As a member of the ‘Foresight and Participation’ team Emma Defty contributes her expertise and skills in speculative design, futures thinking and participation to Ellery Studio.

She believes whole heartedly the potential of the intersection between design and foresight. When working in this space, future developments become not only imaginable, but visible, tangible and thereby negotiable. Well-designed future scenarios become material which allows for the discussion of and democratic mediation of the steps of transformation.

At Ellery Studio, she employs methods and approaches from the fields of Inclusive Design, System Design, Service Design, and Speculative Design to develop and communicate such scenarios. Doing so, she places an emphasis on interdisciplinarity, working closely with non-designers to develop concepts for sustainable culture change.
She has presented her work at the Design Futures Initiative's PRIMER conference. She has also been awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal from the Glasgow School of Art for her achievements.