Dr Thomas Dylan

Assistant Professor

Department: Northumbria School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries

Tommy’s research involves Research through Design (RtD) and experience-centred practice. His PhD research was funded by Microsoft Research, working with people living with dementia in care, the Alzheimer’s Society and Gateshead Council. This research led to the creation of physical-digital artefacts to foster ‘meaningful moments’ as part of everyday interactions. Subsequently, Tommy was a Senior Research Associate on the EPSRC ‘Playing Out with IoT’ project. This was an RtD investigation on how IoT tool-kits might provide new ways to play outdoors. Tommy has applied skills in the design and making of deployable IoT research prototypes, with a concern for physical and digital design, and implementation.

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Key Publications

Batch 45: Design for Industry 2020 - 2024, Hewitt, I., Parkinson, D., Wong, R., Forsyth, A., Scott-Harden, S., Fenwick, H., Lievesley, M., Dylan, T. 12 May 2025
Batch 44: Design for Industry 2019 - 2023, Hewitt, I., Parkinson, D., Wong, R., Forsyth, A., Scott-Harden, S., Fenwick, H., Lievesley, M., Dylan, T. 15 Jan 2024
Batch 43: Design for Industry 2018 - 2022, Hewitt, I., Parkinson, D., Wong, R., Forsyth, A., Scott-Harden, S., Fenwick, H., Lievesley, M., Dylan, T. 26 Sep 2022
Communicative Openness within Adoptive Families: The Role of Photos and Visual Communication, Dylan, T., Harrison, D., Durrant, A. 13 Jun 2022, DIS 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, New York, US, ACM
A systematic review of physical–digital play technology and developmentally relevant child behaviour, Torres, P., Ulrich, P., Cucuiat, V., Cukurova, M., Fercovic De la Presa, M., Luckin, R., Carr, A., Dylan, T., Durrant, A., Vines, J., Lawson, S. 1 Dec 2021, In: International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction
Batch 42: Finding Form: Design for Industry 2017 - 2021, Hewitt, I., Parkinson, D., Wong, R., Forsyth, A., Scott-Harden, S., Fenwick, H., Lievesley, M., Dylan, T. 9 Aug 2021
Lanterns: Configuring a Digital Resource to Inspire Preschool Children's Free Play Outdoors, Dylan, T., Durrant, A., Çerçi, S., Lawson, S., Vines, J. 6 May 2021, Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New York, ACM
Batch 40: Design for Industry 2015 - 2019, Hewitt, I., Parkinson, D., Wong, R., Forsyth, A., Scott-Harden, S., Fenwick, H., Lievesley, M., Dylan, T. 2020
Batch 41: Design for Industry 2016 - 2020, Hewitt, I., Parkinson, D., Wong, R., Forsyth, A., Scott-Harden, S., Fenwick, H., Lievesley, M., Dylan, T. 16 Sep 2020
Designing IoT Resources to Support Outdoor Play for Children, Dylan, T., Wood, G., Durrant, A., Vines, J., Torres, P., Ulrich, P., Cukurova, M., Carr, A., Cerci, S., Lawson, S. 21 Apr 2020, CHI 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM

PGR Supervision

Freya Wright A Research through Design approach, exploring how playful costume can create moments of connection within adoptive families. Start Date: 01/10/2024