Mr Ross MacLachlan
Senior Teaching Fellow
Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management
Personal statement
My core interest is multidisciplinary design engineering education. Qualified with an MEng in Product Design Engineering from the University of Strathclyde (2001), I facilitate modules in Electrical Concepts (module registrar) for 1st year Product Design students, Fluid Mechanics for 2nd year Sports Engineers, Design Engineering for 3rd year Product Design and Design Management topics for both 2nd year undergraduate and postgraduate students. I also provide tutor support across a number of studio based design classes, including Design Emotion and Experience. I supervise undergraduate and postgraduate student design and research projects as well as group industrial projects. I am currently the 1st year undergraduate advisor of studies, and the local coordinator for the Joint MSc in Global Innovation Management (GIM); a collaborative 2 year master’s programme in conjunction with Hamburg University of Technology and Aalborg University. 2008 – 2012 Editions of the GIM programme were supported under the European Commission’s flagship Erasmus Mundus scholarship programme.
I have participated in a number of funded (Sporting Chance Initiative and Medtech) product design projects with Industry; a tennis court pace measurement apparatus (Sportslabs), abdominal toning product (Kennedy Koncepts) and a transport, storage and cleansing system for Transoesophageal (TOE) Probes (Health Science Solutions).
I have published research activity in design creativity, design education and innovation management education.
Publications
- Bridging disciplines through making : competency development in interdisciplinary wearable rehabilitation technology education
- Georgiev Georgi V, Soomro Sohail Ahmed, Balzan E, Gauci Maria, Buhagiar Nathalie, Vella Pierre, Tamburrino Francesco, Neri Paolo, Aruanno Beatrice, Wodehouse Andrew, MacLachlan Ross, Hadjionisiforou Onisiforos, Latif Ummi, Fernando Roshan, Kuivila Heli, Kitkala-Murto Noora, Mikkonen Kristina, Abela Edward, Farrugia Philip
- 28th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE26) (2026)
- A 'snapshot' of engineering practitioners views of ChatGPT-informing pedagogy in higher education
- Murray Mike, MacLachlan Ross, Flockhart Gordon M H, Adams Richard, Magueijo Vitor, Goodfellow Martin, Liaskos Konstantinos, Hasty William, Lauro Veeti
- European Journal of Engineering Education Vol 51, pp. 104-129 (2026)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2025.2492736
- A comprehensive methodology to identify competence gaps in product and design engineering curricula
- Georgiev Georgi V, Soomro Sohail Ahmed, Balzan Emmanuel, Gauci Maria, Buhagiar Nathalie, Vella Pierre, Tamburrino Francesco, Neri Paolo, Aruanno Beatrice, Wodehouse Andrew, MacLachlan Ross, Hadjionisiforou Onisiforos, Kuivila Heli, Kitkala-Murto Noora, Mikkonen Kristina, Farrugia Philip
- DS 137: Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE 2025) 27th International Conference on Engineering & Product Design Education (E&PDE 2025), pp. 7-12 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.35199/EPDE.2025.2
- Evolving a model of Gen-AI enhanced design visualisation workflow
- MacLachlan Ross, Petrakis Konstantinos, Holliman Alexander
- Fostering Human-Centred Products and Services in Design 27th International Conference on Engineering & Product Design Education (E&PDE 2025) Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, pp. 667-672 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.35199/EPDE.2025.112
- Improving student success rate through linking virtual, physical and digital prototyping
- MacLachlan Ross, Gibson Dale, Shepherd Neil, Bertolaccini Dino
- International Symposium of Academic Maker Spaces 2024 (2024)
- Chat-GPT : a clever search engine or a creative design assistant for students and industry?
- Maclachlan Ross, Adams Richard, Lauro Veeti, Murray Michael, Magueijo Vitor, Flockhart Gordon, Hasty William
- 26th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (2024)
Research Interests
Creative Design Methods; Culture and design; the role of Open-source in design practice; Product acoustics; and; Innovation, Design and Engineering Education.
