In summer 2024, Chris O’Neill, Green Digital Design Intern, completed a digital sustainability audit of the UX Service website. He looked at carbon emissions and page weight but also examined usage of the site, with analytics data and user research. We acted on his findings to make the site greener and more user-centred.

We gave three interns three months to investigate, measure and identify strategies to reduce carbon emissions of the University’s web estate. Here are my reflections as the manager of the Green Digital Design internship

I was lucky to be invited to speak at DrupalCon, the annual European conference for Drupal. I delivered several sessions and attended others to learn more about advancements in Drupal.

Drupal is the open-source content management system used to power EdWeb and other important University digital systems. I’ve contributed UX knowledge to Drupal for several years and am involved in shaping Drupal CMS – Drupal’s new low-code product aimed at non-developers.

Since starting at the University, I have been heavily involved with the EdWeb migration project. With this work now finishing, I reflect on my experience of working on the project and what I think worked well.

In October, I went to Liverpool to attend ContentEd, a conference for content professionals in the higher education sector. This post is about a couple of talks that stood out for me.

Since February 2024, we’ve trained more than 90 publishers in content design and have experimented with the ways we upskill University staff in content design techniques, to support them to produce good-quality, compliant online content that meets web visitors’ needs.

Last week I attended the Communications and Marketing (CAM) Conference for the first time. It’s a one-day event for University staff interested in communications and marketing, held at the John McIntyre Conference Centre and attended by around 200 people. You can find out more about the conference on the CAM Conference SharePoint (University login required […]

UX techniques tend to be more successful the earlier they are applied. Striving for a more proactive UX Service strategy, I have been considering the practicalities of incorporating user-centred approaches at the point of software purchase.

At the recent Research Support Services (RSS) Conference at The University of Edinburgh, I had the privilege of both attending and presenting. Alongside Nick Daniels, our Senior Content Designer, we led an interactive session exploring real-world service challenges through the lens of human-centred design. This approach isn’t about quick fixes—it’s about deeply understanding and addressing the […]