PhD Thesis Defence of Nesli Hazal Oktay

On 12 September at 12:00 Nesli Hazal Oktay will defend her thesis „Far-away bodies: Co-creating design(s) in and for remote intimacy“.
The public defence will be held in EKA (Põhja pst 7), room A101.
The defense will be broadcast on EKA TV.
The defence is in English.

Supervisor: Dr. Kristi Kuusk (Estonian Academy of Arts), Prof. Danielle Wilde (Umeå University, University of Southern Denmark)
External reviewers: Dr. Verena Fuchsberger-Staufer (University of Salzburg), Dr. Vasiliki Tsaknaki (IT University of Copenhagen)
Opponent: Dr. Verena Fuchsberger-Staufer (University of Salzburg)

The doctoral thesis can be found HERE

This dissertation delves into the role of interaction design in fostering non-sexual intimacy across distances through an embodied approach. By designing for intimate, yet distant, bodies, it offers the research programme co-creating design(s) in and for remote intimacy. Derived from the main research question – How can a close-to-body experience be designed to support intimacy between people across distances? – this research programme explores the design of a remote, close-to-body experience for individuals who are emotionally close but physically apart. The designed experience aims to invite far-away loved ones to reflect on, disrupt, and reinvent their habitual ways of building and experiencing intimacy across distances. Within this programmatic framework, the dissertation offers three key contributions to interaction designers and design researchers: methodological, designerly, and theoretical. Methodologically, it proposes new approaches for co-designing remote intimacy. Designerly, it presents commitments to consider when designing in the realm of remote intimacy. Theoretically, it provides situated knowledge that highlights the multifaceted nature of remote intimacy, emphasising its individual, collective, bodily, virtual, and material dimensions.

In conclusion, this dissertation challenges conventional methods and advocates for embodied design practices and approaches, opening new design spaces for supporting intimacy across distances. It invites interaction designers and design researchers to rethink and reimagine how humans experience and build intimacy in an increasingly digital world.

Defence committee: Dr. Jaana Päeva, Dr. Anu Allas, Ruth-Helene Melioranski, Prof. Indrek Ibrus, Dr. Liina Unt, Dr. Claudia Nunez-Pacheco