## Breadcrumb 1. [Home](/index%2Ephp/) 2. [Overview](/index%2Ephp/academics) 3. [Faculty Members](/index%2Ephp/academics/explore-faculty) 4. [Lesley-Ann Noel](/index%2Ephp/markdownify/node/3984) # Lesley-Ann Noel ![](https://ultima7-its.ocadu.ca/bios/lnoel/portrait) lnoel@ocadu.ca Faculty Information Dean, Faculty of Design Faculty of Design Office Areas of Expertisedesign education Lesley-Ann Noel, the author of Design Social Change, is a designer, researcher, and educator who practices design through critical and anti-hegemonic lenses with a focus on equity, social justice, and the experience of those who are often excluded from design research. Dr Lesley-Ann Noel’s research interests are centered around those who would traditionally be excluded from community-led research, design-based learning, and design thinking. She practices primarily in the areas of social innovation, education, and public health. In her research, Lesley-Ann highlights the work of designers outside of Europe and North America and promotes critical awareness by introducing critical theory concepts and vocabulary into the industry. Lesley-Ann has a BA in Industrial Design from the Universidade Federal do Paraná, in Curitiba, Brazil. She also has a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago and earned her PhD in Design from North Carolina State University in 2018. She has been awarded honorary doctorates for service to the field of design by the University of the Arts London (2023) and the Pacific Northwest College of Art (2021). She is an active member of the Design Research Society and a co-editor of ‘The Black Experience in Design’. She is the Dean of Design at OCAD University (Aug 2024). Before OCAD-U, she taught at North Carolina State University, Tulane University, Stanford University, and the University of the West Indies. ### Works #### Pausing in the pandemic: Using a co-inquiry approach to advance relational and reflective learning in a university-community partnership Action Research Published: December 31st 2025 This article demonstrates a reflective and collective inquiry process among eight stakeholders of a multi-year partnership between a university social innovation center and a youth play non-profit during year one of the COVID-19 pandemic. We asked whether “pausing” a University-Community project for reflection and recalibration was an ethical response to disaster contexts. Drawing from cooperative inquiry (CI) and collaborative developmental action inquiry (CDAI) methodologies, as well as co-authorship and reflective journaling, we developed a co-inquiry process that revealed the disparities between University and Community actors within a long-term partnership. Co-inquiry helped us reattune to power-sharing goals of participatory action research as we explored new modes of engagement through progressive rounds of loop-learning. While the pandemic exacerbated unilateral patterns of engagement that plague partnerships, it created an opportunity to prioritize relationship-rebuilding and frame-creation. We found that co-authorship was methodologically important for facilitating co-inquiry and that pausing and holding space for this shared reflection was a key driver of learning. [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14767503251338045) #### Correction: Improving the Engagement of Underrepresented People in Health Research Through Equity-Centered Design Thinking: Qualitative Study and Process Evaluation for the Development of the Grounding Health Research in Design Toolkit JMIR Formative Research Published: December 31st 2024 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.2196/58397) #### Correction: Improving the Engagement of Underrepresented People in Health Research Through Equity-Centered Design Thinking: Qualitative Study and Process Evaluation for the Development of the Grounding Health Research in Design Toolkit (Preprint) Published: December 31st 2024 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.58397) #### AN EMANCIPATORY RESEARCH PRIMER FOR DESIGNERS ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO DESIGN RESEARCH, 2 EDITION Published: October 7th 2024 #### Repairing the Harm of Digital Design Using a Trauma-informed Approach Revista Diseña Published: October 7th 2024 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.7764/disena.24.Article.7) #### Redesigning the field Arcos Design Published: December 31st 2023 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.12957/arcosdesign.2023.79288) #### Teaching & Learning Positionality in HCI education: reflecting on our identities as educators and facilitating the discussion in the classroom Published: December 31st 2023 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.1145/3587399.3587400) #### Improving the Engagement of Underrepresented People in Health Research Through Equity-Centered Design Thinking: Qualitative Study and Process Evaluation for the Development of the Grounding Health Research in Design Toolkit JMIR Formative Research Published: December 31st 2023 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.2196/43101) #### Introduction to Diseña 22: Design, Oppression, and