Design Research Interests:

Product design engineering; DIY energy conversion systems; design education; virtual and augmented reality systems for visualization and learning; visual and immersive communication.

Industries:

Higher education, professional training/simulation

Companies:

Universities with remote/distance learning programmes, particularly in design related fields.

Challenges:

The educational model has remained unaltered for so many years, relying still largely on a lecture base system to deliver content where, in many cases, the learner is a passive recipient of information. While the method may have been effective in the past, today we feel the rising student expectations and demands for more inclusive, responsive, interdisciplinary approaches to learning. Experiences in education that remove the boundaries of classroom teaching and provide new learning elements and methods which did not exist before are due to change and improve the ways through which we pass on knowledge to the next generations. 

The integration of, and teaching using, AR/VR technology in design based curriculums could be particularly beneficial. Communicating design intent and conveying form and space has always been a challenge; virtual will allow to push the boundaries of visualisation, creating new ways to experience and understand a product, building, or space. This will empower graduates of creative fields to transmit not just what a future will look like, but also how it will “feel” like.

Field of studies:

BSc degree in Industrial Design (ESAD), BSc degree in Computer Aided Product Design (NTU), Lic. degree in Industrial Design (ESAD), MSc degree in Advanced Product Design Engineering (NTU). PGCert in Higher Education (UNNC), and PhD in Design (IADE  – ongoing).

Professional experience:

Five years in the product design industry divided between design studios – Atelier Satyendra Pakhale (Amsterdam, NL) and Yonoh (Valência, SP), and later in a solo venture in prototype design. Made the jump to academia back in 2013, joining the University of Nottingham (Ningbo, CH) as Design Studio Tutor in their BEng programme in Architecture.