Maternal Machines: Imagining Experiences in Perinatal Care
a one-day in-person workshop at CHI 2025 in Yokohama, Japan. Sunday 27th April 2025
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Maternal Machines: Imagining Experiences in Perinatal Care will be an interrogative, speculative workshop
In this in person one-day workshop, we will explore imagined scenarios of care during the perinatal period. Our workshop will include presentations and visualisations, hands-on interactions and group discussions. We will cultivate critical discussions about practical, ethical and conceptual questions implicated in technologies for care.
We will particularly explore two interrelated themes in our workshop: non-numerical forms of knowledge and touch related experiences.
Non-numerical forms of knowledge
Many technologies can monitor patterns of temperature, breathing, heart rate, sleep, frequency of feeds, weight, facial expressions. Although often perceived as more reliable than humans in monitoring wellbeing, such interventions coexist with non-numerical forms of knowledge that are bodily, sensorial and culturally dependent. In our workshop, we will explore ways in which technologies might coexist and support non-numerical, bodily ways of knowing.
Touch
Touch plays a significant role during perinatal care and is an important sense for measuring wellbeing. Touch can reduce stress, release oxytocin, help with bonding, regulate heart rate and breathing. Can haptic technologies and robotics expand opportunities for interactions involving human touch in a diversity of settings of care? What are the ethical implications? We will address this in our workshop through discussions and ideated scenarios.
Read more in our workshop proposal.
SCHEDULE
9:00 Welcome and Introductions
9:20 Drawing activity: imaginaries
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 Non-numerical ways of knowing
12:40 Lunch
14:10 Touch
15:40 Coffee break
16:20 Discussions, Wrap up
17:30 End of workshop
ORGANISERS
Paulina Yurman is a designer, researcher and lecturer in industrial design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. She is the recipient of a Wellcome Research EC grant for her research project Maternal Machines: Design Speculations about Fantasies of Care, which explores imaginaries and ideations in spaces related to maternal and infant care. Her work is informed by speculative and research through design approaches, often using drawing and making as forms of design research.
Madeline Balaam is a professor in Interaction Design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Madeline has worked at the intersection of HCI and intimate health for the last 10+ years. She is currently pursuing a research agenda exploring the intersection between touch, soma design and the intimate body. Madeline has previously led and contributed to workshops at ACM CHI and ACM DIS.
balaam@kth.se
Caroline Yan Zheng is a Digital Futures postdoc fellow at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. A designer and researcher, she crafts technology and robot initiated soft robotic touch in care contexts that enable emotionally rich experience. She was an awardee of the MedTech SuperConnector programme in the UK for translating soft robotic haptic technology into healthcare applications and a co-investigator in the Cancer Research UK-funded project ‘Improving care through soft robotic tactile intervention – towards a smarter compassionate experience in cancer treatment (SOFTLI)’ (2019-2021).
cyzheng@kth.se
Maria Luce Lupetti is an Assistant Professor in Interaction and Critical Design at the Department of Architecture and Design at Politecnico di Torino (IT). Her research is concerned with all matters of human entanglement with the artificial world, especially concerning complex technologies such as AI and robotics.
Yoav Luft is a doctoral student in mediated communications, KTH, Sweden. Former software engineer, he had worked on several software projects both in academia and industry that range from embedded systems, soft robotics, internet services, mobile and web applications and games to IT infrastructure. His doctoral research focuses on how computations can be made more accessible for designers and researchers in digital touch to explore, while reducing the overhead associated with programming.
luft@kth.se
Matt Malpass is a designer and theorist, he is a Reader in Critical Design Practice at University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins, where he leads the Industrial Design Programme. He advocates design’s agency in tackling complex social, political and environmental problems through critical, speculative, empathetic, plural and participatory design practices.
Celine Mougenot (Say-leen Moo-zhuh-no, セリーヌ・ムージュノ) is an Associate Professor in Collaborative Design at Imperial College London where she leads the Collective Innovation Lab. Her research focuses on advancing human-centred design through frameworks and toolkits that amplify diverse voices and promote interdisciplinary collaboration for inclusive, value-sensitive innovation. She also co-leads Imperial's Women’s Health Network.
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