Three Universities Unite For International Product Design Project

Undergraduate students and academic staff from the BA/BSc Product Design programmes at Cardiff School of Art & Design are engaging in a tripartite collaboration with product design students from the University of Rotterdam in Holland and Howest University in Kortrijk in Belgium. Each university is sending 12 students to the two other universities to participate in product design projects hosted by each institution. The students will form intercultural and multilingual design teams in order to tackle commercial design problems. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

At Howest University in Belgium, the mixed group of students will be working with a commercial industry partner on health and wellbeing projects. At the University of Rotterdam students will work with a commercial partner to improve and promote cycling in the South Rotterdam district, and at Cardiff Metropolitan University they will work on a live project with Facebook, San Francisco. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Cardiff Met students travelling and studying in Belgium and Holland for two weeks have been funded by the university’s Short-Term Mobility Programme​ and the learning experience for students at the Cardiff School of Art & Design has been supported by the Student Experience Fund, administered by the Cardiff Met Student Union. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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The commercial project at Cardiff Met, will be run by Theo Humphries, Senior Lecturer in Product Design with collaborative partner, John Anthony Evans, from Facebook. John has flown in from The US to run the project which will task the students with imagining how everyday products in the near future might intelligently and innovatively use streams of data that flow from, to, and through Facebook. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Theo and John will be joined by academic staff from the University of Rotterdam and Howest University, who will also be teaching on the project. At the same time, Gareth Barham, Principal Lecturer in Product Design at Cardiff Met, will be contributing to the project at Rotterdam University in Holland and two Cardiff Met MSc Advanced product Design students, James Allum and Huw Hopkins, will be contributing to the project at Howest University in Belgium. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Staff and students at all three universities have been eagerly awaiting this opportunity and are excited to see the results. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​