Donal Healion

B.Des (Hons), MSc Medical Device Design

Researcher

My research focuses on the discovery and incorporation of human factors into an empathetic design process in order to produce products, services and environments that function, sustain and delight.


Donal is a researcher in the Product Design Department and is Principal Investigator on the Enterprise Ireland supported Commercialisation Fund project “MicroFarm”. He previously conducted research on PELARS, an EU FP7 funded project concerning the development of a learning analytics system and environment for practice based learning in design and STEM education, and has published nationally and internationally on his research work.

Donal holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from NCAD. He has held senior design roles in the lighting, commercial interiors and luxury interiors sectors and won industry awards for both product and interior design. His interest in how design interacts with the human body led him to complete a Masters in Medical Device Design in NCAD in 2014. His particular area of research interest is human factors and their influence on the design of products, environments and services leading to more intuitive and satisfying user experiences.

While actively involved in research, Donal is also focused on the implementation of research outcomes and is engaged in innovation and commercialisation activity through Enterprise Ireland’s Funding to Commercialise Research programme. He developed and delivers the Creative Enterprise Summer Camp content as part of the NCAD Youth Art Programme and ran the “Liberties Den” Design Thinking Workshop for secondary school students as part of the Liberties Enterprise Day sponsored by Bank of Ireland as well as facilitating Design Thinking workshops for the RCSI and Dingle IoThon. Donal has also lectured in the Dublin Institute of Design on Product Design, Interior Design and AutoCad


Each of us brings a unique signature to every interaction with a product, service or environment based on our previous experiences, physiology, cognitive and emotional states. Donal is interested in the human factors that shape and affect the quality and outcome of these interactions. His research focuses on the discovery and incorporation of human factors into an empathetic design process in order to produce products, services and environments that function, sustain and delight.  

Donal’s main areas of research interest are Human Factors in Healthcare, Medical Device development, Multimodal Learning Analytics, Innovation and Commercialisation.


Healion, D. and Russell, S. (2015). PELARS: incorporating universal design principles in the development of a learning analytics system for STEM education. Universal Design in Education Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 12-13 November, 2015.

Healion, D. and Russell, S. (2016). The development of an evaluation methodology to assess the efficacy of a furniture design for STEM education. Iterations – Design Research and Practice Review, (4), pp. 24-31.

Healion, D., Russell, S., Cukurova, M. and Spikol, D. (2017). Tracing physical movement during practice-based learning through multimodal learning analytics. In: Proceedings of the Seventh International Learning Analytics & Knowledge Conference (LAK '17). New York, ACM, pp 588-589. DOI: 10.1145/3027385.3029474

Healion, D., Russell, S., Cukurova, M. and Spikol, D. (2017). Designing Spaces for Collaboration in Practice-Based Learning. In: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) 2017, Volume: 2, Philadelphia, International Society of the Learning Sciences. pp. 565-568. DOI: 10.22318/cscl2017.79

Healion, D., Russell, S., Valkanova, N. and Rovida, R. (2018)  PELARS: A Case Study of Collaborative Working in Transdisciplinary Teams, In: A. de la Garza and C. Travis, eds., The STEAM Revolution: Inter and Transdisciplinary Approaches to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. 1st ed. Springer, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-89818-6 


Healion, D. (2015) PELARS – A User-Centred Learning Analytics System for Design and STEM education. [Refereed Abstracts], Faultlines: Irish Design Research Conference, Institute of Technology, Carlow, Ireland. 04-Jun-15 – 05-Jun-15

Healion, D. (2015) PELARS – A User-Centred Learning Analytics System for STEM education. [Oral Presentation], Irish Human Computer Interaction Conference (iHCI), National College of Art & Design, Dublin, Ireland. 23-Oct-15

Healion, D. and Russell, S. (2015) PELARS - Incorporating Universal Design principles in the development of a Learning Analytics System for STEM education. [National Refereed Conference Paper], Universal Design in Education Conference (UDIEC), Dublin, Ireland, 12-Nov-15 – 13-Nov-15.

Healion, D. and Russell, S. (2015) PELARS – Practice-based Experiential Learning Analytics Research and Support. [Oral Presentation], IRC STEAM Interdisciplinary Research Workshop. Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, 9-Sep-16 – 10-Sep-16

Healion, D. (2015) Analyzing physical movement as a potential indicator of motivation and engagement in practice based learning. [Oral Presentation], Pedagogical Grounded Learning Analytics Design Workshop (PGLA) at European Conference on Technology-Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL), Jean Moulin University, Lyon, France. 13-Sep-16

Healion, D., Russell, S., Cukurova, M. and Spikol, D. (2017). Tracing physical movement during practice-based learning through multimodal learning analytics. [International Refereed Conference] Seventh International Learning Analytics & Knowledge Conference (LAK '17). Simon Fraser University,
Vancouver, Canada. 13-Mar-17 – 17-Mar-17

Healion, D., Russell, S., Cukurova, M. and Spikol, D. (2017). Designing Spaces for Collaboration in Practice-Based Learning. [International Refereed Conference] 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), Drexel University and The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. 18-Jun-17 – 22-Jun-17

Healion, D., O’Dowd, E., and Vallence, D. (2018). Developing a methodology for visualising Human Factors in Healthcare. [International Refereed Conference] Design Research Society (DRS), University of Limerick, Ireland. 25-Jun-18 - 28-Jun-18.


Sponsor: European Union (EU) Framework Programme 7
Title: Practice-based Experiential Learning Analytics Research And Support. (PELARS)
Start Date / End Date: Jan-14 / Jan-17
 

Sponsor: Enterprise Ireland (EI) Commercialisation Fund
Title: MicroFarm
Start Date / End Date: Jan-18 / Apr-19