Professor Alex Wilkie

Alex Wilkie explores more-than-human futures through the intersection of design and science and technology studies.

Staff details

Position

Professor of Design and Societies

Department

Design

Email

a.wilkie (@gold.ac.uk)

Links

Website
alexwilkie.org

Academia.edu

Google scholar

Twitter
@alexwilkie

Website
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/dis-positions-troubling-methods-and-theory-in-sts

Goldsmiths Research Centres/Groups

Alex’s work lies at the intersections of design, science and technology studies and empirical philosophy, variously engaging with human-computer interaction, more-than-human centered design, speculative practices, generalized aesthetics and constructivist thought. This plays out through numerous projects and collaborations that engage and intervene in a range of substantive areas including climate change and energy, community engagement, the sociology of design practices, the sociology of expectations and futures, healthcare and interactive technologies, government policy, user studies as well as public engagement with science and technology.

Academic qualifications

PhD in Sociology (Goldsmiths) 2010
MA in Computer Related Design (Royal College of Art) 1999
BA (Hons) Fine Art (Chelsea College of Art and Design) 1997

Teaching and supervision

Alex convenes the MPhil/PhD programme in design. He has supervised 9 PhD students to completion and is interested in supervising students whose research variously combine design, practice-based research with science and technology studies or related social and cultural research.

MPhil/PhD Design

Research interests

In collaboration with scholars in anthropology, philosophy, sociology and STS, Alex has published three volumes that open new domains for theoretically driven empirical and experimental research. Studio Studies (Routledge) takes inspiration from laboratory studies to set out a programme for the ethnographic study of studio practices and situated ‘creativity’ to examine the studio as a critical site for the production and politics of invention and the new. Speculative Research (Routledge) is an invitation for scholars and practitioners to take up the challenge of speculative thought to cultivate new ways of thinking, researching, and making futures. Distinctively, this project takes as its point of departure a particular lineage of thought that can be traced through the work of William James, Henri Bergson, Alfred North Whitehead, John Dewey, Gilles Deleuze, and Isabelle Stengers. Inventing the Social (Mattering Press) draws together recent efforts to develop new ways of knowing ‘society’ that combine social research and inventive practice-based research in part to move beyond the performative idiom and critiques of representationalism that has preoccupied social and cultural theory and research. Alex is currently working on more-than-human aesthetics with the philosopher Melanie Sehgal, preparing a monograph on Design and STS with Mike Michael, developing an international network on the climate crisis and post-anthropocentric design as well working on patient safety, clinical error and negligence. He is series editor, with Mike Michael, of Dis-positions: Troubling methods and theory in STS for Bristol University Press.

Featured publications

2024: More-than-human aesthetics Venturing beyond the bifurcation of nature
Bristol University Press Dis-Positions Series

2018: Inventing the social
Mattering Press

2017: Speculative research: The lure of possible futures
Routledge CRESC Series

2015: Studio studies: Operations, topologies & displacements
Routledge CRESC Series

Publications and research outputs

Book

Energy Babble Boucher, Andy; Gaver, William; Kerridge, Tobie; Michael, Mike; Ovalle, Liliana; Plummer-Fernandez, Matthew and Wilkie, Alex. 2018. Energy Babble. Mattering Press. ISBN 978-0-9955277-2-0

Edited Book

More-Than-Human Aesthetics: Venturing Beyond the Bifurcation of Nature Sehgal, Melanie and Wilkie, Alex, eds. 2024. More-Than-Human Aesthetics: Venturing Beyond the Bifurcation of Nature. Bristol: Bristol University Press. ISBN 9781529227789
Inventing the Social Marres, Noortje; Guggenheim, Michael and Wilkie, Alex, eds. 2018. Inventing the Social. Manchester: Mattering Press. ISBN 9780995527751
Speculative Research: The Lure of Possible Futures Wilkie, Alex; Savransky, Martin and Rosengarten, Marsha, eds. 2017. Speculative Research: The Lure of Possible Futures. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781138688360

