Andrea Botero Cabrera

My work engages with the possibilities, and contradictions of participating in the creation of environments, tools and media that afford more relational and caring interactions among, and between people and their environment. This I have done in multiple domains ranging from everyday life to scientific endeavors. My design works explore technologies, services, media formats and genres for collectives and communities. Through my research I aim to understand how collectives come to understand the design spaces available to them and how designers could infrastructure those spaces better to support livable futures for communities and the environment.

I currently lead INUSE research group. Between fall 2019 and spring 2024 I am working on a  project exploring distributed, collaborative and experimental arrangements for innovation and design otherwise (Studio|Lab|Forest), with generous funding from the Research Council of Finland (Suomen Akatemia). I have been involved in the Creatures project, and ambitious H2020 project that explored the role of creative practices in sustainability transformations that we are wrapping up now. Since August 2022 I am Associate Professor (New Frontiers of Design) at the Design department.

Teaching:

Because of my research commitments at the moment I am only teaching one course

MUO-E8041  Collaborative and participatory techniques for design - Creative sustainability MA program (Fall) at the Design Department.

I advice MA and DA students on a continous basis.

BACKGROUND

As a design practitioner I have worked in several design consultancies and in multiple R&D projects as user interfase, interaction designer and design researcher. I still do occasional consultancy and service design gigs.

I have a BA in Industrial Design from Universidad Nacional de Colombia (COL) and an MA in Product and Strategic Design from Aalto ARTS, (FIN). I obtained my Doctor of Arts degree in New Media also from Aalto. Before returning to Aalto I worked as post-doc at the department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at the University of Oulu (FIN).

In addition, I am adjunct professor (dosenti) at the Faculty of Architecture and Design of Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá (COL) and Guest Professor at the Centre for Sustainable and Digital Transformation, at Aalborg University (DK). I am also conspirator at collective design research studio called Suo&co, that I convene with 3 other wonderful friends. In my spare time I collaborate with Fundación Karisma, a Colombian NGO seeking to respond to human rights issues in the context of digital technologies and social innovation dynamics. I do design and multigenerational diversity activism through Ninho ry, a Finnish NGO creating a more diverse and plurilingual children's culture in Finland.