The HABIT Lab

HABIT Project Founders

Lecturer in Marketing at the School of Design, University of Leeds, with an interdisciplinary academic background spanning marketing, behavioural design, consumer neuroscience and sustainability. Her research draws on psychometric methods and cognitive neuroscience to examine habitual overconsumption, particularly among young adults in digital and social media contexts. She is Principal Investigator of the UKRI-funded project Breaking the Fashion Habit, which evaluates awareness training as a behavioural intervention to reduce unsustainable consumption.

Lecturer in Graphic and Digital Communication Design at the School of Design, University of Leeds. His experience is in behavioural design, design thinking, and interaction design with research focused on considering human behaviour in the design process to build effective interventions, especially in the healthcare context, to tackle current mental and chronic disease challenges through patient empowerment. His research contributed to developing the Adherence Canvas, a novel tool for companies to measure adherence factors while developing health technology. He is a co-investigator UKRI sustainable behaviour research project – Breaking the fashion habit: efficacy of awareness training as a behavioural intervention.

Professor at the Department of Business Management and Economics at the University of León, specialising in marketing, consumer behaviour, and digital brand communication. She is Principal Investigator on competitive projects exploring emotional engagement and cognitive responses in digital consumer-brand relationships. Her interdisciplinary work integrates behavioural analysis, neuroscience, and digital metrics to inform strategic marketing and innovation in both commercial and social sectors.Prof. Santos has extensive experience in consumer behaviour, the behaviour changes theories from psychological, economic, and socioeconomical perspectives.

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Collaboration Network

Aiqin Liu (CEng, MIMechE) is a Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Leeds and a Chartered Engineer registered with the Engineering Council in the UK. Her research focuses on rehabilitation biomechanics, rehabilitation exoskeletons, and wearable sensor technologies. She is leading the research on the development of rehabilitation assistive technologies through an end‑user–centred approach to ensure that innovation is accessible, inclusive, and equitable.

Aiqin’s research aims to harness technology to drive positive behaviour change that supports long‑term rehabilitation. She is particularly interested in designing systems that help individuals integrate therapeutic exercises into their daily routines, turning rehabilitation into a sustainable habit. Through this approach, her work seeks to enhance long‑term clinical outcomes and improve the quality of life for people living with chronic conditions.

Nina Hansopaheluwakan Edward is an Associate Professor in Design and Academic Director (Curriculum Development) in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. She teaches in the Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts and the Bachelor of Design, with a focus on interaction design, experience design, and visual communication. Her work is driven by a passion for exploring the impact of digital interactive design, design education, social design, semiotics, human-centred and service design, as well as interdisciplinary practice.

Nina is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious Information Design Journal (IDJ). In addition, she is appointed as an External Examiner for the BA (Hons) Digital Media program at Coventry University, covering campuses in the UK, Egypt, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Over the past two decades, Nina has taught and led programs in Visual Communication and Digital Interactive Design across Australia, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia.

Associate Professor at the Department of Design at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), specialising in Social Design, participatory design processes, editorial design, and design education. Her research explores the role of design in social innovation, community engagement, and collaborative approaches to complex social challenges. Her work focuses on co-design methodologies that engage communities and build upon local strengths and capacities. She has extensive experience in design education and interdisciplinary projects that integrate teaching, research, and community engagement to promote meaningful and lasting social impact.

Dr Qianqian Pan

School of Design, University of Leeds

Dr. Qianqian Pan is a Reearch Fellow in Colour and Technology at the School of Design University of Leeds. She holds an MSc in Advanced Textiles and Performance Clothing and a PhD in Colour Science. Her post-PhD career in industrial R&D led to innovations in printing inks.

Her enthusiasm lies in the application of colour research across varied domains such as art, design, psychology and medicine, fostering interdisciplinary connections and innovations.

Dr Marjan Vazirian

School of Design, University of Leeds

Dr Marjan Vazirian, is a Research Fellow in the School of Design at the University of Leeds. Her PhD was concerned with color management of display systems, and she has extensive experience of working with companies on commercial solutions that involve color fidelity. Her current research specializes in color imaging technologies and digital color design. She also teaches about digital color systems at the University of Leeds.