCAD, Dublin, 2013, ISBN 978-952-60-0065-7

Milton, A. and McMahon, C. Moving Education: a design led exploration of the impact of movement in the learning environment published in Consilience and Innovation in Design Proceedings and Program, IASDR, Tokyo, Japan 2013, ISBN 978-4-9980776-3-3 C3072

Milton, A., McMahon, C. & Dennehy, S. Task Furniture in Education: design, science and industry creating solutions to support 21st century learning published in Design Education – Growing our Future, Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, EPDE, Dublin 2013, ISBN 978-1904670421


Conferences, Presentations & Workshops

09.2015 ‘Design for Movement’ | Workshop | ID2015 | Dublin Castle, Dublin.

06.2015 ‘Where’s the fun in Design Research’ | Presentation with Dr. Marcus Hanratty | ‘Fault Lines’ – Bridging Knowledge Spaces Conference | designCORE, Institute of Technology Carlow.

11.2014 ‘Making, Looking, Listening: using research through design to generate and evaluate Task Furniture for Education prototypes’ | Presentation | PhD by Design Conference | Goldsmiths University of London.

09.2014 ‘Design Ethnography: A Product Designer’s Perspective’ | Presentation & Workshop | MSc in Design Innovation | NUI Maynooth.

04.2014 ‘The Shoestring Challenge: Reinventing the Product Design studio on a budget’ | Academic Workshop with Emma Creighton | Cumulus conference | NCAD, Dublin.

05.2013 ‘Task Furniture in Education - Supporting well-being in the learning environment’ | Presentation | Child 2025, European Child Health Conference | DCU, Dublin.

03.2012 & 03.2013 ‘Design Learning in Practice’ | Presentation & Workshop with Emma Creighton | Spaces for Learning module, MAVA | NCAD, Dublin.

01.2012 ‘Design and Thinking’ | Workshop with Emma Creighton | ESAD, Porto, Portugal.

12.2011 ‘Hedge School Dublin as Action Research’ | Talk with Emma Creighton | GradCAM Epistemic Practices | NCAD, Dublin.

11.2011 Hedge School Dublin | Workshop with Emma Creighton & Ré Dubhthaigh | Innovation Dublin | Workshop | NCAD Gallery, Dublin. 

11.2011 ‘The Education Revolution needs you’ | Presentation with Emma Creighton | IXDA Defuse: Design for Use | Sugar