Alexandra Carr is a Research Assistant and Doctoral Researcher within the School of Art, Design, and Architecture at the University of Plymouth. Her research explores the roles of creative thinking and material experimentation within collaborative design development and works with rural and coastal community groups often disenfranchised from mainstream ‘design economy’ discourses. 

Alexandra is currently working as an RA for the Digital Together project, funded through the UK Shared Prosperity/CIOS Good Growth fund between 2023 and 2025.  Working closely with community hubs to embed digital skills and access to support the collective aims of improving health and wellbeing – understanding that digital can be a significant tool in supporting wellbeing and reducing delivery costs for health and social care. The partners of Digital Together include CRCC, Cornwall Council, University of Plymouth, University of Exeter, Citizens Advice, and Age UK. 

Creative interviews, codesign workshops, community engagement, and in-residence qualitative methods are central to Alexandra's research approach. Her research interests actively explore the intersection of participatory design methods, technology, and social justice. Alongside her RA role with Digital Together, Alexandra is working on her doctoral research project “Reconceptualising codesign practice within rural and coastal contexts” in Digital Art and Technology at the University of Plymouth (expected completion date Dec 2025) and has collaborated as a Research Associate for the AHRC-funded Design Exchange Partnerships Project “Building with/for Bridport: A systems thinking methodology for housing codesign in rural and coastal communities”. Her work is currently contributing to the development of situated codesign toolkits and strategies for affordable community housing and the use of natural materials in construction in Bridport, a rural town in West Dorset. 

Grants contracts
Research Associate 0.6 FTE, Feb 2023 - Feb 2024. “Building with/for Bridport: A systems thinking methodology for housing codesign in rural and coastal communities.”, AHRC Design Exchange Partnership: design the green transition, Round 1. Award value £22,232 (80% FEC). Total project cost £33,790 incl. £6000 match funding from Wessex Community Assets. Research institution: University of Plymouth. Non-academic organisation: Wessex Community Assets 

 

Research Assistant 1.0 FTE Nov 2021 - May 2022. “Participatory Housing Manufacturing”, Connected Everything: Accelerating Digital Manufacturing Research Collaboration and Innovation. Award value £45,613 (80% FEC). Research institution: University of Plymouth. Non-academic partner: Raise the Roof Partnership 

Research Assistant May 2021. University of Plymouth Arts-Health Fund, project “Hard Data” in partnership with the School of Psychology, University of Plymouth

 

Awards and prizes  
2020 The Belmond Award, New Designers 2020  
2020 Devon Guild of Craftsman Visual Arts Prize  

Peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations 

VELIZ, A., CARR, A., CRABTREE, T., 2024. Emerging techno-geographies: Co-making and imagining community-built housing. IN: V. Fors and M. Berg (Eds.). The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures, Volume III: Impact. De Gruyter. (Publication September 2024) 

CARR, A. VELIZ, A., 2024. Spaces for co-creating rural futures: Bridport's Living Lab', in Careful Collaborations: Ethics and Care in Cultural Knowledge Exchange and Trans-Disciplinary Research, Research Report. NCACE. Available at: https://ncace.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NCACE-Research-Report-Collaborations.pdf 

CARR, A., VELIZ, A., 2023. Placemaking by making: The techno-geographies of housing co-production. Creativity, Knowledge, Cities Conference 2023: New futures for creative economies. 29-30 March 2023, Bristol, United Kingdom. 

VELIZ, A., CARR, A., 2022. Participatory Housing Manufacturing. Project presentation at the Connected Everything Conference 2022: Digital Manufacturing Research Collaboration and Innovation. 18-19 May 2022, Liverpool, United Kingdom.