Inclusive by Design (IBD)

About the Project

Most health and fitness tools overlook the needs of people with complex or chronic conditions, such as Endometriosis, and/or those whose identities don't fit the “average” user. This project aims to make health technologies truly accessible and inclusive.

• People diagnosed or suspecting to have Endometriosis
• Transgender and Gender-diverse (TGD) individuals

Our goals:

• ✔️ Understand everyday challenges
• ✔️ Co-design inclusive solutions
• ✔️ Create and test real prototypes

🤝 By participating, you help shape health tracking tools that are more inclusive and accessible.

📄 Learn more about the scientific and methodological background here.

Project Timeline

• Phase 1: Recruitment Survey - using Google Forms. The survey is meant both to invite people to join activities (like co-design workshops and focus groups) and to collect input about everyday barriers, which can then guide the creation of more inclusive design guidelines.
• Phase 2: Co-design Workshops (1-2 hours): Co-design Workshops - with around 5 participants each. These sessions will be fully anonymous, and build on the guidelines and insights gathered from the survey to collaboratively create alternative designs for more inclusive health technologies. (financial compensation)
• Phase 3: Research-through-Design Prototyping – insights from the questionnaire, co-design workshops, and affinity diagram were translated into an interactive prototype. The prototype served as a research artefact for exploring and materializing inclusive design concepts rather than as a production-ready application.
• Phase 4 (60 minutes): Prototype Evaluation & Feedback – participants take part in online feedback sessions where they evaluate the interactive prototype, reflect on the proposed design concepts, and suggest refinements.

Updates & Materials

This page will serve as the team’s public hub. Expect:

• Project summaries
• Slides and reports - Preliminary Results
• Poster - ACM Interactive Health ‘26 Poster
• Prototypes and design guidelines

Participation

We do not collect personal information on this site. You can register your interest anonymously via this form:

🔒 Your registration cannot be linked to any survey participation.

Ethics & Documents

In this section, you will find documents related to the ethical procedures of the study.

• 📄 Informed Consent (PDF)
• 📄 IRB (PDF)

FAQ

• Will my data be collected here?
  No. This site is for information only. Any expression of interest is kept separate from study data.
• Do I need to share personal information?
  No. You may optionally leave a contact method when registering interest, but it's not required.
• Where will results be shared?
  Updates, reports, and non-identifiable findings will be posted on this page.
• Will I be compensated?
  Yes, for workshop and focus group participation.

Contact

For questions or information, email fc43177@alunos.ciencias.ulisboa.pt.

Team

This project is developed at Tech & People, an interdisciplinary Human-Computer Interaction lab at LASIGE, Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa.

The lab’s mission is to design, build, and evaluate interactive technologies that address high-value social issues such as accessible computing, pervasive healthcare, and usable privacy. The project team brings expertise in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Accessibility, and Health Tracking Technologies:

• Sara Canhoto — MSc Student leading this study
• Dr. Rúben Gouveia — Researcher in health technologies
• Dr. Tiago Guerreiro — Researcher in accessibility and health tech