2021-22 Summer Studentships

Thanks for your interest in our Good Health Design Summer Studentships. We have now filled up all our summer studentship positions for the year.

Please check in again next year for the next round of summer studentship opportunities. These are usually posted as early as August. Follow us on our social media @goodhealthdesign to find out as soon as our summer studentships are open for applications.

If you are interested or curious about postgraduate studies and what it can offer, feel free to check out our past Master's projects here or get in touch with us at goodhealthdesign@aut.ac.nz for a chat. Our team is highly experienced in supervising real-world applied design projects with external partners, and can match students to great Master's projects that align with where they want to be in the future.

2022-23 Summer Studentships

This year, AUT's Good Health Design have several awesome opportunities for design graduates interested in pursuing postgraduate studies in design for health and wellbeing. Learn more about how to apply and the projects on offer below.

How to apply.
To apply for the summer studentship, send your CV, portfolio and a statement about why you want this opportunity, which summer studentship(s) you are interested in (this can be more than one) and why you would be suitable for this role to goodhealthdesign@aut.ac.nz‍. Please also indicate if your preference is for a full or or half summer studentship (see * below). Applicants may be contacted for more information or for a short interview to get to know you better. Applications close Monday 10 October 2022.

Supervision Team.
All projects will be supervised by the staff at Good Health Design.

Your Role.
You will be working closely with the supervision team to carry out your assigned design/research project (project opportunities as outlined below). This role will require you to work at Good Health Design (at AUT) for the duration of the summer studentship and be part of a cohort with other summer students. You will need to document your research and design process throughout the project, and produce a report/presentation at the end of your role.

*This year we're considering offering summer studentships in a different way. Depending on the number of students applying, we may offer more summer studentships as a 10-week part time (18.75-20 hours per week) or 5-week full time role (37.5-40 hours per week) research scholarship instead of our usual 10-week full time (37.5-40 hours per week). This will allow you to have both the summer studentship experience, collaborate with others over the summer studentship, and a have decent summer break. Summer studentships are completed over the summer break from November 2022 to February 2023 (with a 2-week closedown period over Christmas from late December 2022 — early January 2023 (TBC)).

Requirements.

We are looking for passionate design students with an interest in design for health and wellbeing. You should be a critical thinker, have human-centred design skills and be a good visual communicator.
You need to be at the end of your third-year as a design student at AUT (or a recent design graduate from another university) intending to enroll into AUT's postgraduate programme in 2023.
Preference will be given to students wanting to do postgraduate research in design for health and wellbeing space.
You must be eligible to work in New Zealand.

If you are interested or curious about postgraduate studies and what it can offer, feel free to check out our past Master's projects here or get in touch with us at goodhealthdesign@aut.ac.nz for a chat. Our team is highly experienced in supervising real-world applied design projects with external partners, and can match students to great Master's projects that align with where they want to be in the future.

The project opportunities.

We currently have two project opportunities with the Institute for Innovation and Improvement (i3), and will have more opportunities come later on (pending funding). Please apply early even if the following opportunities do not align with your skills, as there may be other opportunities coming up that would be suitable.

Museum of Meaningful Moments

The Museum of Meaningful Moments (MMM) provides an online space for people to share small, meaningful moments from their everyday lives that may otherwise go unnoticed. Seeing COVID-19 lockdowns as an opportunity for people to slow down and reflect on what mattered to them, MMM aims to build an ongoing collection of appreciative moments during this globally challenging time.

We're looking for two design students, interested in illustration and/or animation, be interested in driving social media, and who can demonstrate leadership, collaborate and be responsible for the following:

Visualise and illustrate the ‘data’ or stories that emerge from our ‘Imagining Community Wellbeing’ projects and related symposium, and archive this in the online museum
Manage the MMM social media to grow new followers and maintain engagement with the existing online community
Managing submissions and posting material as it is submitted

Creating events and activities to support community engagement or activities
Create a book that collects some of the best stories and submissions to the MMM to be published and used as a potential research tool/workshop

Emergency Department (ED) Wellness Space

ED is a high-pressure environment, placing a lot of work-related stress on ED staff as they work to treat our most ill patients. This has been further exacerbated by the ongoing pressures and impact of COVID. Research has shown that restorative break spaces positively impact staff wellbeing, promoting resilience and reducing stress in addition to increasing job satisfaction, performance, patient care and staff retention.

AUT’s Good Health Design has been approached to find a curious, passionate and capable design student to help work with ED staff atNorth Shore Hospital on what this resilience and wellness space could be. Existing staff tea rooms are shared, open spaces and don’t offer staff a private space when they may need to take a moment to regroup mentally, especially during a busy or intense shift. An existing under utilised space within the ED’s staff area has been identified, and approval has been granted to transform that space into a time-out room. This is an Institute for Innovation and Improvement (i3) funded summer studentship, who have kindly agreed to support a design student to work with ED staff on this project.

The summer student will evaluate current design interventions in the designated wellness space tested by ED, talk to ED staff about what is and isn’t working about the existing space, and draw on research to design and implement iterations of the wellness room over the summer. The studentship has the potential to lead to aMaster’s project around creating restorative spaces/initiatives for healthcare staff or other similar topics.

The ideal student will be a Spatial or Product Design student interested in environmental design, user experience design and design for health. They should be a critical thinker, a good communicator, and be applying for postgraduate studies (Master of Design) at AUT in 2023.

Telehealth Website and Resources – Review and Redesign

Attending healthcare appointments at a major hospital can be challenging. There are a lot of socioeconomic factors such as taking time off work and the costs associated with travel to and parking at the hospital that are barriers to accessing healthcare. Te Whatu Ora – Waitematā currently offers Telehealth appointments as an alternative to in-person appointments at the hospital, which helps address some of these challenges and barriers for patients. Telehealth requires the use of video calls / audio conferencing technology, which can be tricky or unfamiliar for some patients to navigate. The hospital currently offers some information and resources around telehealth on their website.

The Institute for Innovation and Improvement (i3) are looking for a design summer student to review and accordingly update the design of their patient resources around Telehealth to ensure they are suitable, accessible and helpful for patients.

The ideal summer student should have an interest in website design, user experience design, communication design and/or design for health. They should be a critical thinker, a good visual communicator, and be applying for postgraduate studies (Master of Design) at AUT in 2023.

Past Summer Student Projects

Below are projects by summer students who have worked with us previously. Several of these projects have gone on to win or become finalists in the Best Design Awards.