The EUTOPIA Connected Community Age-Friendly Community 5.0 is hosting a webinar with Carmen Pellegrinelli, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Trieste, which will explore the necessity of actively involving people with dementia (PwD) and their caregivers in the development of support technologies to create solutions that are truly usable and can improve their quality of life. The presentation will analyse the methodological challenges of this involvement: conventional co-design methodologies often rely on abstract discussions and verbal processes, which can be limiting for those with cognitive impairments.
To overcome these barriers, the lesson will illustrate how integrating Applied Theatre and participatory arts can revolutionise the methodological toolkit of participatory research. I will explain how art, through non-verbal, sensory, and emotional channels, enables us to bypass cognitive limitations, offering patients new ways to express their inner world. During the hour at our disposal, the following conceptual nodes will be addressed:
- The relational approach to design: inspired by person-centred care, which encourages shifting the focus from cognitive limitations to the relational potential of patients.
- The mobilisation of theatrical expertise: the crucial role of theatre professionals in multidisciplinary teams. We will see how they can act as “facilitators” and translators of the bodily and emotional languages of PWDs for researchers and designers.
- Theatrical techniques as design tools: how storytelling, role-playing, improvisation, and the use of space can foster empathy, stimulate memories, and test design choices in a playful and safe environment.
The aim of the webinar is to provide to scholars and students a new interdisciplinary perspective, demonstrating how the dialogue between social sciences, design, and performing arts can not only improve assistive technologies but also restore dignity and agency to people with dementia in the research process.
About the lecturer
Carmen Pellegrinelli is an Italian academic working at the crossroads of social sciences and theatre. She has extensive experience as a dramaturg and director, with productions performed and recognised in Italy, France, Switzerland, and Austria. This experience has shaped her social science research, in which she advocates an innovative approach that combines art and activism for social change from a posthumanist perspective. In 2023, she earned her PhD from the University of Lapland for her work on collective organisational creativity. She has published several academic articles on theatre, performance, and organisational studies, providing an original theatrical perspective to social sciences. She collaborates on international research projects focusing on participatory design and social change. She is the author of “Performing Ensemble Practices, Theatre, and Social Change” (Brill, 2023), a sociological and theatrical study analysing the collective practices of the Italian theatre company ATIR and their contribution to social change processes. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Trieste, where she studies participatory methods in healthcare AI research.
Webinar information
- Date: May 25 2026 at 2pm
- Format: Online
- Register here
