Dr Christian Nold

Professional biography

Dr. Christian Nold is a researcher, artist and designer inventing new models for collective representation. He is experienced in Citizen Science, having coordinated and evaluated the EU-funded ‘Doing It Together Science' project and worked on the 'EveryAware' and 'EU.Citizen-Science' projects. He has written numerous books and journal papers including ‘Emotional Cartography: Technologies of the Self’ and 'The Internet of People for a Post-Oil World' and given keynotes and public lectures across the world. In the last decades he created large-scale public projects such as the widely acclaimed 'Bio Mapping', 'Emotion Mapping' and ‘Bijlmer Euro’ that have been staged with thousands of participants across sixteen countries. Before joining the Open University he was a Research Fellow at the Social Design Institute (UAL) and researcher in the Extreme Citizen Science group (UCL).

Research interests

Keywords: Citizen Science, Participatory Design, Internet of Things, Actor-Network Theory, Ontological Politics, Anarchism

My current research interests focus on developing Design for Public Controversies as a way for designers to directly intervene in creating new realities. I am doing this by connecting ideas from Science and Technology Studies such as 'ontological politics' (Mol 2002) and 'care' (Puig de la Bellacasa 2017) with design and Citizen Science practices.

References:
Puig de la Bellacasa, M. (2017). Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds. University of Minnesota Press.
Mol, A. (2002). The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice. Duke University Press.

I am a member of the Open Ecologies research group at the OU.

Teaching interests

I co-wrote the innovative T190 Design Practices module, which is distinctive for its tuition strategy. It features regular tutor check-ins and project reviews, helping online design education closely mirror traditional face-to-face learning.

A key contribution of mine was authoring Block 3: Algorithmic Design, a creative coding unit that places programming within a domestic context—specifically, designing algorithmic wallpaper for students' homes. Many students have shared how surprised they were to overcome their initial fears of computing and how proud they felt creating something beautiful and personal for their living spaces.

I also co-wrote Block 1: Visual and Layout Design, which includes innovative browser-based interactives. These allow students to learn design principles and create layout designs directly within the web browser, without needing to install any software.

PhD Supervision

I am keen to supervise PhD students who use design practices to directly intervene in the world. My expertise lies in applying social science theory to generate new appraches to design, and I am particularly interested in supporting research that employs design ethnography to explore how design operates in real-world contexts.

I am the lead lupervisor for Samantha Osys who is wortking on a thesis: Ethics and Digital Design: Gaps and Interventions

Impact and engagement

• 2018 - 2019 DoomsDay Blockchain, Collusion, Cambridge
  Artistic research exploring blockchain insertions. https://ddbc.io

• 2014 - 2016 Hubbub, Wellcome Trust, London
  Citizen monitoring network to materialise the impact of Heathrow airport.

• 2011 - 2014 Money Lab, Pixelache, Helsinki, Finland
  Three-year experimental local currency for a Finnish fortress island.

• 2010 - 2011 Rennes Emotion Map, Les Bouillants, Rennes, France

• 2010 Control Maps, Impakt Festival, Utrecht, Arnheim & Enschede, Holland
  Participatory mapping project to visualise ‘control’ in three Dutch cities.

• 2009 - 2010 The Bijlmer Euro, Imagine IC, Amsterdam, Holland
  15-month experimental RFID parasite local currency that supports local identity

• 2009 - 2010 Sensory Journeys, Sustrans, Bristol, UK
  Participatory mapping with three schools to trace children travel experience.

• 2009 Sensing the Future of Hedehusene, Copenhagen International Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark
  Town-scale air & noise pollution monitoring network with real-time citizen voting.

• 2009 BioTagging Manchester, Futuresonic, Manchester, UK
  Citizen Science collaboration with Natural History Museum and Meteorological Office.

• 2009 Bethlehem Biopsy, Bethlehem University, Bethlehem, USA
  Participatory mapping involving hundred residents and local government to create urban visualisation.

• 2008 Complexity Maps, World Design Capital, Turin, Italy
  Summer school visualising heroin trade networks with 30 international design students.

• 2008 Strange Weather, Studio for Urban Projects, Berkeley Art Museum, USA
  Winner of the Eyebeam EcoViz competition.

• 2008 Emotional Tourism?, Santiago de Compostela Council, Spain

• 2007 Networked Identity, BBC Blast, Serpentine Gallery & Science Museum, London

• 2007 Bio Mapping, Hayward Gallery Projects, Brixton & Clapham, London

• 2006 - 2007 Bio Mapping, Wellcome Trust Sciart R&D Grant, London

• 2008 The Brentford Biopsy, Watermans Gallery, London

• 2008 Emotion Map East Paris, Arslonga Gallery, Paris, France

• 2007 - 2008 Creative Mapping, Iniva, London

• 2007 Stockport Emotion Map, Stockport Council & Lendlease, Stockport, UK

• 2007 San Francisco Emotion Map, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, USA

• 2006 - 2007 Mapping Fulham, Fulham NDC, London

• 2005 - 2006 Greenwich Emotion Map, Independent Photography, London