Violet is a Senior Research Associate working on the EPSRC-funded Fixing the Future: The Right-to-Repair and Equal IoT project. Her current research focuses on the repairability of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and exploring innovative ways to engage the public in conversations about repair rights. Through her work, Violet is investigating how Research through Design (RtD), Participatory Design, and Speculative Design approaches can be harnessed to educate and raise awareness about the barriers and opportunities for IoT repair.

In her most recent project, Violet has developed Serious Games to create interactive experiences that allow people to engage with the complex issues surrounding repair and repair rights. She aims to foster a deeper understanding of the challenges and possibilities for a more sustainable, repairable future in the IoT sector.

Violet also conducts research in Creative Evaluation. Her doctoral research and collaborative work with colleagues at Lancaster University focus on Creative Evaluation, with an emphasis on participatory and design-based approaches to help organisations measure their impact in meaningful ways. Her work particularly supports organisations in the third sector to capture intangible and nuanced outcomes that are often overlooked by traditional evaluation methods. Approaching evaluation from a design research perspective, Violet aims to offer an alternative to the social science frameworks that dominate the field. She is also a founding member of the Lancaster Evaluation Group (LEG), an interdisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners from various institutions, united by a shared interest in evaluative practice.

Recent Publications

Fostering IoT Repair Through Care: Learning from Emotional Durable Gaming Practices and Communities. Violet Owen, Michael Stead and Paul Coulton. Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2024. Winner of best Provocation Work in Progress Paper.

The Little Book of Creative Evaluation. Elisavet Christou, Violet Owen and Pinar Ceyhan. Independent Publishing.

Smarter Repair 2053. Paul Coulton, Michael Stead and Violet Owen. The Design Journal.