Sue Fairburn
Sue Fairburn is a third-generation farmer whose settler families were raised on the land called Saskatchewan. Sue was born and raised in the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy) and the people of the Treaty 7 region, which is where the city of Calgary now sits.
Sue holds post-graduate degrees in Environmental Physiology (Simon Fraser University 1993) and Environmental Design (University of Calgary (2002). In 2017 she joined the Wilson School of Design as an educator and researcher in Design for Extremes and Futures, where she teaches across design and technical apparel: theory and practice. Sue works between the boundaries of body, environment, and society. Combining practice, teaching and research, sheexamines how extreme environments such as high pressure, extreme temperatures, poor air quality, etc., challenge our survivability and response to the unfamiliar, with a goal to applying creative approaches to climate resilience. Her approaches bridge design and science; they range from scenario-based methods and sensory and thought experiments, to place-based fieldwork (her sites of interest are at the edges of water/land and familiar/unfamiliar), sketch prototyping, and concept testing and development. Her core activity for the past 20-years is writing and delivering curriculum on design methods, research methods, design for extremes and cross-disciplinary, co-creation. She has over 20 years’ experience presenting at conferences and has delivered design workshops across the UK/Europe, Canada and Internationally. She has led projects funded by Creative Scotland, NSERC, and local foundations/grant providers. Her work can be found in a range of peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, exhibitions, artifacts and zines.
Working collaboratively is core to her research practice. She works with colleagues in Europe, Iceland and India and is a co-pilot in City As A Spaceship, an all-female thinktank who bring multi-generational experience to inform reciprocities between living off-planet and on-planet. While based in Scotland from 2005-2017, she worked in research and knowledge management in global health, in design education, and she co-founded a social enterprise which sought to improve health through practical solutions for underserved and low-resourced communities. She is now based on the west coast, lives on a small island, and swims wild wherever possible.
Interests: Environmental physiology, Design Research, Extreme Weather, Climate Change, Design Methodologies, Product Design,
