Role
Professor Richard Bibb joined NTU as Associate Dean of Research for Nottingham School of Art & Design in August 2023. He is responsible for all research activities in the School and works closely with academic staff, researches, project partners and stakeholders to develop high quality research outputs and attract external research funding.
Career overview
Richard gained a BSc in Industrial Design from Brunel University in 1995 followed by a PhD in design for Additive Manufacturing at the National Centre for Product Design & Development Research (PDR), Cardiff Metropolitan University. He remained at PDR to lead the Medical Applications research group, rising to the role of Director for Research before leaving in 2008. From 2008 Richard joined the Department of Design & Technology, at Loughborough University and remained during the formation of Loughborough Design School and subsequently the School of Design & Creative Arts. During his time at Loughborough, Richard achieved Professor title in 2015 and then served as Associate Dean of Research for 5 years, interrupted by a 9-month period as Acting Dean. This was followed by a period as REF2021 Unit of Assessment Lead for D32 Art & Design and most recently Director of Research.
Research areas
Richard’s research explores the application of advanced product design and development technologies in healthcare. This focuses on digital technologies including 3D scanning, Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Additive Manufacturing / 3D Printing in modelling patient anatomy, design-manufacture of prostheses, surgical planning and the design-manufacture of surgical guides and instruments, 3D printed fluidics and 3D printed pharmaceuticals. Richard's research contributes to the Research Centre for the Creative Industries, Design Research Group and the Medical Engineering Design Research Group.
He is also active in research into design for Additive Manufacturing and translating research findings to other fields such as forensic anthropology, archaeology and heritage.
Richard has contributed to research and enterprise projects attracting more than £26 million in funding from a variety of sources. This collaborative research has generated more than 100 peer-reviewed outputs and has been presented at prestigious events in the USA, Canada, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Turkey and the UK. Richard has supervised 15 PhDs to successful completion and examined more than 45 doctoral degrees.
External activity
Richard is currently serving on the UKRI Talent Panel College and EPSRC Peer Review College and previously served on the EPSRC Strategic Advisory Team for Healthcare Technologies 2014-17. He has previously served on the AHRC Peer Review College and reviewed for Medical Research Council (MRC), Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council (Canada), Technology Foundation STW (Netherlands), Innovate UK, Wellcome Trust and Leverhulme Trust.
He is on the editorial board of the Rapid Prototyping Journal, International Journal of Bioprinting and Advanced Design Research.
Richard is a Fellow of the Design Research Society
Sponsors and collaborators
Richard is currently a Co-Investigator on one EU and one Leverhulme project and recently completed UKRI funded projects in collaboration with colleagues in Fraunhofer IPA, UCL, UEA, University of Strathclyde, University of Salford, University of Leicester, Natural History Museum, University of Manchester, University of Leeds and Loughborough University.
Raptors Unwrapped, Leverhulme Trust, RPG-2024-412
Next Level Circular Economy for Small Medical Devices, EPSRC EP/W002566/1
When Design Never Ends: emergent product design practices in the era of Additive Manufacturing, AHRC Early Career Grant AH/V009214/1
Transformative Innovation in the Delivery of Assisted Living products and services (TIDAL), EPSRC Healthcare Technologies New Challenges Network Plus EP/W000717/1
PERAMEDIC, Horizon Europe, Pathfinder, Grant agreement ID: 101130241
He is also a theme lead in the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre for Rehabilitation.
Publications
Obi M, Pradel P, Bibb R, "What Designers’ Know: Investigating Designers’ Knowledge of Design for Additive Manufacturing", Progress in Additive Manufacturing, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40964-026-01750-4
Mardina Z, Bradley N, Omurunga G, Kulak A, Turnbull RP, Rahimifard S, Bibb R, Culmer P, “Sustainable Glucose Meters: Circular Economy Insights from Integrated Life Cycle Assessment and Material Flow Analysis”, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2026, 554; 148076, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.148076
Kacem MA, Bibb R, Scarpa F, Bodaghi M, “Sustainable PLA- and Bio-epoxy-Based Bio-Composites Reinforced with Sea Urchin Residues: From Waste to Worth”, Results in Engineering, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2025.108137
Kaill N, Bibb R, “Perceived Barriers and Opportunities for Adopting the Circular Economy in Medical Devices and the Disparity Between Academia and Industry”, The Design Journal, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2025.2496632
Mardina Z, Turnbull R, Bibb R, Rahimifard S, Culmer P, “CM3D: A Circular Materials Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Tool for Medical Devices”, Materials & Design, 2025, 254; 114015, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114015
Arm R, Shahidi AM, Pislaru A, Marasinghe K, Bibb R, Hughes-Riley T, “Mechanical behavior of silicone membranes for adipose tissue synthesis in clinical and theatrical prosthesis”, Prosthesis, 2024, 6, 1340–1358, https://doi.org/10.3390/prosthesis6060097
McKnight LM, Bibb R, Cooper F, “Seeing is believing – The Application of Three-Dimensional modelling technologies to reconstruct the final hours in the life of an ancient Egyptian Crocodile”, Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 2024, 34, e00356, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2024.e00356
Filingeri D, Christogianni A, Bibb R, “High-density thermal sensitivity maps of the body of people with Multiple Sclerosis: implications for inclusive personal comfort systems”, Journal of Thermal Biology, 2024, 123, 103887, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2024.103887
Zhang, Bin; Belton, P.; Teoh, Xin-Yi; Gleadall, Andrew; Bibb, Richard; Qi, Sheng, “An investigation into the effects of ink formulations of semi-solid syringe extrusion 3D printing on the performance of the printed solid dosage forms”, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1039/D3TB01868G
Willmott JD, Bibb RJ, Johnson AA, Paterson AM, Three-Dimension Dithering and its effect on the Interfacial Strength of Different Multi-Material Additive Manufacturing Processes, Additive Manufacturing, 2023, 78, 103837, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2023.103837
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainability is a central and essential element of all our research and we continually strive to address sustainable development goals in our funded projects. In particular these goals are addressed in my design and manufacturing research projects.
