Professor Gareth Loudon

Gareth’s research work focuses on the exploration and application of different creativity models and approaches to real world challenges in a range of sectors including healthcare, food, the creative industries and education. Gareth also undertakes research into how other factors affect creativity for individuals, teams and organisations, such as a person’s psychophysiological state, cultural values and beliefs, organisational leadership and management, interdisciplinary collaboration, cross-cultural collaboration, and social and physical environments.

(2019–21) Innovate UK, Knowledge Transfer Partnership with P&A Ltd.
Embedding UCD in new product development of outdoor furniture

(2018–21) AHRC Creative Clusters Grant
Developing R&D potential of screen media and news companies in South Wales, Co-Investigator 

(2018–21) National Professional Enquiry Project, Welsh Government
Developing professional enquiry skills of teachers for the New Curriculum for Wales

(2017–18) AHRC/GCRF Research Networking Grant
'Improving healthcare support for rural communities in India', Principal Investigator 

(2017–18) SMART Partnership Grant, Welsh Government
'Embedding User Centred Design in FinTech Product Development' 

(2017) Life Sciences Bridging Fund, Welsh Government
Design and user testing of Red Cross First Responder Pack

(2017–18) SMART Partnership Grant, Welsh Government
‘Embedding User Centred Design in FinTech Product Development’

(2015–16) Innovate UK
Feasibility Study for tracking attention using Heart Rate Variability

Co-Founder and Director, Centre for Creativity Ltd, UK, 2013–present
Research, training and consultancy to help organisation develop a culture of creativity.

Co-Founder and Director, Rikoset Ltd, UK, 2009–16
Award winning, specialist manufacturer of highly-engineered, bespoke protection products for Premier League football clubs.

Co-Founder and Director, Light Minds Ltd, UK, 2003–6
Design research consultancy that provided customer insight research for new product development.

Programme Manager, Ericsson Research, Singapore, 1999–2002
Gareth led international transdisciplinary teams in the creation, design and development of new mobile devices and services.

Programme Manager/Deputy Director, Kent Ridge Digital Labs, Singapore, 1997–9
Gareth led collaboration with companies including AsiaWorks, Hitachi, Star+Globe and SpeechWorks to commercialise the speech and handwriting recognition technology developed for Chinese and Japanese. 

Researcher/Programme Leader, Apple-ISS Research Centre, Singapore, 1993–7
Gareth developed a world leading Chinese on-line handwriting recognition system. The system was included in Apple’s Advanced Chinese Input Suite product launched in 1996.

Systems Design Engineer, Cegelec Projects Ltd, UK, 1991–2
Industrial plant modelling and process control (Marine and Steel divisions).

• (2011) Rikoset: Winner at the Best of Welsh Design Awards
• (2001) Bronze award at the Industrial Design Excellence Awards for BuddySync – a mobile communication device/service for teenagers
• (1997) Silver award at the Industrial Design Excellence Awards for the user interface design of Apple’s Advanced Chinese Input Suite product
• (1996) Runner up, Best Software Product Award, COMDEX Asia, Advanced Chinese Input Suite
• (1995) Best Software Product Award, COMDEX Asia, Chinese Dictation Kit 1.0

Barker, J., Clifton, N. and Loudon, G., (2020). Perspectives on innovation within medium-sized firms in Wales. Welsh Economic Review, 27, pp.6–17.

Gilmour, A., Gill, S. and Loudon, G. (2020). Participatory Design Research of Vegetable-based Snack Products with Adolescent Participants, 6th International Conference on Design Creativity, August, pp. 160-167.

Gilmour, A., Gill, S. and Loudon, G. (2020). Young adolescents’ experiences and views on eating and food, Young Consumers, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 389-402.

Loudon, G. and Deininger, G. (2020). The Importance of Presencing in Creativity, In Gunnlaugson, O. and Brendel, W. (Eds.), Advances in Presencing Volume II: Individual Approaches in Theory U, Trifoss Business Press, pp. 131-154.

Loudon G. (2019). Experiences of running a ‘Play and Creativity’ module in a School of Art & Design, In James, A. and Nerantzi, C. (Eds.), The Power of Play in Higher Education: Creativity in Tertiary Learning, Palgrave Macmillan.

