Dr Emilene Zitkus is a Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Design at Loughborough University whose expertise is in human-computer interaction, digital inclusion, user-centred and user experience design. She has been teaching at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, actively delivering research-led teaching. She has been using her inclusive design and co-creation skills in research projects related to digital exclusion across older people, accessible interfaces and service design focused on healthy ageing. She presented evidence based on her research to the ‘Inquiry into the Rights of Older People’ in the House of Commons in the UK Parliament in February 2024. Since then, she has contributed to Parliamentary reports – i.e. POSTnote on ‘Digital Disengagement and Impacts on Exclusion’ published in August 2024.
During her PhD (EPSRC funded) at the University of Cambridge, she iteratively co-created inclusive design tools with practitioners, understanding a variety of stakeholders’ needs that facilitate or not the adoption of inclusive design in industrial contexts. Her research expertise in Inclusive Design has been developed during the last 15 years through projects developed within partners in industry, like Ford and Jaguar-Land Rover. Emilene is a member of the editorial board of Design for Health journal; visiting Lecturer at UNESP; a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy; EPSRC and Dunhill Medical Trust expert panellist. She has experience in research management and development, as well as industrial experience in the automotive industry and automated technology industry, where she worked for more than 10 years and generated some design patents.
Other responsibilities include:
- 2024 – 2027 International Exchange Coordinator in the School of Design and Creative Arts
- 2024 – 2026 Expert Advisor of the Minimum Digital Living Standard for Pensioners
- 2024 – 2025 Fellow of the Institute of Computer Science at University of Sao Paulo
- 2022 – 2024 Deputy Director of Doctoral Programme in the School of Design and Creative Arts
- 2024 – present - External Examiner MSc Product Design at Cardiff Metropolitan University
- 2023 – present - Loughborough Assistant Director of the Global Disability Hub
- 2023 – present - Member of the organising committee of the CWUAAT
- 2023 – present - Member of the Reviewer Committee of the CHI 2023
- 2022 – present - Member of the Reviewer Committee of the CWUAAT 2023
- 2021 – present - Member of the Reviewer Committee of the IHC 2021
External examiner of PhD and MPhil at the University of Nottingham, University of Sheffield, Federal University of Lavras and University of Sao Paulo State (UNESP).
Dr Emilene Zitkus' research interests have been driven by the need for a more accessible and inclusive design of interfaces, services and products. Her recent research projects investigates the intersectionality and use of technology by older adults living alone (Royal Society IES\R3\213004); the impact of the digital transition on Older Adults living in the UK (IDA); and, in other projects she is investigating how socio-economic factors, combined with losses of capability among people 60+, impact earlier diagnostic, prevention and treatment of hearing loss (CNPq 445500/2023-9); health monitoring in smart homes (FAPESP 2020/05187-5) and the use of digital technology in rural areas (FAPESP 21/06968-3).
- CNPq 445500/2023-9 - Hear-Brazil: accessible and sustainable mobile solutions for hearing health and care
- Royal Society IES\R3\213004 - Enabling Healthy Ageing by Designing Inclusive Digital Technology: investigating intersectionality and use of digital technology among older adults living alone
- IDA Information Design Association - Ageing in a Digitally Connected World
- FAPESP 2020/05187-5 - Smart Homes to Monitor Elderly People’s Health Conditions
- FAPESP 21/06968-3 - From Seeds to Cups: IoT in the Quality Coffee Production
Emilene is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She is the module leader for the Design for Inclusivity (DSP803) master module. She leads the project with undergraduate students enrolled in the Inclusive Design (DSC201) module and is a tutor of final year projects (IDMP), as well as contributing to other modules.
- DSP 803 - Design for Inclusivity (module leader)
- DSC 201 - Inclusive Design (project leader)
- DSC 027 - Industrial Design Major Project (IDMP)
- DSC 029 - Final Year User-Centred Design Practice - Prototyping and Evaluation (module leader)
- DSP 118 – Interaction and Experience Design
- DSP114 – Human Factors for Inclusive Design
Placement Tutor & Personal Tutor
Policy contributions
Zitkus, E (2023) Written evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee's inquiry, The rights of older people. (ROP0011)
Zitkus, E (2024) Oral evidence to the inquiry into the Rights of Older People– Digital Exclusion - Women and Equalities Committee in the House of Commons, UK Parliament.
Consultancy work
Design Age Institute – with Royal College of Art and Northumbria University Work from Home as We Age.
Invited speaker
- Keynote speaker opening the International Audiology Conference: Technology and Patient-Centred Care, Brazil, 14 Aug 2024
- Ageing in a Digitally Connected World: What do we need to consider when developing new interfaces? Institute of Medical Informatics, Switzerland, 14 Oct 2024
- Ageing in a Digitally Connected World: How can design facilitate the transition? Institute for Patient-Centred Digital Health and Institute for Ageing Bern University of Applied Sciences Switzerland, 15 Oct 2024
- Discussant in the Round Table - Ageing and Technology: where are we and where are we going to? at the International Audiology Conference. Brazil, Aug 16 Aug 2024
- Charnwood Federation Patient Participation Group Talk, Loughborough, 13 Sep 2023
- Rosebery Patient Participation Group, Loughborough, UK, 09 Feb 2023
- Sao Paulo City Council, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 24 Sep 2022
- The University of Sao Paulo, Post-Graduation on Connected Health, Brazil, 2 Sep 2022
- The Federal University of Lavras, Lavras, Brazil, 8 July 2022
Engagement
Healthy Ageing Seminar: How can design contribute to healthy ageing societies? Organised and Host the seminar. Among attendants: visitors from USP, including the Director of the USP University Hospital, a member of WHO long term care, colleagues from SSEHS, SDCA and DRs from both schools – 11 Sep 2023
- Collaboration with East Midlands Cancer Alliance (EMCA) - UX MA Placements.
- Reading Club for DRs at the SDCA and Post Graduate Programme of Design 4 Health at USP.
Emilene welcomes applications for doctoral studies related to inclusive digital design, and inclusive services and interactions, as well as design for healthy ageing.
Current PhD supervisions
- Ms Aishat Usman-Mamudu; Inclusive Digital Design in Health: Interfaces and Intersectionality part of the ‘Digital Communities and Inclusion’ - Doctoral Cluster scholarship
- Mr Animesh Bondre – Designing and Implementing Ethical and Effective AI solutions for Healthcare Transformation - DECODE scholarship
- Ms Zhuoning Fu: Digital Interventions for Mult-morbidity Self-Management: A User Centred Design Approach to Understand Older Adults' Values - SDCA Big Splash Scholarship
- Ms Jikun Yin: Enhancing Cybersecurity Awareness across Older Adults with Limited Essential Digital Skills for Life – CSC Scholarship
- Ms Nariman Lotfi: The Integration of Bio-inspiration as a Trans-disciplinary Education method for Industrial Design undergraduate students
- Ms Bernadette Douglas Informal Cares of Frail Older Patients’ Participation in Hospital Information and Communication Beyond the In-Service Period
- Ms Petra Salaric: Intimacy-building in online communication environments: Towards a design for wellbeing approach for early stages of relationships - SDCA Big Splash Scholarship
Completed PhD supervisions
- Mr Jiayin Guan: An intervention model to motivate older adults to participate in physical activity – CSC Scholarship.
- Paula Poiet (co-supervised with Dr Vania Valente, UNESP) – CAPES Scholarship.