About

An academic leader, designer and researcher, I am Head of School of Design at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin (NCAD), one of the Top 51-100 Art & Design Colleges in the world in the QS World University Ranking by Subject 2024.

I co-authored the successful bid to establish the Creative Futures Academy, receiving over €10 million in funding. The academy provides agile and responsive courses to up-skill and underpin the position of Ireland’s cultural and creative sector.

I have authored 8 books including Product Design (published by Laurence King, and translated into three languages), and managed National & European research projects worth in excess of €1 Million. My creative work has been exhibited at numerous international venues including MUDAC Lausanne, Designers Block Milan, Irish Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of Scotland and 100% Design London.

A former Head of Design & Applied Arts at Edinburgh College of Art, I have taught at a diverse range of institutions including Heriot-Watt University, University of Dundee, Edinburgh Napier University, Central Saint Martins and the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing – with my students winning dozens of international awards. I have been a visiting professor at Manchester Metropolitan University, Aston University and University College Dublin, and a Visiting Erskine Fellowship at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

I am chair of Design Educators Ireland, the representative body of third level design education providers in Ireland. I am also a Fellow of the RSA and Institute of Designers in Ireland. I was a member of the National Design Forum and the Government’s EGFSN Design Skills Implementation Group, and led a number of sectoral projects including Collaboration between Industry & Enterprise, and Developing Career Pathways in Design.

As Programme Director of Irish Design 2015, I was responsible for leading and managing a government backed initiative which sought to increase the awareness, understanding and use of design in Irish society & business. The initiative delivered an 11-fold return on investment, and a direct economic impact of over €55 Million. I was subsequently commissioned by the Design and Craft Council of Ireland to develop Ireland the Design Island – Towards a National Design Strategy. Launched in 2017, this publication was the first Government-endorsed design strategy In Ireland since the iconic 1961 Scandinavian Report.

I see creative education as having the responsibility and power to build a platform for positive cultural, economic and social change.