The Human Show: Innovation through Social Science

Erin B. Taylor is an economic anthropologist with experience both in the applied financial sector and in the academic sector. She holds a PhD in Socio Cultural Anthropology from Sydney University and was a postdoctoral researcher on financial mobility at the University of Lisbon. She is the co-founder of Canela Consulting, an ethnography-driven research and consulting group focused on finance and...

Amy Sheppard has an extensive experience in the design space, having been in leadership positions in design across companies such as Deloitte Digital, Australia Post and Johnson & Johnson. She is currently the Head of Design for Xero (beautiful accounting software) and is based in Melbourne, Australia. She is also a certified instructor for LUMA Institute, a US-based company that teaches desig...

Susanna Helena Trnka holds a PhD from Princeton University in social anthropology and has studied the body, citizenship and subjectivity. Her specific interests include (amongst others) illness experience; new medical technologies and patient-doctor communication. She has studied extensively the politics of childhood asthma in New Zealand and the Czech Republic out of which came the published book...

Nimmi Rangaswamy has an extensive experience in the technology space that spans both academia and the business sector. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Kohli Centre on Intelligent Systems, Indian Institute of Information Technology,  IIIT,  Hyderabad. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the Indian institute of Technology, IIT, Hyderabad where she teaches courses at the intersections...

In this episode we talk to Kevin Lee about his experience in working with insights and teams (beyond the borders of design teams) & what he values in a researcher role. We also explore the value of human-centricity to drive business success inside & outside an organisation and wider human topics like collaboration, humility and empathy. Kevin’s work: Visa design https://design.visa.com Fas...

Crystal Abidin has a PhD in Anthropology & Sociology, and Media & Communications and done extensive research into the practices of internet celebrity. She studies the online practices of youth on various social media platforms and also examines the practices of Influencers who use such platforms to make a living. Using her anthropological methods and knowledge to unravel the practices of y...

Shikha Desai is a Principal Designer for intelligent experiences across Office apps for Microsoft Seattle HQ, with an extensive experience of understanding both user and business needs. She leads design teams within Microsoft to think through nuanced design decisions and develop emerging patterns for new AI experiences. In this episode she will be talking to us about her job as a Principal Design,...

Corina and Angel talk to Nick Seaver about his research with music recommender systems and understanding the cultures, tastes and relationships created through and with those systems. Looking at what taste means and why it is important to the design of algorithms for music recommender systems. Mentioned in Podcast: Seaver, Nick. 2015. “The nice thing about context is that everyone has it.” Media,...

Sam Ladner holds a PhD in sociology and has studied work, technology, and organizations in both academic and applied settings. She worked as a Senior UX Researcher at Microsoft and a Principal UX Researcher at Amazon, and has wrote extensively about applying ethnographic research methods in the business sector and she is currently an Adjunct Professor at Ontario College of Art and Design Universit...

Danya Glabau is a medical anthropologist and the founder of Implosion Labs, an ethnography­driven research and consulting group focused on health and technology. She teaches as an Adjunct Instructor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and a Core Faculty member at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. She has conducted and published research on food allergies and food culture in the United St...