Role
Max is a Senior Lecturer in Product Design primarily focussed on the BA (Hons) Product Design Course. He has over 10 years varied industrial experience and has a passion for creating empathetic real-world designers. He is a member of the Institute of Engineering Designers, as well as a Fellow of the High Education Authority. He is currently focussed on the first-year student experience, as well as final year tuition.
Career overview
Max has 10 years of industrial experience in a range of diverse fields. After completing his BA (Hons) degree in product Design, he became a Junior Product Designer for Glasdon Group Ltd. Tasked with designing Street Furnishings for worldwide council authorities, including a bespoke recycling system for the NEC Group. He continued to progress through the design world via inclusive design to create Assisted Bathing solutions for Abacus Healthcare. From here he spent several years in the Medical design industry, working for Pennine Healthcare, as a Design Engineer focussing on Process Automation and bespoke Robotic systems. Max then diversified into Form/Fill/Seal packaging machines with Riverside Medical Packaging Ltd, helping to develop the revolutionary Shawpak machine. He then moved back into Product Design as the Senior Product Designer developing Educational Resources for the UK’s biggest supplier to schools, TTS Group.
As part of NTU, Max has deepened his knowledge of academic practise and how to get the best out of students and future designers. He became a Fellow of the HEA and completed a PGCAP (Pownall, Brook, & Pashley, 2021)qualification before applying these insights to his teaching. He has a keen focusing on the promotion of student’s sense of belonging at University, and how this links to generating successful lifelong learner. He also has a passion for understanding how creativity can be promoted through exploration, and how empathy should be at the core of everything we design.
Max is currently undertaking an MA in Education to further deepen his understanding of how best to translate real world design ideas into taught theory.
Sponsors and collaborators
TTS Group Ltd (Collab)
Publications
Pownall, M. J., Brook, E. E., & Pashley, K. (2021). H.I.I.T. High Intensity Ideation Training - facilitating group design ideation in a digital teaching space. Paper presented at the 23rd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, doi:10.35199/EPDE.2021.14
Pownall, M. J., Brook, E. E., & Pashley, K. (2021). H.i.i.t. high intensity ideation training - facilitating group design ideation in a digital teaching space. Paper presented at the 23rd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, doi:10.35199/EPDE.2021.14