A person with long brown hair, wearing glasses and a green jacket, smiling at the camera.

Programme:

Design - MPhil/PhD

Start date:

September 2024

Mode of study:

Part time

Research title:

Developing a Situated Sense of Ethics in Design: An Empirical Investigation to Contextualize the Plurality of Ethics in Design

Biography

Lisa Elzey Mercer (she/her/hers) is a designer, educator, and researcher. Her research focuses on developing, executing, and analyzing interventions and frameworks that support critical thought and collaboration to find ethical solutions to complex social issues. The intent is to create conversation and knowledge exchange where participants are working in a participatory and co-design process. This work has been integrated into academic, community, and organizational settings and explores methods for achieving input from multiple perspectives and voices. This thread of research is evident in her primary research projects, including Operation Compass, a research study focused on developing design interventions specific to human trafficking; Racism Untaught, a research study focused on developing co-design spaces where people analyze and reimagine forms of racialized and oppressive design; and research, focused on developing a situated sense of ethics in design, an empirical investigation to contextualize the plurality of ethics in design. She co-wrote the book, Racism Untaught: Revealing and Unlearning Racialized Design, with Terresa Moses, published by MIT Press in 2023.