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Fernando Galdon

Dr Fernando Galdon

Email [email protected]

Fernando’s interdisciplinary background ranges from Product Design, Computer Science, Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Sociology. His work investigates the social, technological, and political implications of Trust Design.

Fernando holds a BA Product Design, an MSc Cognitive Computing and an MRes Design, all from Goldsmiths. As well as a PhD Design from the RCA..

His design practice experiments with the use of design, art, sociology, science and technology as mediums to reconfigure processes and systems of production to question the social, cultural, ethical and political context in which they operate.

His research has been published and presented internationally at conferences at MIT, the University of Cambridge, the University of Manchester, the RCA, the University of Côte d’Azur, UNISINOS Brazil, CHUV Lausanne and the Design Museum in London.

Key details

School, Centre or Area

Gallery

  • The Ontological Nature of Design

    The Ontological Nature of Design

    Fernando Galdon

  • Trust calculator

    Trust Calculator

    Fernando Galdon

  • Prospective Design

    Prospective Design

    Fernando Galdon

  • Book - A design history of COVID-19. A compilation of 500 design cases

    Book – A design history of COVID-19. A compilation of 500 design cases.

    Paul Rodgers, Fernando Galdon, and Craig Bremner. Design; Fernando Galdon.

  • Report - The Smart City Innovation Challenge. A Documentation of a collaborative project between IDE and WCC (Westminster City Council)

    Report - The Smart City Innovation Challenge. ADocumentation of a collaborative project between IDE and WCC (Westminster City Council)

    Design: Fernando Galdon

More information

Fernando investigates trust design at the intersection of artificial intelligence, ethics, and society.

As part of his research, he has developed novel methodologies in design practice, such as Prospective Design.

This future-led, mixed-methodology incorporates trajectories, probabilistic extrapolation, asymmetries, consequential analysis and counter-fictions to design novel strategies to mitigate unintended consequences in prospective technological developments.

In this process, he experimented with notions of synthetic morality by developing multi-dimensional strategies such as Synthetic Consequential Reasoning, and alternative forms of moral calculations. This bottom-up approach was combined with top-down strategies such as the articulation of a new digital right, ‘the right to reparation’.

Further areas of interest are design theory, and sustainability. In the former, he has made significant contributions to design theory by redefining the ontological nature of design. This research advances knowledge by making a fundamental contribution to the contextualisation of Glanville’s concept of 'knowledge for’ transforming the future as a posteriori and probabilistic knowledge ontology. In the latest, he has published a new framework on Object-Oriented-Upcycling to develop an object-based approach to the circular economy, and a conceptual framework conceptualizing Deep Products with the specificity of Subtraction-by-design.

During his career, Fernando has worked individually and collaborated in a number of projects. Key works include ‘A design history of COVID-19’, a research-on-the-moment initiative supported by the AHRC Research for change initiative. IMPACT, a collaboration module between the RCA, ICL, and Westminster City Council approaching smart cities from a human-centred perspective. He is part of the inaugural International Upcycling Research Network

UKRI AHRC Research Network Project (AH/W007134/1)

Fernando has participated in a series of international conferences, including;

  • (2022) The Design Research Society Conference DRS2022, The University of Banque Country, SP
  • (2021) 23rd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, Denmark
  • (2021) The European Academy of Design EAD2021; Safe Harbours. Lancaster, UK
  • (2021) The Design Research Society Conference DRS2021, LEARNXDESIGN 2021: VISUAL PAPERS, China
  • (2020) Design Culture Symposium (DCS), Brazil.
  • (2019) The International Conference on Industry 4.0 and Artificial Intelligence Technologies. The University of Cambridge, UK.
  • (2019) The 1st International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies, The University of Côte d'Azur, Nice, FR.
  • (2019) Applied Energy Symposium AEAB2019, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, USA.

(2019) The International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference IASDR2019, The University of Manchester, UK

Art and Humanities Research Council Studentship

This Studentship funded my master in research work on the Design Programme at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Fernando's publications range from books, book chapters, journal papers, and academic conference papers.

Workshops:

  • 2018 - RCA open - Designing trust in AI
  • 2018 - RCA open - The future of virtual assistants on sustainability
  • 2020 - RCA MRes - Prospective design
  • 2021 - RCA MRes - Decolonising trust in UI
  • 2021 - RCA IDE - What is design?
  • 2022 – RCA IDE – Designing Trust

Publications

Academic Papers:

