Teaching and Academic Work
Academic Appointments
Reader in Service Design and Collaborative Futures ("Reader" in UK is equivalent to a "Full Professor" in the USA, "Professor" in Germany, France and Australia, and "Professore Ordinario" in Italy), 2021-present
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Pharma Factory, Horizon 2020 funded project, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. 2018-2021
Course Leader MA Service Design, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London 2017-2021
Co-Investigator (UAL Lead) on Co-Design Your Place Erasmus+, Knowledge Exchange based project with partners The Stable Foundation in Poland and Station in Denmark. 2019-present
Research Coordinator Design School, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London 2017-2018
Acting Programme Director, Spatial Communication Programme, London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London 2016
Course Leader and Senior Lecturer on BA (Hons) Spatial Design and Senior Lecturer on Contextual and Theoretical Studies, London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London 2014-2016
Course Leader and Senior Lecturer on BA(Hons) Graphic Product Innovation, London College of Communication, University of the Arts London 2009-2014
Associate Lecturer Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, Havering College, and Kensington and Chelsea College. 2006-2014
Lecturer in Visual and Product Design in the BSc Computer Aided Product Design and BSc Computer Aided Visualisation. Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, Essex. 2006-2009
Other Academic Activity
PhD Supervision:
PhD Supervisor, Adapting service design’s role in understanding and building cultural sensitivities in local authorities in the UK, Evans, Delina. (2019-present; confirmed).
PhD Director of Studies, Design Knowledge in Times of Crisis: Integrating the Creativity of Lived Experience into Design, Bravo Cole, Alvaro. (2020-present; confirmed).
PhD Director of Studies, Can Service Design encourage the adoption of social capital strategies over human capital strategies in complex organisations? Llamas, Clara. (2023-present; registered).
PhD Supervisor, Actualising Agonistic Participatory Design: Towards Inclusive Place Branding, Kim, Dahye. (2023-present; registered).
PhD Supervisor, The Design Philosophy Briefing, Briefing Transition Design, Mangel, Valeska. (2023-present; registered).
PhD Supervisor, Designing Hope: A Gamification and Service Design Approach to Mitigating Self-Harm in Female Prisons, Zhu, Hongyi (2024-present).
PhD Supervisor, Reframing our understanding of Little-c creativity to act as a transition tool to build autonomy and engagement with the climate crisis, Rodgett, Lara (2024-present).
Programmes designed, developed, and validated
MA Service Design (revalidation), University of the Arts London, United Kingdom. 2020
BA (Hons) Design for Branded Spaces (wrote new course), University of the Arts London. 2016
BA Spatial Design (wrote new course), University of the Arts London. 2014
Graduate examinations
Examiner for 4 PhD Confirmations (Upgrade exam), University of the Arts London (2023)
Examination committee, MA Design, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norway. 2020
Offices held
External Validation panel for BA Environmental Design at JXUT China and Richmond University London (2023).
External Reviewer for the MSc Service Management and Design at the University of Warwick (2022).
External Advisor for the MA User Experience and Service Design, Ulster University. 2021
Member of the LCC CRDSC Research Degrees Sub-Committee panel / reviewer. 2020-present
Member of LCC internal REF (Research Excellence Framework) panel /reviewer. 2017-2020
Member of Design Cluster Link Liason Representative for Ravensbourne College. 2015-present
External Advisor for validation BSc (Hons) Product Design at University of East London. 2012-2014
Keynotes, Professional Lectures, Invited Talks, Awards
Invited Keynote to Industry: Service Design for Collectively Envisioning EDI Futures Inaugural lecture of the Academic Track of the Service Design Circle Ethics and Society Season. The Service Design Circle is a global community of in-house service design professionals. Organised by Marc Fonteijn in NL (2024).
Won 2 UAL KE Awards (2024): the People's Prize in Equity and Diversity category for Transition Living Lab, Team: Malé Lujan Escalante, Silvia Grimaldi and Special Commendation in the R&D Innovation category for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Future Proofing your Workforce, team: Silvia Grimaldi, Polly Nash and Amanda Crawley-Jackson.
Invited Keynote: at Re-Imagine: Shifting Perspectives on EDI in the ADM Faculty and Beyond Birmingham City University about service design within the EDI context (2024).
