Area of Research Expertise

Design - Critical design (fine art and interactive design hybrid). Content - Personal space, social interaction and proximity between humans and machines. Fields - HCI (Human-computer interaction) STS (Science and Techno-Science), AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ALife (Artificial Life). Technologies of Interest - Software agents (Chatterbots), automated systems and speech synthesis, RFID, atomic power and nuclear weapons. Theories and Methodologies -  Queer theory, affect theory,  performativity, actor-network theory and complexity.

Research Profile

Amanda currently leads the graphic design and new media pathway of the Foundation Diploma in Further Education at Epsom. Her research in design, writing and critical theory are also used to teach a broad range of critical and theoretical concerns currently as a sessional BA tutor in Fashion Journalism and MA tutor for the Fashion, Graphic Design and New Media courses at Epsom.

Amanda is now in the final stages of an AHRC funded doctorate study at Wimbledon College of Art, London; having previously studied Fine Art at Newcastle University and completed an MA in Print at Wimbledon School of Art with an AHRB award. She also received a VET (video editing training) award at the Lux Building, Hoxton Square.   

Subsequently, her artwork has been exhibited in Maine, Tokyo, Seoul as well as the UK. Papers have been presented in the US, Ghent, Switzerland and the UK. Amanda recently co-organised a New Scholars conference - Experimental Methodologies at Wimbledon College of Art. She was also part of a research workshop and group investigating EU funding for Feminism and Technoscience and is a member of EASST (European Association of Science and Technoscience Studies).   

Her current part-time doctorate study of four years included external training in three MSc modules in Social Research at the University of Surrey. This included Documentary Analysis, Innovations in Online Research and the Sociology of New Technologies. Her PhD title is: An interactive approach to visualising personal space and relations of power in an audio study of bots and software agents advanced through art and design visualisations including maps, models and diagrams.     

Amanda recently completed a lab visit in Zurich to begin the next phase of her study, working with AI researchers. The research is to bring new evidence to bear on personal space, the distance of proximity between humans and active touch by investigating the interaction of humans and machines. The project focuses on the technology of bots and software agents from the fields of AI and ALife (New AI/Nouveau AI). These technologies can be used to re-interpret the existing politics of social interaction particular with complex systems. A cross-disciplinary framework of actor-network theory, affect theory and queer theory are triangulated to obtain new perspectives on the social relations peculiar to bots and software agents. The research renders the study of personal space a study of power and in doing so, helps to consider the social shaping of complex systems and the relations between groups and individuals mediated through technology. Research focuses on text-to-speech to reveal complexity through mapping and visualisation techniques. This is a combined art and design methodology, modelled on Dunne and Raby's critical design method.   

Previous to embarking on a career in research and education with a PGCE in Further and Higher Education she also worked in the public and private sectors. For over two years Amanda was a Parliamentary Monitoring Researcher at Westminster, tracking governmental legislation and press releases for an Independent Press Agency. Her research included working for the Hong Kong government, Marconi, the British Film Classification Board, BSkyB and BNFL, tracking a broad range of domestic and foreign policy which meant researching diverse subjects, from nuclear weapons to film classification issues. Amanda also worked as an Account Handler in a London based advertising and design agency producing adverts in the trade and national press, product literature and websites for a range of financial investment clients.   

Amanda is used to working collaboratively and is also a founding member of the Home Interaction Research Cluster at UCA. Her maps and diagrams of complexity are used by the Complex lab, Italy. She recently designed Christian Nold's, Greenwich Emotion Map for Independent Photography, printed by Ordnance Survey. Since then they have gone on to work on a further collaborative project focusing around the political implications of RFID technology and research.

Research Degree Supervision

Amanda recently undertook doctorate supervision training with UCA and Brighton University and can advise on theoretical and practice-led doctoral studies in design and fine art specialising in trans and inter- disciplinarity with social, political and technological subject areas.

Personal Website

www.amandawindle.com