Irene Jia

Poster image of microbiome, project name: Acurere, democratising vaginal microbiome health for women.

Irene is a transdisciplinary designer and technologist who excels in bringing holistic perspectives and system thinking to her projects.

Her expertise spans across healthcare, bio-fabrication, urban planning, and computing, allowing her to merge design, engineering, and user experience with innovation to rethink complex challenges and propose solutions.

Relevant experience

Cohort member @Entrepreneur First (2023)

Co-founder and creative director @Reverence dancewear (2019-2022)

Rolls-Royce exhibition piece commission @studio Scarlett Yang (2022)

Healthcare product design @Philps (2021)

Education

MA/MSc Innovation design engineering - Royal College of Art and Imperial College London (2021-2023)

BA Design and Material Futures - Ravensbourne University (2016-2019)

The ability to transcend one’s discipline is about the openness to possibilities outside our comfort zone. That openness means we must evolve our “toolbox” to include not just sketchpads, and software, but the sensors, code, operational systems and mindset of our future worlds.

My quest has been about understanding my identity in flux and understanding what it means to have a voice as a designer. To me, that has been to constantly introspect and codify my values and recognise my weaknesses and vulnerabilities in order to evolve.

To view my past projects:

MicroSentry is a low-cost and field-deployable in-situ sensor is an innovative solution to monitor microplastics contamination in our water bodies.

Pebble chamber (2022) Pebble chamber is a BDSM sensory deprivation chamber that can be seen as a metaphor for the human condition.

Side-Quest (2022) Side-Quest is a group project aimed to design interventions to divert crowds and alleviate stress on Oxford Street while thinking of ways to enhance and increase engagements for visitors. In collaboration with Seb Tam, Rui Ma.

FaceJam (2021) FaceJam is a facial expression generated musical robot, imbuing face-to-face interaction with collaborative magic. In collaboration with Alex Park.

Transgenesis (2019) Design through the theory of biomimicry, taking an experimental design approach to materiality and form exploration.

Redefining women's healthcare with the first AI-powered companion to decipher vaginal microbiome data.

Acurere makes precision care accessible by translating complex scientific insights into understandable, actionable guidance.

In collaboration with: Jonathan Evans

In Collaboration with:

Jonathan E.

“Within a habitat, microorganisms exist in a dynamic, interactive, and intricate microbial community.”

The modern era of healthcare is marked by an ever-increasing understanding of the importance of the human microbiome.

'The female body shouldn't be a medical mystery.'

A significant disparity exists in women's access to critical, personalised data about their own bodies, especially in relation to the vaginal microbiome.

A microbiome plays an important role in maintaining women’s overall reproductive health

An imbalanced microbiome is the root cause of many of the most common reproductive health issues women face. Such as yeast infections, UTIs, and bacterial vaginosis, are the number one reason women visit their OBGYN.