I'm Professor of Craft, Digital Creativity and Wellbeing in the School of Design at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. My design education was in the field  of jewellery and as a researcher most of my work has been concerned with the establishment and development of digital jewellery in academic research as meaningful forms of object - things that connect us to each other and ourselves in gentle ways across a range of complex human contexts. I've collaborated with academics from HCI, Computer Science, Health Disciplines and Design over the past 20 years. I'm passionate about the poetic and relational qualities of jewellery; of working with people in creative and dialogical ways; of craft as a methodology in a complex digital culture and of the potential of thinking through making/finding meaning through making. 

Recent work stems from leading the Enabling Ongoingness research project funded by the EPSRC in the context of bereavement, end of life and dementia  in order to support sense of self and relationships with others in relation to the notion of ongoingness. 

Working with clay has been part of my practice for many years and making pottery with people within participatory research engagements is where my work has led me. I've recently set up the Beamish Pottery Group at Beamish Open Air Museum with the Beamish Health and Wellbeing Team. The group is made up of people living with brain changes, including dementia. Other current work is extending ongoingness research through a project with St Oswald's hospice, Bereavement Support team, Newcastle, UK.

As co-investigator on the hiCraft project led by Prof. Justin Marshall I'm exploring how a craft lens can offer new insights to healthier experiences with IoT and the internet. 

I'm the Ageless Citizen theme lead for Northumbria university as co-investigator on the Centre for Digital Citizens an EPSRC funded project addressing the emerging challenges of digital citizenship and working closely with Innovation Fellow Henry Collingham. 

I'm the co-founder of RTD (Research Through Design) conference with Prof. Joyce Yee and co-founder of the Journal of Jewellery Research with Dr Roberta Bernabei.

[The image that I use here is of a brooch housing a photo of my grandfather - he had it made when he was 19 and gave it to my grandmother when he proposed to her before going to war. My using this image could seem to be based in sentimentality - but this isn't the case. Apart from the personal meaning of this piece, and an image of my grandad that I love, I use it because it speaks to what is fundamental to the potential of jewellery. A category of objects that can be intensely human, comprising complex relational dynamics and meanings, able to transport us to other people, places, emotional states - all whilst maintaining a close connection, physically and conceptually, to the body. There is the potential for an intense privacy played out in a public forum that makes jewellery unique as a carrier of meaning.]

jayne.wallace[at]northumbria.ac.uk

Jayne Wallace PhD, MA, BA (hons)

CoCreate Research Studio, room 201

School of Design

City Campus East

Northumbria University

Newcastle Upon Tyne

NE1 8ST

UK