Dr Hilary Grierson

Principal Teaching Fellow

Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management

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Personal statement

I teach Product Design in the Department of Design Manufacture and Engineering Management (DMEM). I studied Architecture and Design at the University of Strathclyde and at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, USA, before becoming a registered architect. I have an MSc in Computer-Aided Building Design and a PhD in Design Education. I worked in architectural practice for over 12 years before moving to academia; joining DMEM in 2007.

As Director of UG Individual Projects I have the responsibility for the 4th and 5th year final individual student product design projects. I teach design methods and their application to product development and industrial project-based group work. I am responsible for the department’s Teaching and Learning Enhancements and have been involved in a number of projects and pilots to improve the Student Experience, Online Feedback and Assessment and Online CPD.

My research focus is in the area of distributed working, distributed information management and global design education, having worked on the JISC/NSF funded research DIDET Project (Distributed Innovative Design, Education and Teamwork) from 2003-2008, with colleagues from the Center for Design Research, Stanford University. My PhD investigated distributed design information management for global collaborations and I have published in over 40 journal and conference papers and this area.  My most recent research is an EPSRC funded grant on Data Information Systems - DaISy, part of the Big Data Programme - investigating the visualisation and handling of large secure data sets for the defence industry. 

 

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Area of Expertise

  • distributed working
  • distributed information management
  • design education
  • creative design methods

 

Prize And Awards

Teaching Excellence Awards, 2018
Recipient
2018
Teaching Excellence Awards - Shortlisted for Best in Faculty, 2017
Recipient
5/2017
Teaching Excellence Awards, 2016
Recipient
2016
Teaching Excellence Awards, 2014
Recipient
5/2014
Teaching Excellence Award, USSA, 2013
Recipient
5/2013
Institute of Engineering Designers Group Prize 2011
Recipient
5/11/2011

More prizes and awards

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Publications

Digital Solutions for Design Education
Brisco Ross, Grierson Hilary
(2024)
What have we learnt : reflections pre and post pandemic on the transition to engineering design education online
Brisco Ross, Grierson Hilary
Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education 25th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education Vol E&PDE 2023 (2023)
https://doi.org/10.35199/EPDE.2023.11
Online course design using iterative workshops on computer-supported collaborative design for engineering design students
Brisco Ross, Whitfield Robert Ian, Grierson Hilary
Design and Technology Education: An International Journal Vol 27, pp. 8-35 (2022)
The application of a prototyping support tool in a student design project
Petrakis Konstantinos, Wodehouse Andrew, Grierson Hilary, Coutts Euan, Liikkanen Jussi, Parkkamäki Hannu
24th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (2022)
Lessons learned in the development of an online 6-3-5 digital design tool for distributed idea generation
Brisco Ross, Grierson Hilary, Lynn Andrew
DS 110 23rd International Conference on Engineering & Product Design Education (2021)
https://doi.org/10.35199/EPDE.2021.17
Developing an online course in Computer-Supported Collaborative Design (CSCD)
Brisco Ross, Whitfield Ian, Grierson Hilary, Howell Bryan, Unson Cameron, Matheson Carly
Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education The 22nd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (2020)

More publications

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Teaching

I teach in the Global Design Class and in a Product Development Class with strong teaching interests in distributed design and design education. I have investigated creative design methods and how these might be applied to product design engineering projects and other engineering disciplines. More recently following the organisation of a CPD Circular Economy Conference at Strathclyde, headlining Dame Ellen McArthur, I am interested in how creativity can be applied to the design of sustainable of products.  

 

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Professional Activities

Design Society Design Education Special Interest Group Workshop on Design Education at the Engineering & Product Design Education Conference, (E&PDE 2021)
Organiser
10/9/2021
23rd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education
Organiser
9/9/2021
22nd International Conference on Engineering & Product Design Education
Organiser
10/9/2020
The Journal of Engineering Design (Journal)
Peer reviewer
2020
Design Society Design Education Special Interest Group Workshop on Design Education at the Engineering & Product Design Education Conference, (E&PDE 2020)
Organiser
2020
21st International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education
Organiser
12/9/2019

More professional activities

Projects

Innovation Voucher - ClickNetherfield Ltd., Design process reengineering and modular product family investigation (£5k)
Grierson, Hilary (Principal Investigator)
Innovation Voucher for Clicknetherfield - supervision of student. Activity prior to a KTP.
09-Jan-2018 - 07-Jan-2018
Teqnox Ltd. - RSE Enterprise Fellowship (£42.7k)
Grierson, Hilary (Principal Investigator)
Hosting of a RSE Enterprise Fellowship of one of DMEM's graduates in Sports Engineering. Design and development of protective bodywear for riders based on student project.
02-Jan-2018 - 29-Jan-2019
RSE Enterprise Fellowship - All Day Designs Ltd. (£49k)
Grierson, Hilary (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2016 - 31-Jan-2017
Doctoral Training Partnership (DTA - University of Strathclyde) | Brisco, Ross
Whitfield, Ian (Principal Investigator) Grierson, Hilary (Co-investigator) Brisco, Ross (Research Co-investigator)
This project is investigating students utilisation of social network sites for conducting design activities and supporting the design process, such as, to support the reasoning and discussion required to make design decisions. Social network sites offer functionality which meets the needs of computer-supported collaborative design systems, such as, in the exchange and ideas, artefacts and documents. The ubiquity of social network sites and integration with student’s life allows them access to conduct teamwork at all times of the day and the integration of mobile devices allow them access from anywhere. Our findings show that students utilise this ability throughout their daily lives such as, utilising spare time on public transport or whilst waiting in a line in a shop to check in on team progress or contribute to a discussion. The growth of social network sites within academia and enterprise suggest that students will need to utilise the technology in the future. With this, and social network sites ability to support the design process identified in this study, there is a need to investigate the requirement for new design education pedagogies to support students learning. It is important to reason how this might be delivered and how we might encourage the use of best practices when engaging with the technology.
01-Jan-2015 - 15-Jan-2021
Online CPD for Design Professionals,
Grierson, Hilary (Principal Investigator) Grierson, David (Co-investigator)
04-Jan-2012 - 02-Jan-2015
Information Cognition (IC): Enabling the Human Cog in the Information Retrieval Machine
Grierson, Hilary (Principal Investigator) Corney, Jonathan (Co-investigator)
"SUMMARY

This research programme will investigate the feasibility of using visual representations for the secure navigation and search of large, complex, multimedia data sets. It draws upon prior research that shows the human visual system has a powerful ability to recognise and classify objects in 3D environments. To do this the project will create an experimental platform that combines human cognitive abilities with recent advances in design information management, computer graphics and data mining. The resulting system will support the systematic study of how advanced visual interfaces impact on a user's ability to both find individual items and identify patterns, or oddities, within subsets of the data.

The veracity of the project's experimental methodology is ensured through close collaboration with an international research centre supported by a consortium of leading defence contractors (ie Rolls Royce, Boeing etc). This partnership will ensure the project is focused on the challenges faced by the defence industry and can assess its outputs using a realistic bench mark environment."
30-Jan-2012 - 31-Jan-2013

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Contact

Dr Hilary Grierson
Principal Teaching Fellow
Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management

Email: h.j.grierson@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 5939