Meet the team…

Prof Sarah Dyer (University of Manchester)

Sarah (PFHEA, NTF) brings in-depth experience working with the UK PSF. She has led teaching on an Advance HE-accredited PCAP and contributed to a professional recognition pathway, both as a mentor and panel member. She has previously undertaken HEA-funded work (Appreciate 2016). In leadership roles, including as inaugural Director of the Exeter Education Incubator and Manchester’s Associate Dean for T&L, she uses DT to support productive change and build enabling working environments.

Prof Radka Newton (Lancaster University)

Radka’s (PFHEA) scholarship explores benefits of DT for continuous improvement in HE provision and student experience. She leads a university curriculum transformation theme, ‘Supporting and Developing Educators’, theme and is a founder of a university funded Centre for Scholarship and Innovation in Management Education. Radka has mentored over 100 educators across five institutions in the UK and globally in a human-centred design approach to student participation. Her Inclusive Programme review method facilitates designerly approach to holistic programme design. She is a chief editor of an upcoming anthology about Human-centered design for Higher Education that will showcase global practices in using design thinking to transform the way we solve problems an make decisions in our Universities.

Phil Devine (Lancaster University)

Phil is an educator and designer with a career that began as a freelance illustrator working for one of the world’s leading agencies, ‘Illustration’. Phil has worked in advertising, corporate design and publishing, for many blue chip companies. Alongside his illustration career, Phil engaged with early digital technologies, designing and developing corporate and e-learning applications for CD-ROM and first generation web technologies. In 2000, Phil made a the transition into higher education to lecture on design principles, multimedia, web design, and to design and teach one of the UK’s pioneering e-learning modules. After a decade of lecturing Phil shifted his focus towards academic development in digital education. He now serves as a Senior Teaching Associate in Digital Education at Lancaster University Management School (PEML). Phil’s blend of designerly insight and technical skill gives him a distinctive edge in the ever-evolving landscape of digital education.

Dr Tony Morgan (University of Leeds)

Tony FHEA) teaches interdisciplinary and team-based innovation modules. He previously held senior innovation and technology roles at IBM. Tony’s primary interests include design thinking, innovation and innovation management, emerging technology and student skills development. He’s the author of multiple books, including Design Thinking for Student Projects.

Dr Dan Trowsdale (University of Leeds)

Dan (NTF, SFHEA) is an experienced educator and designer and a member of the Professional Development & Recognition Oversight Group at his university.  Dan’s experience in design includes 20 years as a practising product designer and working with the Business Link and Design Council as part of their design immersion activities. Dan’s scholarship focuses on collaboration in design-for-learning to support creative approaches to pedagogy and course design using visual and DT methods including, systems engineering and Lego® Serious Play®.

Iria Lopez (University of Leeds)

Iria has worked for the UK Design Council and run projects across sectors and industries (including Department for Education, local councils, community projects, health care). She has been collaborating with Leeds University for the past two years, where she has scaffolded the current design sprint process offered by the learning design agency to co-design new learning experiences with students, employers, alumni, academics and community members. Iria also initiated the Design Thinking community at Leeds, currently led by academics and professional service staff.