Lawrence, A., Loudon, G., Gill, S. & Baldwin, J. (2019). Simulated Environments for Food Packaging Design Assessment, Proceedings of 11th International Conference on Culinary Arts and Sciences, Cardiff, pp. 53-74.

Clifton, N., Fuzi, A. and Loudon, G. (2019). Coworking in the Digital Economy: Context, Motivations, and Outcomes, Futures, July, DOI: 10.1016/j.futures.2019.102439.

Lawrence, A., Loudon, G., Gill, S., Pepperell, R. and Baldwin, J. (2019). Geometry vs Realism: an exploration of visual immersion in a synthetic reality space, IASDR Conference Proceedings, Manchester, Sept.

Gordon, B., Loudon, G. and Gill, S. (2019). Product user testing: The void between Laboratory testing and field testing, IASDR Conference Proceedings, Manchester, Sept.

Loudon G. (2019). Integrating ideas from design disciplines into the STEM curricula, Special Issue of Higher Education Pedagogies: Creativity in STEM Higher Education Vol. 4, Issue 1, pp. 284-286.

Loudon, G. and Gordon, B. (2019). How student engagement has been enhanced through research into factors affecting creativity, Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 84-101.

Loudon, G.H., Kumar, C.S., Sreekumar, K.T., Haritha H., and George, K.K. (2019). Empowering indigenous communities in India through the use of design thinking methods, ESRC/AHRC GCRF Indigenous Methods Workshop, Rio de Janeiro.

Smaradottir, B., Martinez, S., Boryck, E., Loudon, G., Kushniruk, A., Jortveit, J.  and Fensli, R. (2018). User Evaluation of a Smartphone Application for Anticoagulation Therapy, in A. Ugon et al. (Eds.), Building Continents of Knowledge in Oceans of Data: The Future of Co-Created eHealth, pp. 466-470. 

Barker, J., Clifton, N. and Loudon, G. (2018). Opening Innovation Doors through Digital Platforms: Ethnographic Insights, Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference 2018, 7-8 November, Birmingham, UK.

Loudon, G., Watkins, C., D’Onofrio, A., Hopkins, H. and Ancelot, E. (2017). Collaborative Research Model for Designing Sustainable Water Usage Solutions, 6th International Conference on Research into Design, 9th-11th January, Guwahati, India.

Watkins, C., Loudon, G., Gill, S. and Hall, J. (2017). Improving Aid Through Good Design: A Case study in Rural Zambia, 6th International Conference on Research into Design, 9th-11th January, Guwahati, India.

Loudon, G.H. and Deininger, G.M. (2017). The Physiological Response to Drawing and Its Relation to Attention and Relaxation. Journal of Behavioural and Brain Science, 7, pp. 111-124. 

Loudon, G.H., Zampelis, D. and Deininger, G.M.  (2017). Using Real-time Biofeedback of Heart Rate Variability Measures to Track and Help Improve Levels of Attention and Relaxation. ACM Creativity and Cognition Conference, 27th-30th June, Singapore.

Thomas, A., Dorrington, P., Costa, F., Loudon, G., Francis, M., and Fisher, R. (2017). Organisational learning capability in SMEs: An empirical development of innovation in the supply chain, , Cogent Business & Management, vol. 4, Issue 1.

Entwistle, A., Burrows, I., Carroll, F., Thomas, N., Ware, M., and Loudon, G. (2017). Affect and Dialogue in Collaborative Cross – Disciplinary Research: Developing Interactive. Public Art on Cardiff Bay Barrage, Open Cultural Studies, 1, pp. 576–590. 

Loudon, G. and Deininger, G. (2016). The Physiological Response during Divergent Thinking. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 6, pp. 28-37.

Clarke, S., Nurse, S., Gordon, B. and Loudon, G.  (2016). The challenges of embedding a User-Centred, Ecodesign process within an SME: A case study in the building fabrication sector, R&D Management Conference, 3rd – 6th July, Cambridge, UK.

