She studied anthropology, people-centred design and sustainability, which she followed by working for 12 years as a design engineer with various design firms. Strickfaden obtained her PhD in Humanities and Social Sciences from Napier University (UK) and as a post-doctoral researcher she was engaged with two projects: the Sociocultural Capital of Design Educators at Grant MacEwan College (Canada) and Architectural design in Dialogue with dis-Ability (AIDA) at K.U.Leuven. Strickfaden’s current research continues to investigate sociocultural complexities within educational and professional design environments including designing with and for disability.