Book Section

To err is more than more-than-human: Patient safety and the aesthetics of a Never Event Wilkie, Alex. 2024. To err is more than more-than-human: Patient safety and the aesthetics of a Never Event. In: Melanie Sehgal and Alex Wilkie, eds. More-Than-Human Aesthetics: Venturing Beyond the Bifurcation of Nature. Bristol: Bristol University Press, pp. 139-152. ISBN 9781529227789
Beyond the bifurcation of nature: Tracing more-than-human aesthetics in times of socio-ecological crisis Sehgal, Melanie and Wilkie, Alex. 2024. Beyond the bifurcation of nature: Tracing more-than-human aesthetics in times of socio-ecological crisis. In: Melanie Sehgal and Alex Wilkie, eds. More-Than-Human Aesthetics: Venturing Beyond the Bifurcation of Nature. Bristol: Bristol University Press, pp. 1-26. ISBN 9781529227789
Before the Idiot, the Poet? Aesthetic Figures and Design Wilkie, Alex and Michael, Mike. 2023. Before the Idiot, the Poet? Aesthetic Figures and Design. In: Martin Tironi; Marcos Chilet; Pablo Hermansen and Carola Marín, eds. Design For More-Than-Human Futures Towards Post-Anthropocentric Worlding. Abingdon; New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 103-111. ISBN 9781032334394