Professional Activities
- Engineering Academics Network (EAN) Annual Congress
- Organiser
- 17/6/2026
- AdvanceHE Employability Symposium 2026
- Speaker
- 10/3/2026
- Digital Design Network Plus – Workshop 2
- Invited speaker
- 24/2/2026
- 27th International Conference on Engineering & Product Design Education (E&PDE 2025)
- Speaker
- 10/9/2025
- Engineering Pedagogy & Scholarship Workshop
- Participant
- 24/6/2025
- UK-Turkey Internationalisation in HE Forum
- Invited speaker
- 4/3/2025
Projects
- Re-imagining the Drone Design Process (Digital Design Network+ Digital Design Challenge)
- MacLachlan, Ross (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2026
- Charting the Experiential Learning Landscape in Undergraduate Engineering Programmes at the University of Strathclyde
- Strachan, Scott (Principal Investigator) Murray, Michael (Research Co-investigator) MacLachlan, Ross (Research Co-investigator)
- UOS Strathclyde Faculty of Engineering (Associate Dean) Student Intern (150hrs) Funding.
- 08-Jan-2025 - 19-Jan-2025
- EDUWEAR: Engineering Educational Competence Development on Customisable Wearable Rehabilitation Devices
- Wodehouse, Andrew (Principal Investigator) MacLachlan, Ross (Co-investigator)
- The overall aim of EDUWEAR is to develop an e-learning course, together with a set of hands-on exercises, collectively aimed to equip learners with knowledge and competences in developing customisable wearable devices for rehabilitation. Objectives include:
- establish a common course between the engineering and health sciences faculties of the EU countries for developing healthcare products, using bespoke wearables for rehabilitation as case studies
- contribute to the standardisation of the course content which would eliminate the competences gap in EU countries concerning healthcare product development
- promote innovative use cases of the FabLab concept in engineering education on an international scale
- promote the application of a range of engineering design tools
- develop adequate course and educational materials for students to receive training that would allow them to develop and test products for target audiences in healthcare
- provide guidance to trainers on best practices to transfer knowledge on the development of such devices and;
- learn in identifying and collaborating with other professionals outside the field of engineering, for example, allied health professionals, people from the ICT field and product users, as co-designers - 01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2027
- Exploring the use of Chat GPT by Engineering Employers: Informing Authentic Assessment in Higher Education Engineering
- Murray, Michael (Principal Investigator) Flockhart, Gordon (Principal Investigator) MacLachlan, Ross (Principal Investigator) Adams, Richard (Principal Investigator) Magueijo, Vitor (Principal Investigator) Connolly, Stephen (Principal Investigator) Hasty, William (Principal Investigator)
- Strathclyde Intern Funding:
- 01-Jan-2023 - 03-Jan-2023
- Creating Innovative and Active Co-learning Environments for Sustainable Partnerships in the Higher Education Area
- MacLachlan, Ross (Principal Investigator) Thomson, Avril (Principal Investigator) Henderson, Emma (Co-investigator) MacLachlan, Ross (Co-investigator) Race, Julia (Co-investigator) Strachan, Scott (Co-investigator) Thomson, Avril (Co-investigator)
- 19-Jan-2022 - 19-Jan-2024
- Creating Innovative and Active Co-learning Environments for Sustainable Partnerships in the Higher Education Area
- MacLachlan, Ross (Principal Investigator) Thomson, Avril (Principal Investigator) Henderson, Emma (Co-investigator) MacLachlan, Ross (Co-investigator) Race, Julia (Co-investigator) Strachan, Scott (Co-investigator) Thomson, Avril (Co-investigator)
- 19-Jan-2022 - 19-Jan-2024
Contact
Mr
Ross
MacLachlan
Senior Teaching Fellow
Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management
Email: r.maclachlan@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 2653