Incorporating design strategies in the successful development of novel experimental equipment

Left-brain thinking tends to be analytical where superiority in maths and science can lead to successful careers in academic research. Right-brain thinking tends to be more intuitive and creative that, for example, reviews a broad range alternatives before deciding on a solution. Design tends towards right-brain thinking. A novel research program with evolutionary contributions to knowledge can be assisted by design thinking where a saturation of deep focused expertise can be disrupted, leading to a revolutionary contribution. Analogously, the inventor who focuses narrowly on the creation of a new idea can benefit from right-brain design thinking that can, for example, facilitate a broadened perspective. The development of experiments to test research hypotheses can also benefit from of design thinking. Various conceptual design tools can enable the researcher to maximise certainty that there is consistency between the various stages of a research program (aim, hypotheses, method and outcome – affirm or refute hypotheses), and in particular, the means by which the research hypothesis is tested (i.e. the experimental method). This presentation will offer two examples of the successful incorporation of design methods into research programs. Outcomes included: the trainee researcher had more clarity of the sought outcome of the program from the outset (i.e. affirm/refute original hypothesis); and, novel experimental equipment fulfilled their experimental objective on the first iteration (i.e. minimal iterative changes were required to the built equipment due to the exhaustive design effort, necessitated in part due to budget constraints). The two research programs were completed with the support of Professor Bruce Field and Dr Alan Smith, and are associated with the following PhD candidates who are now successfully traversing the words of academia, innovation and product development: Dr Paul Minty (https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulminty/) and Dr Israr Saeed (https://www.linkedin.com/in/israr-saeed/).

Speaker : Prof. Colin Burvill, University of Melbourne