Professor Rebecca Cain advocates for the power of design to improve our human and planetary well-being. Driven by human-centred thinking, she has 20 years’ experience in building diverse inter-disciplinary teams – encompassing design, engineering, architecture, science, social science, psychology, business, philosophy and health – to tackle complex problems.

She founded and directs the HOME Centre for Doctoral Training – a transdisciplinary research centre that uses creative methods to rethink homelessness, and co-edited the book Design for Wellbeing, with a second edition forthcoming.

Having achieved her PhD in Participatory Design at Loughborough, she spent 12 years with the Warwick Manufacturing Group (University of Warwick). As an EPSRC Fellow and head of the Experiential Engineering Research Group, she developed her unique approach to embedding human-centred thinking within engineering culture, using a fusion of experimentation, creative methods, extensive collaboration with industry, and citizen and stakeholder participation.

Returning to Loughborough in 2017, she was Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and is now Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Vibrant and Inclusive Communities. She has 14 years of board roles within the Design Research Society, most recently as Chair. She sits on the Learning and Research Committee at the Design Museum, and is a Fellow of the RSA.