  • Galdon, F., and Hall, A. (2022) Deep products via undisciplined stewardship: Towards an environmentally-led design pedagogy for the 21st century, in Lockton, D., Lenzi, S., Hekkert, P., Oak, A., Sádaba, J., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2022: Bilbao, 25 June - 3 July, Bilbao, Spain. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.455
  • Galdon, F. & Hall, A. (2021). (Un)Frayling design research in design education for the 21Cth Conference: The European Academy of Design (EAD2021); Safe Harbours. At: Lancaster, UK. DOI: 10.5151/ead2021-151
  • Ferrarello, L., Fiadeiro, R.P., Hall, A., Galdon, F., Anderson, P., Grinyer, C., Stevens, J.,and Hee Lee, C.(2021) Learning remotely through diversity and social awareness: The grand challenge approach to tackle societal issues through diversity and creative thinking, in Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Pan, L., Börekçi, N.A.G.Z., Zhang, Y. (eds.), Learn X Design 2021: Engaging with challenges in design education, 24-26 September, Shandong University of Art & Design, Jinan, China. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs_lxd2021.03.210
  • Galdon, F., Hall, A. (2020). The right to reparations: a new digital right for repairing trust in the emerging era of highly autonomous systems. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies: Future Applications (IHIET-AI 2020) Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • Galdon, F., Hall, A. (2020). Synthetic Consequential Reasoning: Facilitating the design of synthetic morality in highly automated systems via a multidimensional-scalar framework. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies: Future Applications (IHIET-AI 2020) Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • Galdon, F., Hall, A., & Ferrarello, L. (2020). Designing trust in Artificial Intelligence: A comparative study among specifications, principles and levels of control. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies: Future Applications (IHIET-AI 2020) Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • Galdon, F., Hall, A. & Wang, S. J. (2019). Prospective design: A future-led mixed-methodology to mitigate unintended consequences. Proceedings of the International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference IASDR2019, The University of Manchester, UK.
  • Galdon, F., & Wang, S. J. (2019). From apology to compensation; A multi-level taxonomy of trust reparation for highly automated virtual assistants. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies (IHIET 2019) conference August 22-24, 2019, Nice, France.
  • Galdon, F., & Wang, S. J. (2019). Addressing accountability in highly autonomous virtual assistants. Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies (IHIET 2019) conference August 22-24, 2019, Nice, France.
  • Galdon, F., & Wang, S. J. (2019). Optimizing user engagement in highly automated virtual assistants to improve energy management and consumption. Proceedings of the Applied Energy Symposium, MIT Media Lab, 22-24 May 2019.
  • Galdon, F., & Wang, S. J. (2019). Future development of AI Virtual Assistants (VAs) in Energy management and consumption. Proceedings of the Applied Energy Symposium, MIT Media Lab, 22-24 May 2019.
  • Rodgers, P., Galdon, F., Bremner, C. (2020). Design Research-in-the-Moment: Eliciting Evolutive Traces during the Covid-19 Crisis. Design Research Journal 13(3):18 Follow journal
  • Galdon, F., Hall, A, Ferrarello, L. (2020). Futuring and trust; A prospective approach to designing trusted futures via a comparative study among design future models. Design Culture Symposium (DCS)
  • Galdon, F., Hall, A, Ferrarello, L. (2020). Futuring and trust; A prospective approach to designing trusted futures via a comparative study among design future models. Design Research Journal (accepted, to be published in next issue)
  • Galdon, F., Bertelsen, S. E. Jeremy Hulse, J., Hall, A, (2020). Object-Oriented-Upcycling: An object-based approach to the circular economy. Conference Paper. International Upcycling Symposium 2020 Research and Practice
  • Galdon, F., Hall, A, Ferrarello, L. (2021). Enhancing abductive reasoning in design and engineering education via probabilistic knowledge: a case study in AI. International conference on engineering and product design education.
  • Ferrarello, L, Rute, P.C.F, Hall, A, Galdon, F, Anderson, P, Grinyer, C, Stevens, J, Lee, C,H. (2021). Learning Remotely through Diversity and Social Awareness. The Grand Challenge approach to tackle societal issues through diversity and creative thinking, LearnxDesign.
  • Galdon, F., Hall, A. (2021). (Un)Frayling design research in design education for the 21Cth. The 14th EAD Conference; Safe harbours, Lancaster, UK, 11-16 Oct 2021.
  • CHAPTERS
  • Rodgers, P., Bremner, C., Galdon, F. (2022). The Usefulness of Imperfect Design”. In book: Design and Covid-19: From Reaction to Resilience. Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishers, London.
  • Galdon, F., Hall, A. (2019). The ontological nature of design; prospecting new futures through probabilistic knowledge. Design Research for Change Symposium. Design Museum, London. ISBN 978-1-86220-369-3
  • Galdon, F., & Wang, S. J. (2019). Designing trust in highly automated virtual assistants: A taxonomy of levels of autonomy. Artificial Intelligence in Industry 4.0: A collection of innovative research case-studies. International Conference on Industry 4.0 and Artificial Intelligence Technologies IAIT. Cambridge, UK.
  • Rodgers, P. A., Bremner, C., Galdon, F. (2022). The Usefulness of Imperfect Design. In: Design and Covid-19: From Reaction to ResiliencePublisher: Bloomsbury Publishers, London.
  • BOOKS
  • Rodgers, P., Galdon, F., Bremner, C. (2020). A Design History of the Covid-19 Virus. Publisher: Lancaster University. ISBN: 978-1-86220-390-7
  • REPORTS
  • Hall, A, (2021). Design For Safety Grand Challenge Report. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19588.65923
  • CASES
  • Craft, B., & Dare, E. (2012). Physical Computing, Handcranked Press, August 2012. Publication by project: Digital Brownie by Fernando Galdon and Catherine M. Weir.

McConnon, N. et al., (2013). Digital Revolution. Eds. Barbican International Enterprises, London. Publication by project: Digital Brownie by Fernando Galdon and Catherine M. Weir