Michael Smyth
Michael Smyth

Dr Michael Smyth

Professor

 0131 455 2733

  M.Smyth@napier.ac.uk

   

Biography

Michael Smyth is a Professor in the Interaction Design Research Group, Edinburgh Napier University, UK. He is a Co-Director of the Edinburgh Creative Informatics Partnership funded through the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council Creative Industries Cluster Programme.

Previously he was Primary Investigator on the SpeculativeEDU project funded by Erasmus+, the MAZI Project funded under the EU H2020 CAPSSI initiative and the Primary Co-ordinator of the UrbanIxD project funded under FET Open. Michael was a Co-Investigator on both the PEACH Project, a FP6 Co-ordination Action and the BENOGO Project funded under the FP5 Presence Initiative. He was the Principal Investigator on the Ensemble Project funded under the UK AHRC Arts/Science Fellowship Scheme and the UK partner, in collaboration with the Arts Academy, Split, in a British Council funded International Network for Young Scientists in the field of Interaction Design.

In addition he has worked in the fields of Human Computer Interaction and Interaction Design since 1987 and during that period has published over 90 academic papers in refereed journals, books and conferences. Michael has supervised 12 PhD candidates to successful completion and has examined 14 candidates at this level in the UK and Europe.

School

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

Events

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Invited international judge on the Irish Region section of the Undergraduate Awards
  • External Academic Assessor for the MSc Mobile and Pervasive Systems
  • Advisory Board Member of the Multimodal Representation of Urban Space Project,
  • Michael Smyth was an invited participant to the Attracting Talent Agenda organised by Scottish Enterprise
  • Michael Smyth invited to be a Board Member of OMNIPRES
  • Invited participant in i3net

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Programme Committee - Media Architecture Biennale 2020, Amsterdam
  • Associate Chair - Programme Committee ACM Designing Interactive Systems 2020, Eindhoven
  • Programme Committee Associate Chair - Designing Interactive Systems, San Diego, California
  • Michael Smyth is Technical Programme Co-Chair for DIS17, Edinburgh
  • ACM DIS2017 (Designing Interactive Systems) hosted in Edinburgh
  • Programme Committee, Media Architecture Biennale, Sydney 2016.
  • Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) comes to Edinburgh in 2017
  • Michael Smyth invited to be Workshop Co-Chair, ACM Creativity and Cognition, Glasgow, June 2015.
  • Symposium Co-Chair, UrbanIxD Symposium, Telecom Italia Future Centre, Venice, 2014.
  • Co-Director, UrbanIxD Summer School, Split, Croatia, 2013.
  • Programme Committee, Media Architecture Biennale, Aarhus, 2012.
  • Stelarc Lectures – Edinburgh International Science Festival, Edinburgh, 2009.
  • Organising committee for Create11, Shoreditch House, London, 23 June 2011
  • Michael Smyth to chair the 2013 SICSA MMI Doctoral Consortium at University of Stirling
  • UrbanIxD Summer School to take place in Croatia
  • Create10 Keynote Speakers Invited
  • Michael Smyth invited on to the Programme Committee of the Media Architecture Biennale 2016, Sydney, Australia
  • Create11 Symposium success at Shoreditch House, London - 23 June, 2011
  • Create10 Student Design Competition Jury finalised
  • Create10 collaboration with Digital Creativity
  • Local Chair :: Create10, Edinburgh 30 June-2 July, 2010
  • Moritz Waldemeyer (http://waldemeyer.com/) announced as Keynote for Create 11, London, 23 June 2011
  • In August 2006 Edinburgh Napier University hosted the Convivio network's summer school.

 

Editorial Activity

  • Michael Smyth and Ingi Helgason will be guest editors of the focus edition of the IxD&A Journal entitled Making Places: Visualization, Interaction and Experience in Urban Space, Summer 2015.
  • Guest Editor of Digital Creativity, Vol 21, No 4, 2010

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Recognition of Service Award from the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM)
  • Design and Art Direction (D&AD) Design Group Student Award - Interactive Design

 

Grant Funding Panel Member

  • Panel member of Challenge Holders & Challenge Responders Selection Committee
  • Michael Smyth invited to act as an international reviewer of research projects submitted within KU Leuven, Belgium.