Speculative Research Michael, Mike and Wilkie, Alex. 2020. Speculative Research. In: Vlad Petre Glăveanu, ed. The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. ISBN 9783319983905
How well does ANT equip designers for socio-material speculations? Wilkie, Alex. 2019. How well does ANT equip designers for socio-material speculations? In: Anders Blok; Ignacio Farías and Celia Roberts, eds. The Routledge Companion to Actor-Network Theory. Abingdon, UK & New York, USA: Routledge, pp. 389-399. ISBN 9781138084728
Speculating Wilkie, Alex. 2018. Speculating. In: Celia Lury; Patricia T. Clough; Una Chung; Rachel Fensham; Sybille Lammes; Angela Last; Mike Michael and Emma Uprichard, eds. Routledge Handbook of Interdisciplinary Research Methods. London; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 1138886874
Studios, Problems, Publics Wilkie, Alex. 2018. Studios, Problems, Publics. In: Andy Boucher; William Gaver; Tobie Kerridge; Mike Michael; Liliana Ovalle; Matthew Plummer-Fernandez and Alex Wilkie, eds. Energy Babble. Manchester: Mattering Press, pp. 90-96. ISBN 978-0-9955277-2-0
Sound Design Wilkie, Alex. 2018. Sound Design. In: Andy Boucher; William Gaver; Tobie Kerridge; Mike Michael; Liliana Ovalle; Matthew Plummer-Fernandez and Alex Wilkie, eds. Energy Babble. Manchester: Mattering Press, pp. 56-60. ISBN 978-0-9955277-2-0
Inventive tensions: A conversation Kimbell, Lucy; Guggenheim, Michael; Marres, Noortje and Wilkie, Alex. 2018. Inventive tensions: A conversation. In: Noortje Marres; Michael Guggenheim and Alex Wilkie, eds. Inventing the Social. Manchester: Mattering Press, pp. 317-334. ISBN 978-0-9955277-5-1
Designing and doing: Enacting energy-and-community Wilkie, Alex and Michael, Mike. 2018. Designing and doing: Enacting energy-and-community. In: Noortje Marres; Michael Guggenheim and Alex Wilkie, eds. Inventing the Social. Manchester: Mattering Press, pp. 125-147. ISBN 978-0-9955277-5-1
Introduction: From performance to inventing the social Marres, Noortje; Guggenheim, Michael and Wilkie, Alex. 2018. Introduction: From performance to inventing the social. In: Noortje Marres; Michael Guggenheim and Alex Wilkie, eds. Inventing the Social. Manchester: Mattering Press, pp. 17-37. ISBN 978-0-9955277-5-1
The Sociality of Infectious Diseases Rosengarten, M.. 2018. The Sociality of Infectious Diseases. In: Noortje Marres; Michael Guggenheim and A. Wilkie, eds. Inventing the Social. UK: Mattering Press, pp. 234-252. ISBN 978-0-9955277-5-1
Introduction Marres, Noortje; Guggenheim, Michael and Wilkie, Alex. 2018. Introduction. In: Noortje Marres; Michael Guggenheim and Alex Wilkie, eds. Inventing the Social. Manchester: Mattering Press, pp. 17-37. ISBN 9780995527751
Prototyping as event: Designing the future of obesity Wilkie, Alex. 2017. Prototyping as event: Designing the future of obesity. In: Alberto Corsín Jimenéz, ed. Prototyping Cultures: Art, Science and Politics in Beta. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 95-111. ISBN 9781138693746
Doing speculation to curtail speculation Wilkie, Alex and Michael, Mike. 2017. Doing speculation to curtail speculation. In: Alex Wilkie; Martin Savransky and Marsha Rosengarten, eds. Speculative research: The lure of possible futures. New York & London: Routledge. ISBN 1138688363
On Isabelle Stengers’ ‘Cosmopolitics’: A Speculative Adventure Bell, Vikki. 2017. On Isabelle Stengers’ ‘Cosmopolitics’: A Speculative Adventure. In: Alex Wilkie; Martin Savransky and Marsha Rosengarten, eds. Speculative Research: The Lure of Possible Futures. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781138688360
Section Introduction: Speculative techniques Wilkie, Alex; Savransky, Martin and Rosengarten, Marsha. 2017. Section Introduction: Speculative techniques. In: Alex Wilkie; Martin Savransky and Marsha Rosengarten, eds. Speculative research: The lure of possible futures. New York & London: Routledge. ISBN 1138688363
Pluralities of Action, a Lure for Speculative Thought Rosengarten, Marsha. 2017. Pluralities of Action, a Lure for Speculative Thought. In: Alex Wilkie; Martin Savransky and Marsha Rosengarten, eds. Speculative Research: The Lure of Possible Futures. United Kingdom: CRESC series, Routledge. ISBN 9781138688360
Section Introduction: Speculative Propositions Savransky, Martin; Rosengarten, Marsha and Wilkie, Alex. 2017. Section Introduction: Speculative Propositions. In: Alex Wilkie; Martin Savransky and Marsha Rosengarten, eds. Speculative Research: The Lure of Possible Futures. Oxon; New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781138688360
Section Introduction: Speculative implications Savransky, Martin; Wilkie, Alex and Rosengarten, Marsha. 2017. Section Introduction: Speculative implications. In: Alex Wilkie; Martin Savransky and Marsha Rosengarten, eds. Speculative Research The Lure of Possible Futures. (236) Routledge. ISBN 9781138688360
Section 2: Speculative lures Rosengarten, Marsha; Savransky, Martin and Wilkie, Alex. 2017. Section 2: Speculative lures. In: Alex Wilkie; Martin Savransky and Marsha Rosengarten, eds. Speculative Research The Lure of Possible Futures. Routledge. ISBN 9781138688360
The Lure of Possible Futures: On Speculative Research Savransky, Martin; Wilkie, Alex and Rosengarten, Marsha. 2017. The Lure of Possible Futures: On Speculative Research. In: Alex Wilkie; Martin Savransky and Marsha Rosengarten, eds. Speculative Research: The Lure of Possible Futures. New York & London: Routledge. ISBN 1138688363
'At home in the studio: a note on Daphne Oram's sound-house' Waller, Laurie. 2015. 'At home in the studio: a note on Daphne Oram's sound-house'. In: Ignacio Farias and Alex Wilkie, eds. Studio Studies: Operations, Topologies & Displacements (CRESC). Routledge. ISBN 978-1138798717
Studio Studies: Notes for a research program Farías, Ignacio and Wilkie, Alex. 2015. Studio Studies: Notes for a research program. In: Farías Farías and Alex Wilkie, eds. Studio Studies: Operations, Topologies & Displacements. London; New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 1-21. ISBN ISBN 978-1-138-79871-7
Temporalities, aesthetics and the studio: an interview with Georgina Born Born, Georgina and Wilkie, Alex. 2015. Temporalities, aesthetics and the studio: an interview with Georgina Born. In: Ignacio Farías and Alex Wilkie, eds. Studio Studies: Operations, Topologies & Displacements. London; New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 135-151. ISBN ISBN 978-1-138-79871-7
The Design Studio as a Centre of Synthesis Wilkie, Alex and Michael, Mike. 2015. The Design Studio as a Centre of Synthesis. In: Ignacio Farías and Alex Wilkie, eds. Studio Studies: Operations, Topologies & Displacements. London; New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 25-39. ISBN ISBN 978-1-138-79871-7
Learning Design Through Social Science Wilkie, Alex and Mattozzi, Alvise. 2014. Learning Design Through Social Science. In: Giorgio Camuffo; Maddalena Dalla Mura and Alvise Mattozzi, eds. About learning and design. Bozen-Bolzano, Italy: Bozen-Bolzano University Press, pp. 196-203. ISBN 978-88-6046-067-7
Prototypes in design: materializing futures Wilkie, Alex. 2010. Prototypes in design: materializing futures. In: Christopher Kelty; Alberto Corsin Jimenez and George E. Marcus, eds. Protoyping Prototyping. Madrid: ARC Studio, pp. 43-50.
STAR: Tone reproduction and physically based spectral rendering Devlin, Kate; Chalmers, Alan; Wilkie, Alex and Purgathofer, W. 2002. STAR: Tone reproduction and physically based spectral rendering. In: Dieter Fellner and Roberto Scopignio, eds. State of the Art Reports, Eurographics 2002. The Eurographics Association.

