Global Industrial Design Leader takes Senior Role at Northumbria University
A distinguished figure in the worldwide design industry has been appointed Dean of the School of Design at one of the UK’s leading universities in the field. Northumbria University graduate Professor Steven Kyffin – who previously held academic and management positions at the Royal College of Art in London – is returning to the University from Royal Philips Electronics in the Netherlands. |
He is currently Senior Director of Design Research and Innovation at the company, and enjoys responsibility for the Philips Design Research programme. He takes up his new role of Dean at Northumbria University in January 2010.
Northumbria University, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, enjoys an outstanding reputation for research and teaching in Design across business, manufacturing and the digital and creative industries. Many of its graduates now hold positions at the top of successful corporations in the automotive, fashion and retail sectors. They also retain lasting links with Northumbria University, where undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses are informed by cutting-edge academic research and professional practice.
Professor Steven Kyffin was a Visiting Professor at Northumbria University from 2005 to 2008. He said: ““It is a real honour to be joining Northumbria, and a special pleasure to accept a senior role at the University from which I graduated. I'm delighted to be taking up the position of Dean for the School of Design. I look forward to working with academic and professional colleagues within the School at its sites in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and at Islington in London, and across the University. Of course I’m also eager to meet our talented and energetic students.”
The Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of Northumbria University, Professor Andrew Wathey, said: “Professor Steven Kyffin is highly respected as an academic and also as an outstanding design director in a hugely competitive commercial sphere. He will bring great expertise and flair to an already world-leading School. I am confident that under Steven’s direction even more of Northumbria University’s graduates and research will shape the product refinements, design trends and the artistic and commercial successes of the future.”
Northumbria University’s School of Design enjoys a stunning setting on a recently regenerated inner-city site. Linked to the nearby heart of the campus by a new bridge, it is in an award-winning building – part of the £200m City Campus East investment, soon to be complemented by a £30m sports centre for students, staff and the people of Newcastle upon Tyne. Northumbria University is a leading provider of high quality graduates to the professions, public life and business, and the University also recorded the greatest improvement of any university in the North of England in the latest national assessment of research quality in Britain. It is renowned for the excellence of its student experience and is one of North East England’s major employers, contributing significantly to the region’s economic, cultural and social well-being.
Date posted: September 28, 2009
