Exploring Materials and Sensory Preference in Prosthetic Limbs

03 October 2018

With its roots in the Hands of X project, this new collaboration between Caitlin McMullan (a designer, researcher and below knee amputee) and Sarah Wilkes (research fellow at the Institute of Making), explores how the sensory and aesthetic properties of materials offered for prosthetic limbs can affect experiences of them. We will also be exploring whether particular materials or textures stimulate phantom limb sensations.

This will be fed back to clinicians, prosthetists and manufacturers, with the potential to inform the design of prosthetic limbs.

The findings from this study will also feed into the Material Anxieties project, which aims to encourage more user-centred materials selection in the healthcare design industry.

Want to get involved?

Are you aged over 18 and do you wear a prosthetic limb? We would like to hear about your experiences of materials in your prosthetic.

We will be running a series of sessions at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow (29th & 30th Nov) and the Institute of Making (26th & 27th Jan). In these sessions we will be exploring objects from the Materials Library and asking questions about how the sensory and aesthetic properties of materials offered for prosthetic limbs affect your experience of them. We will also discuss whether particular materials or textures stimulate phantom limb sensations.

Travel expenses and your time will be reimbursed.

BOOK NOW: Sign up through our events page for the Glasgow and London sessions.