Coleman, S, Treadaway, C., and Loudon, G. (2016). From Product to Process: Reframing design research methods to support well-being in the dementia care environment, Well being conference, 5th – 6th September, Birmingham, UK.

Thomas, A., Dorrington, P., Costa, F. and Loudon G. (2016). Organizational Learning Capability: An Empirical Assessment of Innovative Supply Chain Development, 14th International Conference of Manufacturing Research, 6th – 8th September, Loughborough, UK.

Coleman, S, Treadaway, C., and Loudon, G. (2016). Avenues, Values, and the Muse: An ethnographic study of creative activity to support the wellbeing of residents living with dementia in residential care, 10th Internal Conference on Design and Emotion, 27th – 30th September, Amsterdam.

A. Dix, A. Malizia, T. Turchi, S. Gill, G. Loudon, R. Morris, A. Chamberlain and A. Bellucci (2016). Rich Digital Collaborations in a Small Rural Community. Chapter 20 in Collaboration Meets Interactive Spaces, C. Anslow et al. (eds.), Springer.

Watkins C. A., Loudon, G. H., Gill, S. and Hall, J.E. (2015). The Challenges of taking a User-Centric Approach within developing countries: A case study of designing medical solutions for Zambia, Proceedings of the 11th European Academy of Design Conference, Paris Desartes University, Boulogne Billancourt, France, April 22-24.

Fuzi, A., Clifton, N. and Loudon, G.H. (2015). New spaces for supporting entrepreneurship? Co-working spaces in the Welsh entrepreneurial landscape, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of entrepreneurship, innovation and regional development, Sheffield, UK, June 18-19.

Watkins, C.A., Loudon, G.H., Gill, S., and Hall, J.E. (2014). Can design thinking be used to improve healthcare in Lusaka Province, Zambia?, International Design Conference, Dubrovnik – Croatia, May 19 – 22.

Fuzi, A., Clifton, N. and Loudon, G.H. (2014). New in-house organizational spaces that support creativity and innovation: the co-working space, R&D Management Conference, Stuttgart, 3rd-6th June, Stuttgart.

Loudon, G.H. and Deininger, G.M. (2014). A new model for supporting creativity in research organisations, R&D Management Conference, 3rd – 6th June, Stuttgart.

Hare, J., Gill, S., Loudon, G. and Lewis, A. (2014). Active and passive physicality: making the most of low-fidelity physical interactive prototypes, Journal of Design Research, Volume 12, Number 4, pp. 330-348.

Woolley, A., Loudon, G. and Gill, S. (2013). Getting into Context Early: A comparative study of laboratory and in-context user testing of low fidelity information appliance prototypes, The Design Journal, Volume 16, Number 4, pp. 460-485.

Loudon,G.H, Chen,H. and Tng,T.H. (2003). Recognition Process, US Patent, No. US2003086611

Loudon,G.H, Pittman,J.A. and Wu, Y.M. (2003). Methods and apparatus for handwriting recognition, US Patent, No. US6556712

Sacher,H. and Loudon,G.H. (2002). Understanding the wireless interaction paradigm: From 3G technology to customer solutions, Interactions (ACM), Volume IX.1, pp.17-23.

Bai,S., Li,H., Loudon,G.H., and Wu,H.J.P. (2001) System for chinese tokenization and named entity recognition, US Patent, No. 6,311,152.

Sacher,H., Tng,T.H. and Loudon,G.H. (2001). Beyond Translation: Approaches to Interactive Products for Chinese Consumers, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Vol. 13, No. 1, pp.  41-51.

Gao,Y., Hon,H.W., Lin,Z., Loudon,G.H., Yogananthan,S. and Yuan,B. (1995). Tangerine : A Large Vocabulary Mandarin Dictation System, International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, USA.

Loudon,G.H., Jones,N.B. and Sehmi,A.S. (1992). New signal processing techniques for the decomposition of EMG signals – Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing journal, UK, Vol. 30., pp. 591-599.

• (2020–) Academic Member, AHRC Peer Review College
• (2020–) Member, Research Alliance Strategy Group for the Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD)
• (2021) Co-Chair (Showcase Track), India HCI Conference
• (2018–) Reviewer, Thinking Skills and Creativity Journal