BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Shital Desai is an Assistant Professor in Interaction Design at the School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design and York Research Chair in Accessible Interaction Design at York University.  She heads the CFI funded Social and Technological Systems (SaTS) lab where she and her team engages in research that addresses issues that focus on UN Sustainable Development Goals using Design Research methods, Human Centred Design, Systems Design and Speculative Design approaches. To that extent, she cocreates accessible technologies, services and governance policies for marginalised demographics and global health.

Shital is a member of the WHO Dementia Knowledge Exchange peer review network where she shares her expert knowledge on dementia and technology in strengthening policies, service planning and health and social care systems for dementia. She is passionate about training students in Systems Design and Design thinking methods to address societal issues around accessibility and inclusivity. Shital is the recipient of several awards and grants, including 2021-22 AMPD Research award, Petro Canada Young Innovator Award and tri-council grants – SSHRC, CIHR and NSERC. She received NSERC Discovery grant in 2021 to design and develop adaptive assistive technologies for people with dementia.