Dr George Poonkhin Khut (DCA, BFA)
George holds a Doctorate of Creative Arts from the University of Western Sydney, Australia – for his research into the development and evaluation of participant-centred biofeedback artworks. He tutors in interaction design and research methods at University of Technology Sydney, Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building, School of Design.
George has exhibited his work across Australia, the UK and Asia. Recent projects include The Heart Library Project – exhibited at St. Vincent’s Public Hospital, Darlinghurst, and The Royal Institute Australia (RiAus), Adelaide, Cardiomorphologies, DrawingBreath and Thinking Through The Body a collaborative research group exploring the use of somatic bodywork methodologies and human-centered design as frameworks for body-focused interactive art.
This residency will be George’s first formal arts-science collaboration. Prior to this project at Children’s Hospital Westmead, George has collaborated with numerous computer programmers and electronics engineers on the development of his heart and breath sensor based works.
The Hospital Research Team
Dr Angie Morrow (MB BAO BCh MRCPI FRACP)
Angie is a staff specialist at Kids Rehab, The Children’s Hospital Westmead. As a paediatrician with special interests in disability and palliative care she has over 15 years experience of working with children with chronic illness. She is currently Head of the Brain Injury Service at Kids Rehab and Senior Lecturer with the Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, Sydney University. Dr Morrow has extensive research experience and is actively involved in the Kids Research Institute.
Dr Melissa Yogui Watanabe (MBBS IMG)
Research Assistant – BrightHearts Design Phase
Melissa is a Brazilian Paediatrician with experience in General Paediatrics and Allergy and Immunology. She has interest in research since she was a medical student including poster presentations and an international publication. During her advanced paediatric training in Allergy and Immunology in Sao Paulo she did some research in asthma, allergic rhinitis and food allergy at “Instituto da Crianca, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo”. This year, she has been working as a research assistant in the “BrightHearts” Project at Kids Rehab at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
Caroline Dale (BA Comms, BA Hons Psych, APS, ACPA)
Research Associate
Caroline is an intern psychologist currently completing a Masters in Clinical Psychology at Macquarie University. Her research and clinical interests lie in working with children, and she has worked for some years in kids’ grief, both developing programs for bereaved children and working directly with kids who have lost someone they love. In this capacity, she has worked with the National Centre for Childhood Grief, Good Grief Ltd., and the National Association for Loss and Grief. She has also worked on research into the mediating factors in adult bereavement at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Caroline is a researcher on the BrightHearts project, exploring the lived experience of children and young people who undergo recurrent painful procedures.
The Technical Team
Dr Angelo Fraietta (Smart Controller Pty Ltd)
Smart Controller Pty Ltd specialises in the development and maintenance of integrated digital dictation / transcription systems, integrated MIDI and Music controllers, contract support, risk analysis and mitigation research and development.
Angelo has developed an Arduino-based system for the BrightHearts project that allows us to connect our Nonin OEMIII professional Pulse Oximetry sensors wirelesly via Arduino to a computer/mobile device, and transmit this data to other applications via OpenSoundControl. He has also built the application that allows us to calculate heart rate data from the OEMIII Pulse Oximeter.
Jason McDermott (ARUP Informatics)
Jason McDermott is an architectural graduate and interaction design researcher specialising in spatially aware and responsive technology. His design research is in the overlap between the design of physical spaces, interaction systems and software which allow conversant architectures. Jason has taught design, interaction and construction in both the Bachelor and Master of Architecture programs at UTS, teaching primarily in the Computational Environments course.
Jason is working on some of the visualisation systems for the BrightHearts project. To date most of this work has concentrated on the redevelopment of George’s 2005 ‘Cardiomorphologies’ visualisation system (originally developed with Greg Turner and Lizzie Muller at UTS). Jason has made a version of this visualisation system for openFrameworks (oF) and is presently working on a version that we can use on iPhones and iPads.
Frank Maguire
Frank Maguire is a UTS industrial design graduate now working with Jason McDermott at ARUP Urban Informatics. For BrightHearts he is working with George on creating prototype interfaces that incorporate pulse and temperature sensors developed with Angelo Fraietta – inside elegant and durable sculptural enclosures.