Ms Polly Macpherson

Polly Macpherson is Associate Professor of Design Practice in the School Art, Design and Architecture and the Creative Industries Supervisor in the Sustainable Earth Institutes Low Carbon Devon project at the University of Plymouth, UK.

• Associate Professor of Design Practice – As Associate Professor in Design & Award Leader for BA (Hons) Designer Maker; one of the 3D Design exit awards, Polly leads a group of internationally acclaimed practitioners who teach the thinking, inventing, designing, creating, manufacturing, constructing, building, producing and making of objects and artefacts. 

• Sustainable Earth Institute – Low Carbon Devon, Co-Investigator Creative Industries - Supported by an investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the three-year £2.6 million programme, supports Devon-based organisations to access research, business support, and engage with the University of Plymouth around the low-carbon agenda. 

Qualifications

• IDEO Business Innovation Certificate which included Designing a Business and Designing Strategy.
  
• Dynamics of Leadership Performance Coach - Cultural Leadership Prog. - Arts Council England, CCSkills & MLA funded.
• M.A. - University of Wales
• B.A.(Hons) - University of Wolverhampton & California State University, Long Beach 

Awards

• Automation Academic Fellow 2019 – South West Creative Technology’s Network
• Conference Prize, Drawing Research Network, University of Brighton 2010
• Deans Honours List for Excellence - California State University, Long Beach 
• The Watt Memorial Trust Award for Travel & Academic studies

Professional membership

• Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
• Fellow Royal Society of the Arts (RSA)
  
  

Roles on external bodies

External Expert

• Board of Trustees - Exeter Phoenix 
• Judge – Channel 4, Kirstie’s Celebrity Craft Masters 
• Judge - BBC Woman's Hour, Crafts Council and V&A Craft Prize 
• Creative Cultivator Advisor 
• Board of Trustees - The Devon Guild of Craftsmen. 
• Creative & Cultural Skills –Expert Advisor 
• Craft Council Hothouse 3, South West coordinator. 
• ‘Get Fresh’ Exhibition sector, Emerging Designer Devon Guild of Craftsmen & Arts Council.
• ‘Craft+ STEM in the 21st century’, Crafts Council, Associate Parliamentary Design & Innovation Group, House of Commons
• Contributor to Design Commission, Restarting Britain, Design Ed.& Growth.
• Judge & selector, Contemporary Craft Festival
• Consultant – Crafts Councils Higher Value: Redefining Best Practice in Crafts Graduate Support

International Expert

• EQ Arts Expert Reviewer - Enhancing Quality in the Arts 
• Quality Enhancement Review, Programme Review Visual Arts – Faculty of Multimedia Communications, Tomas Bata University, Zlín, Czech Republic 2019
• Key Note Speaker at 1st China Crafts Week, Hangzhou - Innovative Design of Traditional Crafts
• Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts - Singapore: BA (Hons) Fine Art, Graphic Design and 3D Design New Practice – External Expert

Guest Professor  

• Industrial Design at Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China 

Visiting Professor 

• Industrial Design Department, Faculty of Architecture at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. (3months) 

External Examiner

• Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts: MA Art & Design (current)
• Cardiff Metropolitan University: BA (Hons) Artist Designer Maker
• University of Ulster: MFA Multidisciplinary Design
• Liverpool Hope University: Design BDes (Hons)
• Loughborough University: BA (Hons)3D Design New Practice

Academic External Expert/Assessor

• Various UoP UG & PG BA / MA / MSc Courses
• Loughborough University, Undergraduate Art & Design review
• Hereford College of Art, University of Wales B.A.(Hons) Blacksmithing & BA(Hons)Contemporary Applied Arts
• Faculty of Multimedia Communications, Tomas Bata University, Zlín
  

Teaching interests

Polly is interested in how things are made, how things can be made ethically and sustainability and how this can be taught in order to nurture individuals and develop original creative voices.

• Award Leader BA(Hons) Designer Maker - The Designer Maker course (one of the 3D Design exit awards) has a reputation for producing graduates who are individual, informed and understand how to be successful in creativity and business. It offers the opportunity for individuals to be the authors of their own artefacts whether for the one-off or multiple batch production.

•  Graduating students have achieved a wide range of progression opportunities including exhibitions, awards and employment: RSA Ceramics Future Design, Best Young Designer – Wallpaper,   Lighting Association Design Award and Independent's Top 10 Sustainable Seating.

