Chris Speed

Chris’ research identity has been defined through his 10-year leadership of the (https://www.designinformatics.org/) Institute of Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Initiated in 2012 as a collaboration between the Design School and School of Informatics, the Institute is now home to over 80 academics, researchers, PhD students and professional services staff. Chris was appointed the first Director of the Institute, and he guided its growth through the development of collaborative MA & MSc programmes, over 60 UK and EU funded research grants, and a programme of public and business partnerships.

The Institute for Design Informatics, remains a unique centre to explore how we design systems for better human data interaction, in diverse settings such as climate, health, culture, mobility and finance. Teams explore design from, with, and by data: the central concern being the design of how data flows in such a way as to sustain and enhance human (and more than human) values. Relevant technologies range from the internet of things, through blockchains, to robotics, natural language processing, data visualisation, interaction design, and social computing. Design informatics as a contemporary discipline across design research continues to combine data science with design methods in a context of critical enquiry and speculation.

A parallel institutional project that Chris co-designed and ultimately Directed, was the transformation of the 23,000m2 Old Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, a Florence Nightingale hospital in the centre of Edinburgh, into a world leading centre for interdisciplinary teaching, research and innovation. The Edinburgh Futures (EFI) Institute (https://efi.ed.ac.uk/) seeks to pursue knowledge and understanding that supports the navigation of complex futures. EFI’s distinctiveness stems from our approach to research and innovation, education and engagement – an approach that combines multi-disciplinarity with co-production. Working with industry, government and communities at home and abroad, EFI aims to build a challenge-led and data-rich portfolio of activity that has demonstrable ethical, social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts.

Chris was involved in 49 research projects during his time at the University of Edinburgh, leading on 19 projects worth a total of £13.5.mil and Co-Investigating 30 projects worth in excess of £76mil. Chris was PI for the TOTeM project investigating social memory within the ‘Internet of Things’ funded by the Digital Economy (£1.4m) and the related Research in the Wild grant: Internet of Second Hand Things (£250k); PI for three AHRC Connected Community grants under the moniker Community Hacking that explores parallels between virtual society and actual society (£120k); Co-I to the Sixth Sense Transport RCUK funded Energy project (£900k) which explored the implications for the next generation of mobile computing for dynamic personalised travel planning. He was PI to the EPSRC funded Connected High Street project (£350k) with University of Dundee and NCR, and Co-I to the AHRC funded Design in Action Knowledge Exchange Hub (£6m). He is currently PI to the EPSRC TIPS grant OxChain (£1mil), PI to the ESRC After Money project (£250k), Co-I to the £5mil PETRAS IoT Hub and Co-I to the EPSRC TIPS PACTMAN grant (£1mil). Chris is Director of the £6mil (£5.5Mil AHRC & £0.5Mil SFC) Creative Informatics R&D Partnership, one of the nine AHRC funded Creative Industries Clusters in the UK, and is Co-I to the Next Stage Digital Economy Centre DECaDE led by Surrey with the Digital Catapult. Chris was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2020.

Chris is a regular contributor to design conferences including the DRS,(https://www.drs2024.org/) EAD,(https://eadresearch.org/) DIS, (https://dis.acm.org/2024/)CHI (https://chi2024.acm.org/) and the Research Through Design (https://www.researchthroughdesign.org/) network for which he co-chaired the 2017 conference (http://www.researchthroughdesign.org/2017/) in Edinburgh.

In 2020 Chris was awarded the Chancellors Award for Research at the University of Edinburgh, the most prestigious recognition for commitment, expertise and experience in the development of research cultures and economies.