 

Invited Speaker

  • Presentation as part of a Book Launch at the Croatian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
  • The Cities of the Future - Panel at the Edinburgh International Science Festival
  • Invited Speaker and Workshop Leader: Future Friends Symposium, Maribor, Slovenia.
  • Invited speaker on the STARTS Panel - Human Touch AI at IoT Week 2019
  • Michael Smyth ran a Workshop at SICSA PhD Conference - Demystifying the PhD Thesis
  • Michael Smyth invited to speak at Smart Cities Event, organised by Holyrood Connect
  • Invited speaker at the 2nd CAPS Community Workshop, Volos, Greece
  • Invited Speaker at Mint Lab, University of Leuven, Belguim
  • Michael Smyth: Social Wellbeing and Drinking Culture: Exploring Digital Futures
  • Invited lecturer at CommunityNow? The Politics of Participatory Design, Berlin
  • Invited lecturer at the Smarter Communities: Fulfilling Scotland’s Digital Potential Event.
  • Invited Lectures to Design students and Research Staff at Norwich University of the Arts, 2014.
  • Invited lecturer and Atelier Leader at EINS Summer School (5 day workshop), Volos, Greece
  • Invited participant at the DIY Networking: An interdisciplinary approach, Dagsthul Seminar, 14042, Germany
  • Invited lecturer at iMal Connecting Cities Urban Media Lab, Brussels
  • Invited Keynote at the Space.Beyond.Geometry Workshop, University of Edinburgh, June 2013.
  • Invited Lecturer, Department of Visual Communications Design, University of Split, Croatia, Dec 2012.
  • Invited Atelier Leader, Split Interactions (5 day workshop), University of Split, Croatia, March 2011.
  • Invited Lecturer Nottingham Trent University, Sept 2011
  • Invited Lecturer, University of Huddersfield, December 2010.
  • Keynote Speaker, SICSA Whole-Body Interaction Workshop at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, 5 & 6 November 2009.
  • Invited Lecturer Department of Visual Communications Design, University of Split, Croatia, 2009.
  • Invited Lecturer, Perada Summer School, 20-27 June 2009, Edinburgh Napier University, UK.
  • Invited Lecturer, Magdalena Festival, Slovenia, May 2009.
  • Invited Atelier Leader, Brain Working Workshop (8 day workshop), Magdalena Festival, Slovenia, May 2009.
  • Invited Lecturer GIST, University of Glasgow, UK, May 2007.
  • Invited Lecturer CONVIVIO Summer School 2005, Timisoara, Romania.
  • Invited Lecturer CONVIVIO Summer School 2004, Split, Croatia.
  • Invited Lecturer, Derby University, UK 1999.
  • Michael Smyth to give keynote presentation at DIY Networking Workshop at MobiSys 2015, Florence, Italy

 

Media Activity

  • Interview with Nefula an Italian Near Future Design Studio
  • Interview with the SpeculativeEDU project
  • City | Data | Future Exhibition selected as Permanent Work at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Michael Smyth, Ingi Helgason, Michael Andrew Mckellar: City | Data | Future exhibition created as part of the UrbanIxD project hosted at the Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Michael Smyth, Ingi Helgason: Michael Smyth and Ingi Helgason exhibit the work of the UrbanIxD project at ICT, 2015 in Lisbon
  • City|Data|Future Exhibited at Media Architecture Biennale, Aarhus, 2014.
  • The UrbanIxD exhibition City | Data | Future is discussed as part of the EU's Digital Single Markert
  • City Data Future Exhibition discussed by EU Digital Agenda for Europe
  • Stelarc Lectures – Edinburgh International Science Festival, Edinburgh, 2009.
  • The UrbanIxD exhibition City | Data | Future is discussed on Croatian National TV on HRT1
  • UrbanIxD project featured on Croatian national television
  • Michael Smyth is interviewed on Croatian National Television about the future of the smart city.
  • ACM Interactions magazine features exhibits from Create10 conference held at Edinburgh Napier University
  • Michael Smyth organises PhD presentation night at Summerhall
  • Media Coverage of the UrbanIxD Summer School in Split, Croatia. Organised by Michael Smyth (Co-Director) and Ingi Helgason (School Organiser).
  • Interaction12 presentation entitled Critical Design - Restoring a sense of wonder to Interaction Design has over 3000 views on slideshare in Feb.
  • UrbanIxD project meeting with the mayor of Split, Croatia
  • Create10 gets press coverage in Salon, the Ukraine's first interior design magazine.