      Graduates of awards include...  Bethany Isaac - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Ogl_67JXvGY

                                 James Otter - http://www.ottersurfboards.co.uk/

                                 Josh Milton - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLcYnkb7o3A

                                 Laura Lane - http://www.lauralane.co.uk/

                                 Barnaby Barford - http://www.barnabybarford.co.uk/

                                 Gavin Keightley - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=26&v=Rzef6z4h_3A

                                 Sophie Coiley- https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=5sQvbRzHigM

• Award Leader MA Contemporary Designer Maker 

• MA Contemporary Designer Maker Academic lead development of the MA Design award https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/ma-design

• Numerous External Student Engagement projects including…   
  

     Lead creative collaborations with Hole & Corner, Benchmark, Port Eliot Festival https://vimeo.com/183234760

Staff serving as external examiners

• Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts: MA Art & Design

• Cardiff Metropolitan University: BA (Hons) Artist Designer Maker

• University of Ulster: MFA Multidisciplinary Design

• Liverpool Hope University: Design BDes (Hons) 

• Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts - Singapore: BA (Hons) Fine Art, Graphic Design and 3D Design New Practice 

• Loughborough University: BA (Hons)3D Design New Practice

• External Expert/Assessor Quinquennial Review: Hereford College of Art, University of Wales B.A.(Hons) Blacksmithing & BA(Hons)Contemporary Applied Arts

Research interests

Polly’s research and teaching are closely connected focusing around collaboration, processes of knowledge development and making. Her current interests align with research thinking about archaeology, materiality, place and space with additional categories of Mapping, Journey and Movement; exploring the different ways in which these themes can be presented, organised and structured.
As a visual cartographer and maker she is interested in materials, in the processes of making, objects and new outcomes and how artefacts could/can be made/used to enhance and or change perceptions in or of environments and situations.
There are a variety of different ways in which she has successfully executed these ideas through the mixing of materials (concrete, clay, wood, combustibles) sound investigation & film / stills to produce objects, drawings and images. https://www.pollymacpherson.com

SWCTN Fellowship - https://swctn.org.uk
Polly was awarded an Automation Academic Research Fellow with South West Creative Technology Network in April 2019 and has started exploring how automation developments are effecting the skills, creative ideas and processes of Designer Maker / Craft Practitioners in the South West. https://swctn.org.uk/automation/fellows/polly-macpherson/

The South West Creative Technology Network (SWCTN) is a £6.5million project to expand the use of creative technologies across the south west of England. The network is offering three one-year funded programmes around the themes of Immersion, Automation and Data.

Polly is the Creative Industries lead for Low Carbon Devon Project (LCD) funded by European Regional development Fund (ERDF), managed by Sustainable Earth Institute. The aim of the project is to bring together University of Plymouth researchers, the Devon low carbon and energy sector and Creative Industries in order to support the opening of a new cluster of Low carbon Creative Industries. https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/sustainability-hub-low-carbon-devon 

Other research

Reports & invited lectures

International Teaching and Lectures

Oct.-Nov. 2018
Guest Professor in Industrial Design at Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
http://english.jiangnan.edu.cn

Key note presentation 1st China Crafts week, Hangzhou China
https://www.chinadesigncentre.com/uploads/2018/02/100036038023.pdf

Jan.- March 2011
Guest Professor in the Industrial Design Department, Faculty of Architecture at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
http://www.chula.ac.th/

Other academic activities

With an extensive career working in Higher Education Polly’s experience covers the delivery, development, validation and examination of courses and students at local, national and international level through to research activity and dissemination and creative industry lead projects.

As an active member of staff Polly’s current wider University responsibilities include ADA elected staff member of the Plymouth University’s Senate and member of Faculty of Arts & Humanities Advisory Board.

University Senate & Honorary Doctorate committee member, Chair of Peninsular Arts Galleries Programming Advisory Group, University of Plymouth Complaint & Appeals Board, Academic Lead for technical and making workshops, Plymouth Award Management Group, 3D Design Visiting Lecturer Programmer, UPC/University Link Academic Advisor Cornwall College, Petroc College & Truro College, Senior Management Team, Academic Promotions Board, Validations including MSc Paediatric Dietetics & MA CAP, TQA Faculty of Arts & Learning, Teaching & Research Forum 

Links

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/pollymacpherson

https://www.pollymacpherson.com

Instagram @PollyMacpherson

Instagram @MacphersonPolly
Twitter @PollyMacp