We are proud to announce that the photograph taken by Dr Dima Albadra during our participatory design workshops in Azraq refugee camp in Jordan has won the national science photography competition organised by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The image depicts a Syrian woman using VR to give feedback and to adapt shelter typologies.
The competition attracted 169 entries which were drawn from researchers in receipt of EPSRC funding, and were grouped into five categories. Dr Albadra's entry topped the People and Skills section and was selected as the overall winner.
Dr Albadra said: ‘Participatory design is a two-way process allowing refugees to be part of the research team. It is credited with higher satisfaction in design outcomes and is an obvious way of encouraging socio-culturally sensitive solutions. This is usually difficult to achieve in a refugee camp context due to many practical and logistical issues. Over 160 refugees participated in our workshops, giving feedback on both design typologies and the participatory methods used, such as, physical models, architectural drawings and virtual reality. ‘
