Meet Monash University’s latest Women in STEMM Student Leaders – Belinda Routley
PhD Candidate – Art, Design and Architecture
Research focus: Investigating day patient experience through design methodologies and practices to inform more meaningful and positive healthcare experiences and improve the lives of patients, staff, family and carers
Belinda Routley is a recipient of a 2023 Women in STEMM Student Leader Award. These awards aim to recognise, celebrate and support women students at Monash University who are contributing to innovation in healthcare and medical technologies. MIME spoke to Belinda upon accepting this award.
What is your chosen degree and what inspired you to pursue this path?
My chosen degree is a PhD in Design, within Monash Art, Design and Architecture’s Design Health Collab.
I initially enrolled in a Master of Design (by research), then applied to transfer to a PhD at my Confirmation milestone after realising that the research project is much more substantial and complex, requiring more time to make a meaningful contribution to the field.
My research work is drawn from my lived experience of a person living with chronic neuropathic (nerve) pain. I have had and still require regular medical appointments and procedures to manage chronic pain symptoms. As a result of this, I have spent a lot of time in medical settings, looking at blank walls or experiencing environments that are not patient-centered. As a designer, I could see opportunity for change.
What is your favourite aspect about this STEMM field?
My favourite aspect of working across design and health is the opportunity to utilise my skills as a designer, educator, and researcher, with interdisciplinary collaboration including fellow PhD candidates, academic staff, and professionals. I have had the opportunity to engage with and build relationships with industry, and these interactions continue to inform and further develop my research. Knowing that this research could have a real impact and be of benefit to other patients provides great motivation.
Can you elaborate on your contribution to innovation in healthcare and medical technologies?
I am working with Associate Professor Gene Bawden, Professor Daphne Flynn and Dr Troy Mcgee to examine the current state of spatial design in healthcare architecture; with an ambition to apply an empathetic lens to day patient experiences.
The current hospital experience of patients admitted for day procedures can range from stress, to anxiety, to boredom. A patient’s experience during their hospital admission can vary considerably due to a range of influencing and competing factors, including unexpected wait times, the lack of communication, and their sense of disempowerment.
This ongoing research makes the case for the need for transformative change to the spatial experiences of medical treatment. It poses such questions as: do existing tools and methodologies lead to more meaningful or positive patient experiences? Are there systemic, service or experiential gaps in these experiences that could be addressed by design?
By identifying gaps in current design approaches to healthcare facilities, this research seeks to better connect which design practices lead to more meaningful and positive experiences to improve the lives of patients, healthcare staff, family and carers.
Can you tell us a little of your leadership experience?
During my research, I seek to encourage others around me in their own research work through collaboration. I have organised regular times for a group of PhD candidates to meet-up to discuss our work and provide support. This has really helped to develop connections with other PhD candidates and opportunities for peer learning.
I have always found helping and encouraging others rewarding, and even more so now within the context of higher degree research into healthcare innovation and design.
I have also begun prototyping and piloting workshops with other PhD candidates for
dissemination and feedback. I have found this to be a highly valuable experience; to
collaborate with my peers, to learn from and influence each other in this space and to
potentially engage with their research.
Over the two years that I have been working on my PhD, I have demonstrated leadership through:
- Representing Monash University at the Australian Health Design Council Conference 2023 in November. This provided a valuable opportunity to network with professionals working within the healthcare industry including architects, patient experience designers and design researchers.
- Being a member of the Design Health Collab community.
- Contributing to the wider Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA) and Monash community through participating in workshops and symposiums.
The MIME Women in STEMM Student Leader Awards recognise student leadership. What does receiving this award mean to you?
I am excited to be a part of this year’s group of awardees and to represent women within STEMM. As a person living with chronic pain and wanting to make a difference, I am honoured to be a recipient, and being half-way through my PhD, it provides recognition for the work that I have completed so far and encouragement to keep going.
What will the $1,000 cash prize to support your studies go towards?
The $1,000 cash prize will go towards the costs of attending the ‘Design4Health 2024’ conference at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK in June, or the Australian Health Design Council Conference 2024 in Sydney in November.
What are you most looking forward to in regard to the MIME networking opportunities afforded to you due to receiving this award?
I am really looking forward to supporting and celebrating fellow women students at Monash working in STEMM. Having the chance to engage with like-minded individuals, share my research, and connect with industry may lead to discovering new opportunities for designers like myself within STEMM fields. The interdisciplinarity of the network will provide an opportunity to think differently about my own project and its outcomes.
Why do you think awards like this are important for Women in STEMM?
It is important for awards like this to champion women in STEMM. Increasing gender diversity provides the opportunity to better reflect the make-up of society, to diversify the scope of thinking, and enable progressive innovation, the one thing AI cannot do!
What is your advice for women in STEMM or those thinking about a career in STEMM?
As a designer I did not anticipate working in a STEMM field, but it has been an unexpected and highly rewarding experience. There is a growing opportunity for designers to work in healthcare in collaboration with STEMM professionals who are seeking the skills of designers who can apply an empathetic lens to understand user needs and solve complex human-centred problems.
It is a privilege to work with my supervisors and the Monash community who challenge and encourage me each step of the way. We need more women in STEMM, if you are working in or considering a career in STEMM, the opportunities are there; women can, and do, make a difference.