Dr Helena Sustar

Contact details

Phone: +44 (0)20 7040 8994

Room: A214 College building

Position:

Research student

Biography

Helena Sustar joined the Centre for HCI Design as a PhD student in October 2006; she finished her PhD titled "Older People as Equal Partners in the Creative Design of Digital Devices". The aim of her PhD research was to demonstrate the importance of older users involvement in the creative design process in order to design better products for ageing population. The main focus was on adopting methods (existing and new), which were the most appropriate for designers and older people, and measure their creative performance and final output. Helena's study was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Sara Jones and Prof. Neil Maiden. Her research interests also include design for all, inclusive design and assistive technology.

Her background is in industrial design; she completed her BA and MA in Industrial Design at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana (Slovenia). In addition to her postgraduate studies, she worked in an architectural office as an interior designer, and she has been a journalist and an editor in the area of design and contemporary architecture.

Currently is working on publication of several PhD papers together with her supervisors.

Research interests

Design for all
Inclusive design
Assistive technology

Key publications

Sustar, H., Jones, S. and Maiden, N., (2011) Creativity in Older People Designing Digital Devices, Create 2011 conference, London, UK. (Under revision)

Suvar, B., Maiden, N., Sustar, H., Karlsen, K., Jones, S., Zhang, Q., (2011) Exploring Collaborative Creativity with the Microsoft Surface, British HCI 2011 Conference. (Under revision)

Sustar, H., Jones, S. and Zaphiris, P. (2009) Older people as equal partners in designing a digital device for olders' everyday needs. Create09 conference, London, UK.

Sustar, H., Pfeil, U., and Zaphiris, P. (2008). Requirements Elicitation with and for Older Adults. IEEE Software Journal, Volume 25, Issue 3, Pages 16-17.

Zaphiris, P., Sustar, H., Pfeil, U. (2008). Inclusive Design for Older People. In proceedings of HCI and the Older Population workshop of British HCI 2008 Conference.

Sustar, H., Zaphiris, P. (2007). Emotional Interaction as a Way of Communication. In Proceedings of Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces 2007 conference. Helsinki, Finland. Pages 438-445.