Designed for Life

In this episode, we are delighted to be in conversation with Sustainable Futures Educator and Interpreter Carra Santos https://www.carrasantos.com  Carra came from a rural upbringing in Northern Ireland. She was 'promoted' a year aged only four years old, a decision that, when played forward, saw her heading off to Leeds and a foundation course aged seventeen with a suitcase full of clot...

In this episode, I am delighted to be in conversation with award-winning British inventor, YouTube Channel host, presenter and professional speaker Ruth Amos. Ruth's future took a massive diversion when she was tasked with designing a mobility aid for a member of her design and technology teachers' family who had suffered a stroke. The task quickly escalated from a school GCSE project to...

How do you move from 'table 6', the table at the back of the classroom for the lowest achievers, to being recognised in the New Year Honours List for "services to apprenticeships and STEM education"? Listen to the latest episode of Designed for Life, and you will find out!  Ian Green is currently Learning Specialist at British Volt and a Professor of Practice at Newcastle Unive...

We are delighted to bounce back with this episode in conversation with Dyson Institute graduate Oyemen Okes after a short break.  Oyemen's journey to Dyson was serendipitous. She overheard a conversation between a fellow student and a teacher and set off to learn more about what Dyson had to offer. We talk with her about her journey to the institute, navigating the detailed application proces...

In late February, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) released a research paper on the current plight of design and technology education in England, ' A spotlight on design and technology study in England '. The Design and Technology Association is proud to be one of the facilitating partners for this research alongside The IET , ERA Foundation , Foster and Partners Architects and the J...

In this episode, we are privileged to be in conversation with independent strategic design consultant Matthew Cockerill.  Matthew concentrates on helping companies accurately position their future direction and focus by identifying what he terms their 'near future' opportunities.  Not crystal ball gazing into the future and predicting what lies ahead, more pinning a destination down to w...

This episode represents a slightly different approach to the podcast as we look at the world of coding and data sharing through the eyes of an entrepreneur and business owner. Jamie Robinson is the founder and CEO of Mashoom, a solution that Jamie initially designed while he was a second-year student at UCL studying Mechanical Engineering; and needed a solution when all of the data for a Formula S...

In this special episode of Designed for Life, we celebrate International Women's Day with a very special speech given by Dame Stephanie Shirley. Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley CH is an ardent venture philanthropist with an unrelenting energy for creating positive change. She arrived in England as an unaccompanied child refugee at the start of the Second World War, and in 1962 started a softwa...

Imagine taking two of your passions in life and turning them into a successful business. This is what Triple Double Studio Founder and Creative Designer Paul Jenkins has achieved in many ways.    Paul has always set his own path. A careers interview towards the end of his GCSEs did not go well. He went in with a plan and was bluntly informed that he would fail if he didn't drop this and take...

George Cave is an Interactive Technologist, Design Engineer, University Lecturer, TEDx Speaker, Team leader and founder of his own business, Interaction Magic https://interactionmagic.com/ In this conversation, we explore George's journey from Reading School through Bristol University, where he gained an MEng in Engineering Design where he, and others, developed a re-configurable submarine we...

We love this episode with Industrial Designer Jonathan Robin.  Jonathan was born in Rio da Janeiro and experienced a truly international upbringing with a French father and American mother.  Following a relatively traditional educational experience in Rio, he transitioned to initially study Law before realising this was not for him and switching courses to Industrial Design, in which he graduated...

This episode of Designed for Life is with the entertainment-focused business developer, sales strategist, coach and team leader Colin Mendoza. Colin and I first met almost five years ago when we were introduced by a mutual friend who knew we were both interested in how mindfulness and meditation could bring greater levels of wellbeing to UK students. Colin was born and brought up in London, moved...

From a vague lockdown concept in summer 2020, it's difficult to believe that Designed for Life is now pushing 10,000 downloads, has been listened to in eighty-one countries across all six continents and we have plans to double that reach with higher download figures and more episodes next year. As an end of year treat for your ears, we thought that as an end of year gift to you, we would crea...

Andrew is a Design teacher who for the last four years has worked at Dulwich College Beijing. We reached out to Andrew having seen the quality of work produced by his students showcased on social media and this conversation has so much to offer,  for educators and students worldwide.  Born and raised in New Brunswick, Canada, Andrew followed an unconventional pathway to his teaching career, first...

We are delighted and privilidged to be able to talk with Ewan McIntosh in this Episode of Designed for Life, the podcast brought to you by the Design and Technology Association with the support of our friends and sponsors at The Edge Foundation and PTC Onshape.  Ewan has built a reputation leading projects around the world for clients in education and industry, and is internationally reknown as  a...

This episode of Designed for Life follows the journey of a teacher who from day one of her career has worked tirelessly to make sustainability and conversation around this critical topic the very centre of her classroom practice. Introduced at a very young age to the concept of making her own clothes by her nan, Helen has always been motivated by the need to conserve resources and not buy into con...

This podcast offers something a little different as we talk to staff and alumni students from WMG Academy for Young Engineers, a UTC situated in Coventry.  For those unfamiliar, UTCs or 'University Technical Colleges' to give them their full title are government-funded schools with a heavy STEM curriculum focus. The original UTCs filled with students from age 13/14 (year 9) to the sixth...

This episode was recorded some time ago but I have held it for release in the buildup to Christmas; so please do excuse the format not being quite the same as the latest pods. In this podcast, we are privileged to be in conversation with Richard Heayes a master of toy and games design.   Richard trained in Industrial Design but, through a combination of chance and serendipity, transitioned over ti...

One area that we perhaps did not explore enough in series one is the first steps that young people take into industry either through the degree route, apprenticeships or other employment with training. As the very purpose of these podcasts is to inspire, energise and help create the workforce of the future, it seems natural to explore the journey of some young people as they take their first tenta...

With some stating that the last eighteen months are simply a 'blip', a disruption of business as normal and expecting us all to quickly return to where we were in early March 2020; while others are stating that all that COVID-19 has done is speed up a change process that was already inevitable...just where does the truth lie? In this first episode of Season Two of Designed for Life, I ta...

What happens when on a family holiday to Florida, you pop into the Kennedy Space Centre as a sixteen-year-old and there and then decide that you want to go to space? In Sophie Harker's case, you come back and get your head down to achieving academically what you are capable of. A love of Mathematics led to a Masters Degree course at Nottingham, where she met the first British astronaut, Helen...

For many of you tuning in to this episode, Richard Seymour and Dick Powell will need no introduction. For those of you who have not come across their work...you are in for a treat! As you will hear in this podcast, both partners brought (and continue to bring) very different skillsets to the business, advertising designer Richard Seymour and industrial designer Dick Powell were in different cohort...

David is the founder and CEO of Do Company, a company founded in 2016 to "Deliver smart solutions to the challenges posed by rapidly changing living and working environments". He describes himself as a digital nomad and a serial entrepreneur. In this podcast, he talks us through his journey from school in rural Ireland to becoming a product designer, social visionary, and successful entr...

On International Women in Engineering Day, Designed for Life takes a moment to celebrate the work of two women who have made an amazing positive difference to girls exposure to STEM opportunities within their school.  Rose Russell has been an outstanding Technician/Instructor/ STEM Coordinator at the Ursuline Academy Ilford (an all girl’s catholic school) for 29 years in both the art and design an...

In this episode, I am delighted to be in conversation with International educator and leader,  IB guru and podcast host Jason Reagin. Jason is currently the IBCP Coordinator at Chadwick International School, South Korea.  Since completing his educational studies at the University of Georgia, USA. Jason has pretty much dedicated his career to teaching overseas with posts in China and Bermuda before...