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Tom Inns

Tom Inns
BEng(Hons), DIC, MDes(RCA), PhD, CEng, MIMechE, FRSA

Dean

Tel: 01382 388820
Email: t.g.inns@dundee.ac.uk
Research Office, Level 3, Crawford Building,
DJCAD 13 Perth Road DD1 4HT

Biography

In my PhD I systematically explored the impact that employing an industrial designer for the first time had on 6 small manufacturing companies. Rather than try to establish the impact on the products and profitability of the companies I examined how the skills, processes and techniques of the industrial designer improved the product development capability of the firm. This work quickly came to the attention of the UK Design Council and outcomes were translated through subsequent projects into the Design Atlas design audit methodology and audits for the then DTI.

In 2000 I moved to the University of Dundee as Professor of Design. At Dundee I have developed my understanding of interdisciplinary facilitation, absorbing DJCADs practice based research ethos into my work designing and choreographing workshop activities for interdisciplinary teams. I have steadily built up a number of PhD students working in this area and now regularly run workshops with organisations such as NESTA, ESF, RCUK, VINNOVA, AHRC, Design Council and HERA.

Over the last five years in my work directing the AHRC/EPSRC Designing for the 21st Century Research Programme I have had the opportunity to work with design researchers in HEIs across the UK who have been engaging in interdisciplinary research projects in a very wide range of social & business issues.

My ambition is to now more fully define ‘workshop as method’ and to codify the methods, tools and approaches (derived from the design stable) that unlock different forms of knowledge and subsequent synthesis and evaluation within knowledge intensive project activity.

PhD Supervision

Offers supervision in: workshop design, service innovation, design management, new product development, design method development

Current

  1. 2010 – date, first supervisor, ‘Collaborative design practices in Interior Design’ Bader Aldurai PhD (full-time PhD) University of Dundee
  2. 2008 – date, second Supervisor, ‘Using workshop methods within contemporary design management practices’  Fan Xia PhD (full-time PhD) University of Dundee
  3. 2006 – date, First Supervisor, ‘Collaborative Visualisation: A new technique for coping with complexity in team situations’ Gus Colvin, PhD (part-time), University of Dundee
  4. 2005 – date, Second Supervisor, ‘A Curriculum for Sustainable Design: Principles from Holistic Science’ Terry Irwin, PhD (part-time), University of Dundee

Completed

  1. 2005 – 2010, First Supervisor, ‘Learning to Practice: A case study in dynamic learning at the interface of design and business’ Emma Murphy, PhD (part-time), University of Dundee
  2. 2007 – 2010, First Supervisor, ‘Practices & Principles in Service Design: Stakeholder, Knowledge and Community of Service’ Qin Han PhD (full-time) University of Dundee
  3. 2006 – 2010, Second Supervisor, ‘Traditional storytelling in a digital world’ Debbie Maxwell, PhD (full-time), University of Dundee
  4. 2003 – 2009, Second supervisor, ‘Strategies for improving the design of health care working environments’, Val Carr, PhD (part-time), University of Dundee
  5. 2004 – 2007, First Supervisor, ‘Ideation networks during early stages of the product development process’ Fraser Bruce, MPhil (part-time), University of Dundee
  6. 2002 – 2006, Second supervisor, ‘The role of prototyping as a mechanism for facilitating team working within the design process’ Sean Kingsley, MPhil (part-time), University of Dundee
  7. 1999 – 2005, Second supervisor, ‘Design management strategies for crime reduction’ David Hands, PhD, University of Central England
  8. 1996 - 1999, First supervisor, ‘The impact of product visuals on design processes and success in the supply industry’ Boris Knuf, PhD awarded June 1999 (Funded by Hiby TEC GmbH, Plettenburg, Germany)

Research Projects

  • November 2004 – January 2010, Programme Director (Principal Investigator) ‘Designing for the 21st Century’ Research Funding from AHRC and EPSRC, project value to University of Dundee, £435,000
  •  January 2010 – January 2012, (Co-Investigator) (with Tony Kent, University of the Arts as PI), ‘Design Metamorphosis Research Network’ Network grant funding (£30,000), project value to University of Dundee, £12,000

  • Jan 05 – Dec 06, Principal Investigator ‘KTP Programme: Product Development Tools’ Joint funding from DTI and Graven Images, Glasgow, project value to University of Dundee, £101,000 – Project Graded B ‘Very Good’ Feb 2008

REF Outputs

Inns, T.G. (2009) Designing for the 21st Century: Interdisciplinary Research Methods & Understanding. Gower Ashgate, Aldershot, December 2009

Inns, T.G. (2007) Designing for the 21st Century: Interdisciplinary Research Questions and Insights. Gower Ashgate, Aldershot, December 2007, ISBN 13: 9780566087370

Inns, T.G. (2007) Discourse on the Interdisciplinary Dance Floor. Paper accepted for Dancing with Disorder: Design, Discourse, Disaster. European Academy of Design, International Conference, Izmir, Turkey, April 2007

Inns, T.G., Baxter, S. & Murphy, E. (2006) Transfer or Emergence: Knowledge enhancement of design based organizations. Design Journal, Gower Ashgate, Aldershot, Vol 9 Iss 3

 

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