Dr Timothy Whitehead

Senior Lecturer in Product Design Aston University

  • Birmingham

Dr Whitehead's interest is in developing approaches to improve the design of products distributed in low income countries.

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Expert opinion: Tories promise spending for the creative industries but need to invest in education first

If you’re looking for comment on this week’s announcement about government’s proposed £50bn investment in creative industries we have a design expert available. Dr Tim Whitehead is associate dean and senior lecturer, engineering and technology, Aston University. He believes that although the Tory's promise spending for the creative industries they need to invest in education first. His full response is attached and below: “This week the government announced a plan to boost the creative industries by £50bn by 2030 and invest £77m in funding for the sector. “This news is fantastic and long overdue. The UK design economy contributes £97.4bn GVA and for every £1 invested in design we see a return of £4 to the wider economy. “The creative sector is a major British export with film, TV, music being some of the biggest exports. However, we also have physical products; If you’ve ever used an iPhone, a Dyson or ridden on a London double decker bus then you’ve used world class British design. “The funding is welcome, however we really need investment in our schools to teach creativity and align this with recent announcements in maths education. “The majority of our most successful designers / creative engineers started with Design and Technology at school. “Between academic years 2009-10 and 2021-22, the proportion of pupils taking Design and Technology GCSEs fell from around 42% to 27% in all schools in England. With only a minor increase in pupils taking Art and Design GCSE which increased from 27% to 29% over the same period. “There is a big gap here, and we really need to ensure that children have access to a creative education as school. “By embedding creativity into the next generation it will help foster new creative engineers data scientists etc. and the next Dyson.” Dr Tim Whitehead, associate dean and senior lecturer, engineering and technology, Aston University For inquiries contact Nicola Jones, Press and Communications Manager, on (+44) 7825 342091 or email: n.jones6@aston.ac.uk

Dr Timothy Whitehead

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Biography

Dr Timothy Whitehead is a Senior Lecturer in Product Design with a research interest in developing tools and approaches to improve the design of products distributed in low-income countries. Timothy has developed a unique research area focusing on sustainable, circular solutions to global challenges using frontier technology, such as 3D Printing.

Timothy has led several projects funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund, which utilises design methods and new technology to improve the livelihood of those living on less than $1 a day.

Areas of Expertise

Industrial Design
Design for International Development
3D Printing ‎
Circular Economy
Sustainable Design
User Centred Design

Accomplishments

DesRes: Best Research Presentation

2013

Education

Loughborough University

PhD

2015

Enhancing New Product Development in Low Income Economies

Loughborough University

BA

Industrial Design and Technology

2010

Affiliations

  • Institute of Engineering Designers : Member
  • Royal Society of Arts : Fellow

Media Appearances

Aston University and partners design “unique and low cost” rugby wheelchair

Design Week  online

2022-08-26

The year-long project was funded by the British Council with the aim of connecting universities in different countries. Aston University senior lecturer in product, mechanical, and biomedical design and design engineering Dr Timothy Whitehead led the project along with Dr George Torrens from Loughborough University and Professor Deon de Beer from Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

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Research Grants

Inclusive Innovation: Supporting people with disabilities through design and entrepreneurship

British Council

2021

Circular Plastic: Utilising frontier technology and user-centred design to add value to plastic waste, facilitating entrepreneurship

EPSRC - GCRF

2020

Digital Innovations for Transitioning to a Circular plastic Economy - (DITCh Plastic)

EPSRC - GCRF

2020

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Articles

Bottle house: utilising appreciative inquiry to develop a user acceptance model

Built Environment Project and Asset Management

This paper develops a novel user-acceptance model for circular solutions to housing design. The model has been systematically developed from a case study of an upcycled plastic bottle building in a low-income community in Nigeria. It is common practice to use participatory approaches to consult end users in communities, typically after design concepts have been proposed and conceptualised.

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Sustainable transformation of low-income communities: multidisciplinary approach to scalable solutions

World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development

These goals highlight the need for a radical transformation of low-income communities in the least developed countries. The issue extols the virtue of approaching the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the inter-and transdisciplinary perspectives approach for a holistic solution to sustainable development challenges in low-income countries.

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Local or Global? Approaches for New Product Development in Low Income Countries

The Design Journal

To increase opportunity and quality of life for people living in poverty, governments and non-government organizations (NGOs) sell products to low-income countries. These are typically products that can make fundamental changes to the quality of life such as water filters and solar lighting. However, there has been limited research to support the new product development (NPD) process for this unique category of products which has led to instances of sub-optimal solutions.

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