Liberation (2nd issue) Revista Diseña Published: October 7th 2023 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.7764/disena.22.Intro) #### Pluriversal Futures for Design Education She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation Published: October 7th 2023 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2023.04.002) #### Improving the Engagement of Underrepresented People in Health Research Through Equity-Centered Design Thinking: Qualitative Study and Process Evaluation for the Development of the Grounding Health Research in Design Toolkit (Preprint) Published: December 31st 2022 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.43101) #### Diseño, opresión y liberación Revista Diseña Published: December 31st 2022 El papel del diseño en la estructuración de la opre­sión ha sido en gran medida desconocido por la investigación y la historia del diseño. Sin embargo, podemos ver un movimiento reciente, impulsado por los movimientos sociales, que reconoce la complicidad del diseño con diversas formas de opresión. Reconocer el diseño opresivo abre la posibilidad de ocupar, reclamar, reparar y restaurar lo que los opresores han hecho con él. Algunos de los enfoques que hacen que la investiga­ción en diseño pase de la denuncia al anuncio de nuevas realidades. De no hacerlo, podría prevalecer el fatalismo, aun siendo crítico con la realidad actual. En el caso del diseño, esto sig­nifica dedicar el mismo esfuerzo a analizar los diseños opresivos que a desarrollar diseños liberadores. En sintonía con esta implicación, este número especial destaca las investigaciones que contribuyen tanto a agudizar la comprensión de la opresión en el diseño como a aumentar la solidaridad entre las distintas luchas por la libera­ción que atraviesan el diseño. [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.7764/disena.21.intro) #### Designing New Futures for Design Education Design and Culture Published: December 31st 2022 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.1080/17547075.2022.2105524) #### Special Forum: Designing a World of Many Centers Design and Culture Published: December 31st 2022 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17547075.2022.2110796) #### Where do we go from here? Rethinking the design studio after the Covid-19 pandemic Proceedings of DRS Published: December 31st 2022 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.345) #### Dreaming Outside the Boxes that Hold Me In: Speculation and Design Thinking as Tools for Hope and Liberation against Oppression JOURNAL OF FUTURES STUDIES Published: October 7th 2022 #### Encountering development in social design education LearnxDesign 2021: Engaging with challenges in design education Published: December 31st 2021 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.21606/drs_lxd2021.04.275) #### Track 03: Alternative problem framing in design education LearnxDesign 2021: Engaging with challenges in design education Published: December 31st 2021 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.21606/drs_lxd2021.00.314) #### Developing Thinking Skills in a 4th Grade Design Studio in Trinidad and Tobago Published: October 7th 2021 [View Article »](https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-4993-3.ch002) #### DRS2020 Editorial: Design Pedagogy DRS2020: Synergy Published: December 31st 2020 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.21606/drs.2020.123) #### DRS2020 Editorial: Pluriversal Design SIG DRS2020: Synergy Published: December 31st 2020 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.21606/drs.2020.106) #### Envisioning a pluriversal design education Pivot 2020: Designing a World of Many Centers Published: October 7th 2020 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.21606/pluriversal.2020.021) #### Editorial: Not Just From the Centre DRS2018: Catalyst Published: December 31st 2018 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.21606/drs.2017.006) #### Promoting an emancipatory research paradigm in Design Education and Practice DRS2016: Future-Focused Thinking Published: December 31st 2016 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.21606/drs.2016.355) #### Using Design Thinking to create a new education paradigm for elementary level children for higher student engagement and success DRS2016: Future-Focused Thinking Published: December 31st 2016 [View Article »](http://dx.doi.org/10.21606/drs.2016.200) ### Education #### Phd Design **Type:** College of Design North Carolina State University #### Masters in Business Administration **Type:** Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business University of the West Indies #### Bacharelado em Desenho Industrial **Type:** Desenho Industrial Universidade Federal do Paraná ### Employment #### Faculty of Design OCAD University #### Assistant Professor **Type:** College of Design North Carolina State University #### Professor of Practice, Associate Director of Design Thinking **Type:** The School of Architecture Tulane University #### Oceans Design Teaching Fellow **Type:** Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Stanford University ### Memberships Design Research Society