AI-powered inclusive design for enhancing chronic disease management
We are recruiting new doctoral researchers to our EPSRC-funded Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA) PhD studentships starting 1 October 2025.
Applications are invited for the project: AI-powered inclusive design for enhancing chronic disease management.
Successful applicants will receive an annual stipend (bursary) of approximately £21,237, including inner London weighting, plus payment of their full-time home tuition fees for a period of 42 months (3.5 years).
You should be eligible for home (UK) tuition fees there are a very limited number (no more than two) studentships available to overseas applicants, including EU nationals, who meet the academic entry criteria including English Language proficiency.
You will join the internationally recognised researchers in the Department of Brunel Design School research and PhD programmes | Brunel University London.
The project
This PhD topic aims to explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) impacts the inclusive design process, particularly in the context of managing chronic diseases, and how to maximise its benefits.
A mixed methods approach is expected: quantitative data analysis for systematic literature review, qualitative insights from user interviews and case studies, and data visualisation to identify the AI impact on the existing inclusive design process.
Please contact Professor Hua Dong (hua.dong@brunel.ac.uk) for an informal discussion about the studentships.
Eligibility
Applicants will have or be expected to receive a first or upper-second-class honours degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Design, Psychology, Occupational Therapy or a similar discipline. A postgraduate master's degree is not required but may be an advantage.
Skills and experience
Applicants will be required to demonstrate the following skills;
- Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills, to be demonstrated by published work
- Knowledge of at least two of the following areas: AI, inclusive design, healthcare
You should be highly motivated, able to work independently as well as in a team, collaborate with others and have good communication skills.
How to apply
There are two stages of the application:
1. Applicants must submit the pre-application form via the following link:
https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/brunel/epsrc-dla-25-26-pre-application-form-brunel-university-of-londo
by 4 pm on Friday 17 January 2025.
2. If you are shortlisted for the interview, you will be asked to email the following documentation in a single PDF file to cedps-studentships@brunel.ac.uk within 72 hours.
- Your up-to-date CV
- Your undergraduate degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) first or upper-second class honours degree essential
- Your postgraduate master's degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) if applicable
- Your valid English Language qualification of IELTS 6.5 overall (minimum 6.0 in each section) or equivalent, if applicable; this must be valid up to 31 October 2025
- Contact details for TWO referees, one of which can be an academic member of staff in the College
Applicants should therefore ensure that they have all of this information in case they are shortlisted.
Interviews will take place on 13 and 14 February 2025. For shortlisted international/EU applicants’ interviews will be via Microsoft Teams and for UK applicants’ interviews will be in person at the Brunel University of London campus.
Hua Dong - Hua Dong is Professor and Head of Brunel Design School. Her research expertise is inclusive design. She is the convenor of the Inclusive Design Research Special Interest Group (InclusiveSIG) at the Design Research Society (DRS) and an advisor of the DRS (2022-2028), and has been an organiser of the Cambridge Workshop for Universal Access and Assistive Technology since 2014.
Dong has contributed to the creation and development of several successful research groups in the UK and China. She established the Inclusive Design Research Group at Brunel University London. Her research contributed to the Design Council’s ‘Design Bugs Out’ Challenge, with successful products on market and exhibition at the Design Museum. Dong also founded the Inclusive Design Research Centre in China, edited the ‘Inclusive design column’ for the ‘Design’ magazine (2020), and helped create the inclusive design guidance for Ant Financial. Their inclusive co-creation projects with community centres at Yangpu District were selected for exhibition at the Milan Triannual (2019), and active ageing toolkit was selected to feature at the design museum of Zurich (2024).
Dong was invited to give keynote/invited speeches on inclusive design at the Universal Design Conference Oslo (2012), UD Conference Fukuoka (2012), Nordic Design Week (2015, 2016), Hohai University (2015), Fudan University (2015), Chongqing University (2015), Beihang University (2017), NorthEast University (2018), IEID of the International Forum on Innovation and Emerging Industries Development (2019), Harvard Medical School (2022), and the Ageing Civilisation Conference (2023). She has been invited to provide specialist consultancy to Which? (A UK consumer magazine) Reckitt Benkiser, Active Life Village, Shanghai M&G Stationery Inc., Zhida Technology, Cam Scanner, Ant Financial and the Government (e.g. Nanjing) and Charities (e.g. AgeUK).
Dong is on the Peer Review College of AHRC since 2019. She was Principal Investigator of the EPSRC grant ‘Facilitating Wider Uptake of Inclusive Design’ and successfully co-applied Newton Funds (sponsored by AHRC, British Council) as the partner country’s PI and has won prestigious fellowship awards. She was Co-I of EPSRC and KTP projects and won a number of industry-funded projects both in the UK and China. In 2020, she initiated, together with Dr Cifter, the UK-Turkey collaboration on inclusive design, leading to the publication of the book “Inclusive Design+ Social Innovation” (2021). She also designed the film ‘evolving inclusive design’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzl1dKCMGLw). She received the AHRC SEED Fellowship in 2023.
Dong was awarded PhD Degree from University of Cambridge. She gained a BEng in Industrial Design and MArch in Architectural Design and Theory from Tongji University.
Dong was appointed International Judge of the SDGs Design International Awards (2019). She was Council Member of the Design Research Society (DRS) from 2012-2020, and was elected Fellow of DRS in 2019.