Dr Marco Mason

Associate Professor

Department: Northumbria School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries

I am an Associate Professor at the School of Design at the Northumbria University UK.

With a Ph.D. in Design Sciences (2012), I am specialized in Design Research for Digital Cultural Heritage. I have been researching and teaching in leading research centres such as Iuav Faculty of Arts and Design ITA, , Massachusetts Institute of Technology USA, School of Museum Studies in Leicester UK, University of Cambridge, and now Northumbria School of Design UK.

My research is at the intersection of Digital Heritage, Design, and Social Sciences for the study of digital media design and its practices in cultural heritage institutions. I am interested in: 1) human-centred design practices (e.g Design Thinking, Service Design); 2) visitor experience design (e.g. App, AR, and AI).

2021-2023 Principal Investigator – AHRC Leadership Fellowship (UKRI - £249,793). School of Design, Northumbria University UK, titled "Designing in the Digitally Mature Museum: Refocusing Design From Technology To Human Practice"

2019-2020. Digital Fellow AHRC major project "One by One: Building Digital Confident Museums" (School of Museum Studies Leicester; PI: Professor Ross Parry; £500,000)

2016-2018. Principal Investigator – EU Marie S. Curie fellowship (H2020 – €195,454). University of Leicester School of Museum Studies and University of Cambridge (secondment) , titled “Design Thinking for Digital Heritage."

2016-2017. Postdoctoral member at the Clare Hall College, University of Cambridge UK

2012-2015. Principal Investigator – EU Marie Curie fellowship (FP7 – €271,943). Associate researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Science Technology Society Program, 2012-2014) and School of Museum Studies Leicester Univerity UK , titled "Digital Media for Heritage: Refocusing Design from the Technology to the Visitor Experience."

Email Marco

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Digital Cultural Heritage Design Practice: A Conceptual Framework, Mason, M., Vavoula, G. 4 May 2021, In: The Design Journal
The Elements of Visitor Experience in Post-Digital Museum Design, Mason, M. 2020, In: Design Principles and Practices
The MIT museum glassware prototype: visitor experience exploration for designing smart glasses, Mason, M. 3 Nov 2016, In: Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage
Prototyping practices supporting interdisciplinary collaboration in digital media design for museums, Mason, M. 1 Oct 2015
The dimensions of the mobile visitor experience: Thinking beyond the technology design, Mason, M. 16 Jul 2013, In: International Journal of the Inclusive Museum
Design-driven innovation for museum entrances, Mason, M. 18 May 2018, Museum thresholds: the design and media of arrival, London, Taylor & Francis