Professor portrait: Anna Vallgårda challenges the design of care technology
On 9 May 2025 at 14:30, Professor Anna Vallgårda will give her inaugural lecture in Auditorium 0 at the IT University of Copenhagen. The lecture is entitled: ”Radical Redesign of Care Technologies”.
Anna VallgårdaAbout ITUEventsProfessor portrait
Written 24 April, 2025 11:04
Anna Vallgårda handed in her master thesis at University of Copenhagen, where she also has her degree from, but physically she wrote the thesis at the recently opened IT University. Shortly after this, she started her PhD at the IT University. It was in the early days of interaction design as a research field, so it is safe to say that Anna Vallgårda has been here almost from the beginning, both at ITU and within her research field.
“For many years, I worked with the computer as a design material. A computer is not just digital. It will always have a physical extent. And that physical extent is quite important in terms of how we use the computer. It is, for example, rather inconvenient to bring a laptop when we use the bathroom, but many of us bring our phone, because the design makes it possible,” says Anna Vallgårda, “the design is also important for other technologies, and how we interact with them. This is, for example, care technologies, which is what I work with now.”
Today Anna Vallgårda works with design research, and especially the interaction between humans and technology and the design of the care technologies, that get physically close to people.
“I wanted to use the knowledge from my early research and bring it to my work with care technologies. Both the ones that are used in the health sector and those we use in our private lives. This could be smart watches or sensors for blood sugar monitoring for Type 1 diabetes. Many of these technologies are designed from an idea of human optimisation and functionality. This is a very particular view of humanity, which I want to challenge through my research,” says Professor Anna Vallgårda, “it is just not given that all people can see themselves in that. I am trying to show alternative futures to what is currently available on the market.”
This is also the theme of her inaugural lecture. It will be held on 9 May 2025 at 14:30 in Auditorium 0 at the IT University of Copenhagen. The lecture is entitled: “Radical Redesign of Care Technologies”.
“One size” does not fit all
In the last few years there has been a massive development in care and welfare technology. Ideally the technology is supposed to help people with for example a chronic illness to live a better life with their disease, but people are not the same. Therefore, it is difficult to design one solution that fits all.
“Right now, technologies are designed based on good engineering and medical practices, but there is a lack of understanding of the fact that a person with a chronic illness is also working and has a social life, where the illness is not always the most important thing for them. However, the technology is designed with the illness always in focus. Because of this, some patients choose not to use the technologies as it does not fit their life or lifestyle,” says Anna Vallgårda, “I want to find out how we can design alternative versions of the same technology that can be used and experienced differently by different people. So, can one imagine other design methods that better accommodate diversity?”
A big part of the problem is that it is much cheaper to mass-produce products and therefore, it is not advantageous for the manufacturers to make individualised solutions for patients with different needs. Anna Vallgårda hopes that her research can still make a difference so that more patients in the future receive technology that suits them.
“I hope that my research will challenge the path we are taking. We can push the boundaries of what is available now. I hope that I can be part of pushing the reality there is now, both by inspiring the students I teach and by participating in the public debate,” says Anna Vallgårda.
Watch Professor Anna Vallgårda's entire inaugural lecture here:
Theis Duelund Jensen, Press Officer, phone +45 2555 0447, email thej@itu.dk