I AM A DESIGN RESEARCHER, PRACTITIONER AND EDUCATOR, CRAFTY PERSON, AND DOG LOVER AND HANDLER.
I am currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Umeå Institute of Design (UID) in Umea, Sweden. I work with Heather Wiltse and Johan Redström on the project “Design Philosophy for Things that Change” funded by the Wallenberg Foundation. My research interests include interaction design, industrial design, research through design, speculative design, human-technology relations, philosophy of technology (specifically technological mediation theory, postphenomenology and other posthumanist approaches) and its relation to design research and practice, sustainable interaction design, DIY, and human-animal interaction.
Until recently, I was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Computer Science Dept. at The University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, BC. At UBC, I worked closely together with Karon MacLean and Joanna McGrenere on the Design for People (DfP) NSERC-funded CREATE initiative developing an interaction design-oriented graduate program.
In 2018, I finished my PhD in Human-Computer Interaction/ Design Research at the School of Interactive Arts + Technology (SIAT) at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver, BC, Canada in the Everyday Design Studio under the supervision of Professors Ron Wakkary, Peter-Paul Verbeek (University of Twente, Netherlands), and Carman Neustaedter.
I grew up in Germany and moved to Vancouver, BC, Canada in 2011; since early 2019, I am proud to be German-Canadian. I hold a Diplom – which is a German graduate degree comparable to an honours bachelor’s degree – in Information Science & Engineering from Hochschule Darmstadt (h_da) and a Masters of Arts in Communication Planning and Design from Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) Schwäbisch Gmünd, a small design school firmly rooted in the era of Bauhaus and especially curricular developments of the Ulm School of Design.
After finishing my Master’s degree in 2009, I worked for nearly two years in academic management helping build the interaction design program at the HfG Schwaebisch Gmuend. The program that I helped develop there was the first interaction design program in Germany and it has been very successful. In addition, I taught several courses at both h_da and HfG while most recently teaching Interaction Design studio classes at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Earlier, I have also worked in research for design at advertising agencies (Ogilvy & Mather, saatchi & saatchi) and consulting companies (Mayerhoefer & Co).
I’m an animal lover and have a dog and a cat. I love mastering challenges or just have fun with my dogs. I’m enthusiastic about healthy and environmental-friendly living, crafty and hobby things, DIY everything, cooking, foraging, I enjoy hiking and camping in and around BC and I love Hawai’i. Occasionally, you can find me competing at dog shows and obedience trials.
Contact me for my CV.
You can e-mail me to shauser [dot] mail [at] gmail [dot] com