Professor Sharon Baurley to Step Down as Head of RCA Design Products
The RCA today announced the departure of Sharon Baurley as Head of the Design Products programme in the School of Design, highlighting the refreshed academic vision she has delivered during her tenureship of a programme that has always been at the forefront of design education.
Professor Baurley said, ‘While I am sad to be leaving the RCA for family relocation, I am delighted to take up this new post in another prestigious European institution, which will enable me to build on existing interests and partnerships, and to continue as Research Professor at the RCA.’
Professor Baurley joined the College in January 2014. During her three-year leadership, she has applied her design, materials, engineering electronics and computer science experience to redirect the Design Products (DP) programme towards a real-world agenda around ‘Creativity for Purpose’, building a new team, establishing a network of external partners and experts that expose students to contemporary challenges, and redefining DP’s research trajectories – distributed manufacture, innovation ecosystems and sustainability, and social design.
Professor Baurley’s research interests align closely with the College’s, and she will continue to be involved in the developing research lab Distributed Everything, investigating, exploring and challenging new modes of production and consumption for a sustainable economy. The lab will be a platform to develop projects and funding bids, and demonstrate the RCA’s capability to be a lead partner in London’s pledge to become a Fab City. [http://fab.city/]
Professor Baurley’s new post as Head of Industrial Design at Zürcher Hochschule der Künste / Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK) will allow opportunities for cross-disciplinary research with a particular focus on internationalisation, forging links with the UK and USA, and building research with the STEM community. She will continue to have an active role in relation to the Design Products programme and the College’s research strategy.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Times; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}Professor Naren Barfield, Pro Rector at the RCA said, ‘Sharon has brought substantial experience in leading cross-disciplinary collaborative research projects, an impressive track record of securing research funding, and a willingness to share this experience and expertise in developing earlier career colleagues across the College. We wish her all the best in her new role, and look forward to continuing our collaborations in the future, confident that Professor Baurley (who completed her PhD at the RCA) will continue to contribute to and influence the research culture of the College.’
Professor Dale Harrow, Dean of the School of Design, said: ‘Under Sharon Baurley’s leadership, Design Products has defined itself as a forward-thinking programme that has engaged with real-world problems and solutions. While we are sorry to lose her, the programme has a firm footing from which to develop, with an established team and platform structure that challenges thinking within the discipline.’
Professor Baurley will take up her new post in January 2016. Meanwhile, the programme will be led by Senior Tutors Robert Phillips and James Tooze, with Robert Phillips taking on the role of Acting Head of Programme.