Role
Max is Course Leader for BA (Hons) Product Design & a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture & the Built Environment. He has over 10 years varied industrial experience and has a passion for creating empathetic real-world designers, whilst promoting Design to the creators of the future. With a strong focus on Design Education and the transition from School to HE, Max is part of the NTU Archer Exchange focusing on improving D&T teaching through research informed innovation. He is a member of the Institute of Engineering Designers, as well as a Fellow of the High Education Authority and has recently completed an MA in Education with Distinction.
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 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 has recently completed an MA in Education to further deepen his understanding of how best to translate real world design ideas into taught theory, as well as engaging with the wider use of creative pedagogy in HE.
Max is currently involved in the NTU Archer Exchange where he looks to shape D&T Education through research .
Research areas
Research interests: D&T Education, Creativity, Intergenerational Co-Design, Ideation Principles
External activity
NTU Archer Exchange: Shaping D&T Education
Publications
Brook, E.E. and Pownall, M.J., 2023. MATCHSTICK MEN -TEACHING 1ST YEAR DESIGN STUDENTS EMPATHY THROUGH DESIGN FOR PRISON LIFE. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, E&PDE 2023. https://doi.org/10.35199/EPDE.2023.68
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