About

Cathy Treadaway is Professor of Creative Practice at Cardiff School of Art and Design, Cardiff Metropolitan University and Research Director of HUG by LAUGH Ltd. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Cathy is a design researcher, artist, educator and writer. She has worked as a designer for industry and exhibits her artworks internationally. She is currently the Lead Academic Investigator on the LAUGH Empowered research project, designing playful objects for people living with advanced dementia.

She has published widely and her publications on dementia design research can be accessed here. Cathy’s wider research examines creative practice, playfulness and wellbeing and she works with artists, designers and industry to explore how materials, making and technology can help create a better world.

In 2016 Cathy developed Compassionate Design©, an approach to help guide design for people living with advanced dementia. The Compassionate Design Toolkit for Designers can be downloaded here