ABSTRACT
Professor Michael Tovey, Reader in Design Pedagogy and Professor of Industrial Design, Coventry University
Michael joined the institution following a period of practice in industry. He has been responsible for the establishment and development of transport design. This has achieved international prominence and centre of excellence status. He was Dean of the Coventry School of Art and Design for 18 years. During this time it has doubled in size, incorporated Performing Arts, achieved strong research rankings, as well as a very positive identity and profile. He has pioneered design research, contributing publications and holding a number of research council grants. He has served on research council committees, supervised and refereed grants and publications. Much of his research work has been concerned with the design process and how designers work. There has been a particular focus on the use of computer support for the creative aspects of design. The context for this work has been concept design in the automotive industry and the development of novel techniques to support the design activity. He also pioneered the portfolio PhD and this work is a useful summary of much of his research activity. From 2007 to 2010 he was Director for Design and responsible for leading on and co-ordinating design education and design research across the university. In addition to his cross-university role he was Director of the Centre of Excellence in Product and Automotive Design (CEPAD). It had strong links with the Industrial Design Department, as well as connecting in with other parts of both the Coventry School of Art and Design, and the rest of the university. He was the editor and lead author for two key volumes for Gower: ‘Design for Transport, a User Centred Approach to Vehicle Design and Travel’, and ‘Design Pedagogy, Developments in Art and Design Education’. He now leads the Design Research Society’s Special Interest Group in Design Pedagogy.
