Claire Lockwood

Role

Head of Department for Design & Digital Arts within Nottingham School of Art & Design.

There are five foundation degrees, fifteen undergraduate degrees and nine postgraduate courses, across a range of disciplines which include Graphic Design, Motion Graphics, Illustration, Animation, VFX, Games Design, Filmmaking, Photography and Fine Art, which provides an exciting and diverse breadth of discipline choice for prospective and current students.

With opportunities to personalise courses via sandwich years, exchange opportunities, industry placements, collaborative projects and optional modules the Department is a leading subject specialist within the region, nationally and internationally. All courses have been aligned to the demands of the creative sector and incorporate the skill sets required of designers working within a future creative sector. The new Design & Digital Arts building providing spaces and equipment to learn about and work with new emerging technologies.

The departments offer is driven by the future needs of students, society and the creative industry, providing real world, work like experiences with creativity at the heart of what we do.

Career overview

After graduating with an MA in Visual Communication I taught on both UG and PG Graphic Design courses throughout my early career. My first job after graduating, was in New Zealand at Wanganui Polytechnic where I taught on a BA Graphic Design course. When I returned to the UK I worked as an in-house designer for Friends of the Earth for several years before becoming a freelance graphic designer and eventually returned to teaching at Birmingham City University.

I progressed through a variety of roles; course leader, subject area lead, deputy head and latterly Head of Art & Design at Sheffield Hallam University where I worked on a significant estate project - a repurposed Victorian post office, which provided new accommodation for the Department of Art and Design at Sheffield Hallam University.

I joined NTU in 2019 as Head of Department having worked within Art & Design Higher Education for over twenty years. As Head of Department for Design & Digital Arts I have been involved with the new build project - The Design & Digital Arts building, which opened in 2024.

I have had several external roles as an external examiner, validation external panel member, subject reviewer and most recently Accreditation review panel member for the National Centre for Academic Accreditation & Evaluation and a QAA advisory group member for subject benchmark statements.

External activity

I have had several external roles as an external examiner most recently with Leeds Beckett University for the MA in Graphic Design as well as being a validation external panel member, subject reviewer and most recently Accreditation review panel member for the National Centre for Academic Accreditation & Evaluation and a QAA advisory group member for the writing of subject benchmark statements.

Most recently I was appointed onto the board of trustees for The Level Centre in Derbyshire, a contemporary arts centre that works with disabled creatives specialising in visual, digital and performing arts.