Article

The aesthetics of more-than-human design: speculative energy briefs for the Chthulucene Wilkie, Alex and Michael, Mike. 2025. The aesthetics of more-than-human design: speculative energy briefs for the Chthulucene. Human-Computer Interaction, 40(1-4), pp. 104-116. ISSN 0737-0024
Aesthetics and Affect: Engaging Energy Communities Michael, Mike; Wilkie, Alex and Ovalle, Liliana. 2018. Aesthetics and Affect: Engaging Energy Communities. Science as Culture, 27(4), pp. 439-463. ISSN 0950-5431
For a Speculative Aesthetics of Description: Interview with Alex Wilkie Wilkie, Alex; Farías, Ignacio and Sánchez Criado, Tomás. 2018. For a Speculative Aesthetics of Description: Interview with Alex Wilkie. Diseña(12), pp. 70-87. ISSN 0718-8447

Conference or Workshop Item

Aesthetic commoning, social data and wildfire management Wilkie, Alex; Rodríguez-Giralt, Israel and Cifre Sabater, Maria. 2024. 'Aesthetic commoning, social data and wildfire management'. In: EASST-4S 2024: Making and Doing Tranformations. Amsterdam, Netherlands 16 - 19 July 2024.
Poster for Design for more-than-human futures: Towards post-anthropocentric worlding Wilkie, Alex and Pennington, Sarah. 2023. 'Poster for Design for more-than-human futures: Towards post-anthropocentric worlding'. In: Design for more-than-human futures: Towards post-anthropocentric worlding. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom 18 October 2023.
More-than-human aesthetics: Ventures beyond the bifurcation of nature Wilkie, Alex. 2023. 'More-than-human aesthetics: Ventures beyond the bifurcation of nature'. In: More-than human aesthetics & Inventive care politics in design. IN3 - Internet Interdisciplinary Institute, UOC, Barcelona, Spain 6 July 2023.

Show/Exhibition

Energy Babble Gaver, William; Kerridge, Tobie; Wilkie, Alex; Ovalle, Liliana; Plummer-Fernandez, Matthew and Boucher, Andy. 2016. Energy Babble. In: "Climactic: Post Normal Design", Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, United States, Nov - Dec 2016.
The Dewey Organ Project Jungnickel, Kat; Fairfax, Duncan; Ballie, Jen and Wilkie, Alex. 2015. The Dewey Organ Project. In: "Imagination Festival", Govanhill Baths, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 4-6 September 2015.
Experimental Thinking / Design Practices Gaver, William; Michael, Mike; Kerridge, Tobie; Ovalle, Liliana; Plummer-Fernandez, Matthew; Wilkie, Alex; Gabrys, Jennifer and Boucher, Andy. 2015. Experimental Thinking / Design Practices. In: "Experimental Thinking / Design Practices", Griffith University Art Gallery, Australia.

Thesis

User Assemblages in Design: An Ethnographic Study Wilkie, Alex. 2010. User Assemblages in Design: An Ethnographic Study. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London