Dr Mariana Fonseca Braga

Biography	I am a design researcher and educator interested in socially responsible design practices, education and research with the aim of contributing to building respectful, just and sustainable worlds. Within this research scope, I utilise design principles and methods for identifying and analysing communities’ tacit knowledge(s), challenges, strategies and actions to mitigate health and wellbeing problems and build upon their own ways of living healthier. Community-based resources in health and wellbeing are poorly (or not) documented although they contribute to preventing and tackling health challenges. My work aims to help the development of more effective, responsible and socially just solutions (e.g., public policies, services, systems, technologies) that meet especially the needs and respect the diversity of disadvantaged and underrepresented communities besides promoting equitable innovation in Public Health. Through my design practice and research, I have been building extensive industry and academic experience of developing and implementing transdisciplinary* innovation projects in different settings and cultural contexts in the Global South and North. *E.g., in collaboration with local communities, a comprehensive array of stakeholders from the private, not-for-profit and public sectors, and experts from different knowledge areas from academia and business.
Research Interests	Socially responsible design, collaborative design, community-based design, transdisciplinary design research.

Biography

I am a design researcher and educator interested in socially responsible design practices, education and research with the aim of contributing to building respectful, just and sustainable worlds. Within this research scope, I utilise design principles and methods for identifying and analysing communities’ tacit knowledge(s), challenges, strategies and actions to mitigate health and wellbeing problems and build upon their own ways of living healthier. Community-based resources in health and wellbeing are poorly (or not) documented although they contribute to preventing and tackling health challenges. My work aims to help the development of more effective, responsible and socially just solutions (e.g., public policies, services, systems, technologies) that meet especially the needs and respect the diversity of disadvantaged and underrepresented communities besides promoting equitable innovation in Public Health.

Through my design practice and research, I have been building extensive industry and academic experience of developing and implementing transdisciplinary* innovation projects in different settings and cultural contexts in the Global South and North.

*E.g., in collaboration with local communities, a comprehensive array of stakeholders from the private, not-for-profit and public sectors, and experts from different knowledge areas from academia and business.

Research Interests

Socially responsible design, collaborative design, community-based design, transdisciplinary design research.