AT A GLANCE
Debjani Roy
Professor
Area of Practice: Design Research, Service Design, Design & Psychology, Socio-Technical Design
OVERVIEW
Debjani’s work has evolved from being a visual designer in e-learning companies to design researcher. Where in every phase of her career she has integrated her education in psychology to understand the intersections between human, technology, and design.
Since 2010, she has been working extensively with the Public Health sector, where she has been involved in developing several technology-based public health interventions in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson and IDC, IIT Bombay. As a program manager she has worked closely with Mumbai District Aids Control Society (MDACS) to implement Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS), an intervention for People Living with HIV/AIDS in public hospitals in Mumbai. She has also collaborated with health agencies as an independent consultant, working to understand user perspectives and strategise health communication programs. She has been invited as a TEDx speaker where she talked on “How do we design interventions that work in urban slums” as part of TEDx Dharavi, 2019.
Her current practice focuses on using collaborative methods to connect with the community. Her work has evolved from designing for Healthcare Communication to Social Communication with an emphasis on Social Consciousness, delving into the juxtaposition of psychology and technology. She is an active member of the HCI and Service Design community, with global outreach through academic collaborations.
In her Interdisciplinary Doctoral Research, titled Social Communication Model for Reproductive Health Awareness and Wellbeing among Adolescent Females, she was able to blend her education in Psychology with experience in design. Currently, she is working on initiating a lab – Socio Informatics Lab (SoIL) that works towards sustainable well-being through social consciousness.
EDUCATION
Degree/Diplomas
- Doctoral thesis – Social Communication Model for Reproductive Health Awareness and Wellbeing among Adolescent Females. Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara
- Diploma in Community Mental Health for Psychologists, NIMHANS Digital Academy
- Master’s degree, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara
- CDAC, Alandi, Diploma in Advanced Computer Arts, Alandi, Pune
- PG Diploma in Advertising, ICM, Bangalore
- Bachelor’s degree, Clinical Psychology, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara
Certificate courses
- Course in Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health 2020, The Geneva Foundation of Medical Education and Research
- HCI Workshop, Human Computer Interaction, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
WORK EXPERIENCE
Design Consultant with Healthcare agencies, Mumbai – Jan 2017 – August 2018
- Project Manager for Public Health Care Intervention for PLHA – Maitra
- Design strategist and researcher – Saathealth
Project Associate, IDC, IIT Bombay – September 2009 – December 2016
- TAMA (Treatment Advice using Mobile Alert) in collaboration with Johnson and Johnson
- Service design projects on Child Immunization, Passport Seva in collaboration with TCS, Mumbai
- Research to redesign brand identity, Hindustan Lever
Visual Designer/Art Lead, Adayana Systems, Hyderabad – May2007 – January 2009
Multimedia Artist / Team Lead, Harbinger Systems Limited, Pune – Nov 2005 – Oct 2006
Multimedia Artist – Maximize Learning, Pune, – June 2004 – October 2005
Graphic Designer/ Trainer – Edit Systems Limited, Pune August 2002 – May 2004
INTEREST AREAS
- Community based collaborative work
- Socio Technical Design using life centered design approach
- Understanding Social Consciousness
- Design for Healthcare interventions.
- Collaborating with community-based projects on Adolescents reproductive health and wellbeing, mental health
CURRENT PRACTICE AT SRISHTI
Faculty, Researcher, Head of Studies, Human Centred Design
TEACHING PORTFOLIO
- Research Methods ( Focus on mixed method, collaborative co-design methods)
- Service and System design
- Cross-Cultural Design Research
- Transdisciplinary project – Ecosystem towards sustainable well-being through social consciousness
- Disciplinary project – Socio-technical design
CREATIVE PRACTICE & OUTREACH
- Exploring the local art forms, crafts, toys and cuisines
- Learner of Indian Fusion Dance form
