Alec Robertson : Profile (2007)

Alec Robertson MA(RCA),MCSD,FRSA
Department of Imaging & Communication Design.
Faculty of Art & Design
De Montfort University
The Gateway
Leicester
LE1 9BH, UK

email: alec.robertson (at) 4d-dynamics.net


With broad experience in design for professional practice, teaching and research contexts I can connect with the spectrum of design disciplines.

I am an independent consultant, and an academic. I have substantial experience in teaching postgraduate and undergraduate design students with well over 100 MA supervisions within art&design completed and some PhD supervision experience. I am an external examiner for MA/MSc Interdisciplinary Design courses, and for a BA graphics course. Previous appointments include being a tutor on the Design Management Course at the Royal College of Art, London. I am engaged presently with a new MA/MSc in Design Innovation course, with specific responsibility for 'graphic communication' and module leadership for a module entitled 'Design Entrepreneurship' with a strong connection to the Campus Enterprise Office of the DMU Innovation Centre.

My research interests include dissemination issues of design research; conceptual modelling for design innovation forecasting, and '4D Design'. I am an advocate of the 'Research Exhibition' as an alternative to the conventional 'Research-Paper' for the design research community; the 'designs-survey' for the 'designing' design researcher along with the conventional 'literature-survey for scientific and humanities design researchers; and 'design practice' in its full richness as a primary 'research method' amongst others.

I have organised several design conferences and events. The first major conference that I organised was '4D Dynamics: Design & Research Methodologies for Dynamic Form"in 1995 - DDR1, followed by DDR 2: "The Design Research Publication" in 1998, and DDR3: "The Interdisciplinary Quandary" in 2002 and co-convenor for the DRS "Common Ground Exhibition" 2002. DDR4 in 2004 - "Reflecting, Refreshing, Reuniting and Renovating" was a venture to try and build bridges between the design and research communities. 2005 there was DDR5 - "More is More". This was the Finale Event of the 'Embracing Complexity in Design' Research Cluster (ECiD) sponsored by the UK AHRC and EPSRC Research Initiative 'Designing for the 21st Century'. The latest event was DDR6 - "MAGIC in COMPLEXITY: Embracing the 4D Design Arts' in February 2007, which brought complexity scientists and performing arts researchers together.

The website Cyberbridge-4D at http://www.4d-dynamics/cyberbridge.htm , includes some archives of these conferences. I have held several elected to Council Officer posts of the Design Research Society, and I was Chair of the long established RCA Society (Elected Mar 2006-07). I am a member of the Chartered Society of Designers,UK, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, UK.

My current funded research is with the D21C initiative for ECiD2 Cluster (www.complexityanddesign.net), and a consultant to EO2 Cluster (www.emergentobjects.co.uk)

Click here for Selected Publications