Maja Luna Jorgensen
Last modified: March 12, 2026
About
About the organisation(s) I've worked for
Organisation name:
The Open UniversityAbout my experience and expertise
Personal statement:
I am a Visiting Fellow with the Design Research Group at The Open University through my Innovation Scholar in Design award, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UKRI).
As a transdisciplinary researcher and practitioner, I have deep experience gained 20+ years in the field of societal change, working across community capacity building, placemaking, health innovation, and social and community-led housing.
Research and practice interests: Collaborative practices including co-design, Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), community leadership and ownership, just transitions, nature-connection and the more-than-human, collective imagination including participatory ecological futures, and the interrelations between housing and health.
I work relationally in shaping partnerships, and I have experience of policy work, delivering implementation, policy development and various contributions in local government and health settings.
I have held permanent roles with organisations such as the Greater London Authority, Plymouth Community Homes, Health Innovation South West, and The Glass-House Community-Led Design, and provided consultancy to organisations such as Design Council (CABE) and FERIA Urbanism.
Collaboration opportunities:
I am open to research collaboration around my outlined interests.
I also welcome approaches for consultancy, and am particularly interested in shaping and delivering stakeholder and community engagement activities linked to research, and around creative workshop design and facilitation.
Publications:
As a practitioner I have contributed to research examining how capability approaches can strengthen sustainable and resilient co-design practices within communities. Selected projects:
- Empowering Design Practices – exploring how community-led design supports communities to shape historic places of worship into more vibrant, sustainable places that enhance their heritage.
- Cross-pollination – exploring how to grow cross-sector design collaboration in placemaking
- Starting from values: Evaluating intangible legacies
Other projects and networks:
I have led interdisciplinary projects developing new models of collaboration and service design.
Selected projects and outputs:
- Lung Health @home: Led a cross-sector team, funded by and in partnership with NHS England, to develop and evaluate a national approach supporting self-management of long-term respiratory conditions at home.
- Community Led Housing Hub for London: Incubated and launched a city-wide hub to advance the field of community-led housing through strategic partnership, policy development, and practitioner engagement.
- Various blogs for national charity The Glass-House Community Led Design, including case studies and learning from community design training courses:
- Radical Roots: Blog about co-design project Radical Roots on Design@OPEN, the blog of Design Research Group at The Open University.
- Video and remote consultations: Digital exclusion and workforce impacts in South West England. Led project to explore the impacts of remote consultations in healthcare. Three linked reports present insights:
- Increasing Electronic Repeat Dispensing in the Southwest of England. Led project resulting in report into a qualitative training method to support uptake of eRd.
- Nordic Light: Interpretations in architecture (2011). Translations and copy writing.
1) Rapid review: Video consultations and digitally excluded people
2) Delivering remote consultations in ophthalmology in the South West of England – Insights into clinician and operational experience
3) Digital Exclusion: Patient Experience of Video Consultations