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Member of BIMA - UK network of creatives, practitioners and academics
  • Michael Smyth is a member of the ACM SIGCHI - Special Interest Group Computer Human Interface

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • Michael Smyth examines PhD at The University of Edinburgh
  • Michael Smyth examines PhD at University of Leuven, Belgium
  • Michael Smyth examines a PhD at the Durban University of Technology
  • Michael Smyth examines PhD at University of Dundee

 

Visiting Positions

  • Visiting Academic at The University of Edinburgh

 

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Date


103 results

Digital and data literacy

Book Chapter
Osborne, N., Helgason, I., Lechelt, S., Michielin, L., Panneels, I., Parkinson, C., …Warren, K. (2024)
Digital and data literacy. In Data Driven Innovation in the Creative Industries (71-100). London, UK: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003365891-4
In this chapter we explore models for training and upskilling people in the creative industries in data, technology and entrepreneurial skills, situating this in the wider ski...

Future Tense - The Challenge of Imagining Alternative Futures

Book Chapter
Smyth, M. (2023)
Future Tense - The Challenge of Imagining Alternative Futures. In Designing in Coexistence – Reflections on Systemic Change (77-88). Zagreb, Croatia: Croatian Architects’ Association
So why is it so difficult to imagine futures? Not the futures set in galaxies far far away, but the ones connected to the present that lie tantalisingly just beyond the horizo...

Coast to Coast 2023

Book
Smyth, M., & Delaney, F. (2023)
Coast to Coast 2023. Edinburgh: Boom Saloon. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8099962
Through the Coast to Coast Project, Dr Michael Smyth Co-Director of Creative Informatics (https://creativeinformatics.org/) and Frank Delaney from Future Screens Northern Irel...

Has the collective experience of the pandemic reset our relationship with the future?

Journal Article
Smyth, M. (2022)
Has the collective experience of the pandemic reset our relationship with the future?. DOC - Design and Society, 1(1),
The fusion of architecture and cultures that comprised the cityscape of Blade Runner (1982) was a key part in how the narrative humanised the vision of the future, it provided...

Speculative and Critical Design: approaches and influences in education

Journal Article
Helgason, I., Encinas, E., Mitrovic, I., & Smyth, M. (2022)
Speculative and Critical Design: approaches and influences in education. Interaction Design and Architecture(s) IxDetA, 5-7. https://doi.org/10.55612/s-5002-051-001psi
As guest editors of this special edition we are delighted to present this selection of papers responding to our call about Speculative and Critical Design in education. The re...

Has the collective experience of the pandemic reset our relationship with the future?

Working Paper
Smyth, M. Has the collective experience of the pandemic reset our relationship with the future?

)
Smyth, M. Has the collective experience of the pandemic reset our relationship with the future?
The fusion of architecture and cultures that comprised the cityscape of Blade Runner (1982) was a key part in how the narrative humanised the vision of the future, it provided...

The Tree and The Room: Co-Designing DIY WiFi Networks with Emergent Local Metaphors

Conference Proceeding
Smyth, M., Helgason, I., Lapidge, L., & Hausel, K. (2021)
The Tree and The Room: Co-Designing DIY WiFi Networks with Emergent Local Metaphors. In Design Culture(s) | Cumulus Conference Proceedings Roma 2021 (3823-3837
The use of metaphor for communicating conceptual models of interactive systems has a well-documented history in Interaction Design practice. Although metaphors can pri...

Echoes of Futures Past - Speculations and Fictions from History

Book Chapter
Smyth, M., Auger, J., & Helgason, I. (2021)
Echoes of Futures Past - Speculations and Fictions from History. In I. Mitrović, J. Auger, J. Hanna, & I. Helgason (Eds.), Beyond Speculative Design: Past-Present-Future (24-67). Split, Croatia: SpeculativeEDU, Arts Academy, University of Split

Speculative Design in Education: Mapping the Landscape

Conference Proceeding
Helgason, I., Mitrović, I., Hanna, J., Auger, J., Encinas, E., & Smyth, M. (2021)
Speculative Design in Education: Mapping the Landscape. In Design Culture(s). Cumulus Conference Proceedings Roma 2021, Volume #2
This paper presents findings from a recent European-wide study on the use of Speculative Design approaches within education. The study included a survey of design educators an...

The value of mass-digitised cultural heritage content in creative contexts

Journal Article
Coleman, S., Terras, M., Thornton, P., Smyth, M., Schafer, B., Drost, S., …Speed, C. (2021)
The value of mass-digitised cultural heritage content in creative contexts. Big Data and Society, 8(1), https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211006165
How can digitised assets of Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums be reused to unlock new value? What are the implications of viewing large-scale cultural heritage data a...

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