Invited Guest on online panel: Who Can Afford to be Critical? Organised by Service Lab London and the UAL Research Society. Hosts: Patrick Pittman, Partner, Nor Collective; Partner, No Media Company; Damien Teo, Service Designer Lancashire County Council (2024).
Invited Podcast Guest: Transfire Equity Edge Podcast – Series One – Ceramics Episode. Hosts, Sue Black OBE and Jo Stansfield, talking about the EDI TFIN+ work (2024).
Organised and Chaired: Design Methods for Social Justice This roundtable discussion focusses on how we design for social justice, with speakers from industry and academia (2024).
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Future-Proofing Your Workforce at the Transforming the Foundation Industries Network Plus conference (2023)
A participatory approach to understanding. What does good family support look like? Online. Invited by Relational Activism through Camden Council Family Services. Speakers: Becca Dove and Silvia Grimaldi. (about 50 attendees, aimed at people who work in public services) (2023)
Bridging the Gap between Design Academia and Service Design. In person, London College of Communication. A panel of 9 academics and industry professionals (about 70 attendees) (2023)
Design for Climate Change in the Global South: 2022 Floods in Pakistan Online roundtable. (2023)
Designing the future of wellness: Innovative Approaches of healthcare and wellbeing (2023)
Service Design In Transdisciplinary Contexts for the international DesignIt offices as the first in the Women in Design series of talks (2021)
Teaching Service Design for Policy in Local Government for 2021 IDC Design Education Forum, Beijing Institute of Technology. (2021)
Keynote and workshop: Service Design and Speculative Design in Placemaking for the Co-Design Your Place Summit, Poland (2021)
Service Design at different scales: beyond human centred, at Service Design Education and Design for Policy event hosted by UAL and XXY Innovation. (2021)
Talk and workshop: Speculative Futures for Service Design, Border Sessions Festival, The Hague, NL. (2019)
On Service Design, Digital Catapult, United Kingdom, at Digital Catapult, UK (2019)
Chaired: The Craft of Service Design event as part of the Service Design Fringe, London Design Festival 2017, UK (2017)
Public Lecture and workshop: Narratives in Design as part of Erasmus + exchange, at Design School Kolding, Denmark (2014)
How I Met Narrative, at Narrative in Practice Symposium, NiP2013, London, UK (2013)
Professional Appointments
Peer Reviewer (anonymous) for:
CHI Human Computer Interaction conference in Yokohama, Japan, April 2025.
DRS: Design Research Society conference in Boston, MIT and Northeastern University June 2024.
IASDR 2023 International Association of Design Research Societies, Life-Changing Design, Oct 09—13 | Politecnico di Milano (2021).
Nordes 2021: Matters of Scale. The 9th Nordes Design Research conference (2021).
Nordes 2021: Matters of Scale. The 9th Nordes Design Research conference. 2021
CoDesign: International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts, Taylor & Francis. 2021
The Design Journal, Taylor and Francis. 2020-present
Cubic Journal Issue 5_ Alternative Knowledges: Communities | Creativity | Narrations, Cubic Society and the Cubic Research Network. 2020-present
The International Conference of Experience Design, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Gold Coast during 14-16 August 2019, Griffith University, Australia. 2019
Socially Engaged Design Conference - SED 2, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus. 2018-2019
10th International Conference on Design and Emotion, Amsterdam, September 2016. 2015-2016
Designing Experience Conference held in Hong Kong in November 2014. 2013-2014
Journal of Engineering Design Special Issue: Experience & Interaction, Taylor & Francis. 2014-2015
Advisories
Programme Committee Member Nordes 2021: Matters of Scale. The 9th Nordes Design Research conference. 2021
Mentor for the Global Service Jam London, at the Digital Catapult, London, UK. 2019
Scientific Committee Member Socially Engaged Design Conference - SED 2. 2018-2019
Editorial Activities
Co-edited Special Issue and wrote editorial in Organizational Aesthetics Journal Vol. 8 No. 2, September 16, 2019. 2018-2019
Editorial activity as part of Benz, P. (ed.) Experience Design: Concepts and Case Studies. London: Bloomsbury Academic (Book). 2013-2014