I was on the Product Design course at UEL as a mature student and graduated with a 1^st class BSc with Honours.  I followed this with a fast-track 1-year Masters degree in 3D Digital Design at the University of Huddersfield.  My background was originally in art and design and, in the 1980s, I was a self-employed designer/maker in stained glass and could boast a number of churches as clients.  After some years I retrained as a carpenter locksmith, eventually becoming director of my own successful locksmithing company.  Before joining the teaching staff at UEL in 2008, I was Consultant Designer at one of the country's largest locksmithing practices, carrying out research and development for a range of new locksmithing picks and the redesign of a selection of existing tools on the market.  This work still continues through my consultancy Design Wright alongside other ongoing initiatives for a number of clients.  As Lecturer in Product Design at UEL I am responsible for teaching Contextual Studies and Business/Marketing Studies to all students, ie Years 1-3, and am the course representative for student advice and welfare and library studies.  I also assist the 3^rd year students in producing physical models of their designs for the exhibition New Designers which takes place annually in July at the Islington Business Design Centre.

As a Lecturer in Product Design, I am responsible for teaching Modules ME1612 & ME1613 (Year 1), ME2617 (Year 2), ME3614 & ME3615 and I co-teach ME3606 & ME3609 (Year 3).  As well as lecturing and holding tutorials for all students on a regular basis, I am responsible for student advice and welfare and am the library representative and also accompany all years on outbound activities.  Furthermore, I am constantly resourcing relevant new contacts internally and externally that may assist the Product Design course and endeavour to promote the course and UEL as often and as far and wide as possible.  Recently I have assisted the Course Leader in overseeing the collaboration between UEL and Malaysia by writing detailed summaries of my teaching programmes to enable our Malaysian counterparts to deliver the course correctly.

I am currently supervising a number of projects which bring together departments within the university, such as Computing and Engineering, to deliver a showcase platform that UEL can use to promote the benefits and innovation within ACE.  One particular  project which utilises my skills is an economical lightweight remotely controlled all-terrain device which will be initially used for geophysics using advanced GPS and other technologies for the purpose of archaeological data gathering.  If trials prove successful this techology could be developed for use in other fields, such as a very inexpensive flatpack mine detector.  I can regularly be found in the workshop helping students to realise their concepts and to work through any engineering problems.  This sometimes involves different departments that require me to help their students with an understanding of product design.

I am the Programme Leader for Contextual Studies and Business/Marketing Studies for Years 1-3 Product Design

ME1612, ME1613, ME2617, ME3614, ME3615, ME3606 and ME3609

Through UEL it is my intention to undertake a PhD which will revolve around progressing to manufacture an interactive product for children and young adults with special educational needs.  I have undertaken an extensive period of in-depth and detailed research and several SEN schools have shown an interest in the product and are happy to field-test the prototype. 

 My initial research into special educational needs resulted in identifying a need for a dedicated tactile teaching tool that is not only of use to teachers and their students but also helps to enhance the children’s sense of play and fun whilst learning.

 Within SEN schools there is very little dedicated equipment and, where there is specialist SEN equipment, it is usually either very expensive, making any purchase a financial liability for most schools when set against their many other budgetary requirements, poor adaptations of products originally designed for mainstream education or equipment with no clear educational aims.

 Therefore, I feel it is long overdue for a designer to take an innovative approach and redefine SEN from a design point of view: by completely researching all the many requirements of both the children and their teachers to create a design methodology that is dictated by these demands and leads to good design; to design a product that enhances the learning environment and empowers the children to explore through play and learning, has clear educational aims and can assess a child’s progress through the education system, is easy to operate and be a reasonably inexpensive piece of equipment when weighed against its many advantages.

My design is a unique interactive wall consisting of smart polymer tiles.  When touched, or remotely activated by children with severe mobility restrictions, the tiles create different actions, including light, sound, vibration, temperature, tactile and air flow changes, to produce many sensory effects that are under a SEN teacher’s control via a computer – from simple games for the youngest child through to increasingly complex and challenging tasks for older children.  It is very user-friendly and would enable teachers to assess students’ abilities as they advance through the stages of learning.  I firmly believe it would make a real difference to the lives of SEN children by helping to stimulate thought processes and aid developmental ability in an enjoyable manner. 

 Although much research has been undertaken, there is scope for further re-assessment of the market and future educational needs.  I intend to produce a test rig of sufficient standard that will be taken to a number of SEN schools for field-testing, after which I would catalogue and analyse all the subsequent results for any appropriate adjustments to the design, computer programming and/or manufacturing criteria.  Alongside this it would also be beneficial to video the children interacting with the wall to enable research and development on related subjects, e.g. gauge their range of emotions, sensory abilities, memory and cognition, to build up a number of case studies to assess any other modifications.  Finally, other parallel research would involve the possibility of the interactive wall communicating with products already on the market, i.e. whiteboards and switches, to further aid the teaching experience for students and teaching staff.