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NCADAcademic PartnerNCAD occupies a unique position in art and design education in Ireland. It has 1,000 students and offers the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in Ireland. The research base of the college has maintained steady growth in recent years and the Industrial Design Department has been at the forefront of this development. Seen as an area of the college that has great potential to collaborate in a practical way with industry, it has forged links
with many industrial partners including Intel, Miele and Opel. The workshops and research facilities are very well equipped including the most up-to-date rapid prototyping, CNC and laser scanning equipment. In recent months the department has launched a new postgraduate course in Medical Device Design, which will be complementary to ‘TFE’. The concept of User-First Design is also an initiative of the Industrial Design Department and it is in this context, along with the many years of experience in seating design of the programme coordinator that the research topic of school furniture design first emerged first in 2004. The department has had an active involvement in the two most recent strategic developments at NCAD. NCAD is also a collaborator in the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC). |
Prinicipal Investigator:Dr. Gearóid Ó Conchubhair Website:www.ncad.ie Phone:+353 1 6364275 Email:info@tferesearch.com |
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Escola Superior de Artes e Design, Porto (ESAD)Academic PartnerESAD is a private higher education institution, with 1,100 students, and offers undergraduate and postgraduate art and design degrees. A master degree in Industrial Design is offered in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. According to the Bologna process, ESAD aims to guarantee a certification of excellence in Arts and Design, its overall objective being to contribute to the development of society, updating learned skills and facilitating the transfer of knowledge from designers to industry. ESAD is committed to strengthening cooperation with industry, collaborating in national and international projects and developing cultural art and design events. ESAD has assumed as a strategy for its internationalisation, the collaboration with European and non European High Education Institutions (HEI). ESAD is also a member of the CUMULUS International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media. The objective of ESAD’s international operations is to build the education and R&D profile of the institution through staff and student mobility programmes and to engage in international projects focusing on reinforced cooperation between HEI and industry. |
Prinicipal Investigator:Prof. José António Simões Website:www.esad.pt Phone:+351 229 578 750 |
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Trinity College DublinAcademic PartnerTCD was founded in 1592, is recognised internationally as Ireland’s premier university and is the only Irish university to rank in the top 100 world universities in 49th position and amongst the top 50 European universities (13th) by the Times Higher Education (THE) – QS World University Rankings. Its three faculties are Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Engineering, Mathematics and Science; and Health Sciences. There were 15,716 registered students in 2007–08. Trinity College builds on its four-hundred-year-old tradition of scholarship to confirm its position as one of the great universities of the world, providing a liberal environment where independence of thought is highly valued and where staff and students are nurtured as individuals and are encouraged to achieve their full potential. The College is committed to excellence in both research and teaching, to the enhancement of the learning experience of each of its students and to an inclusive College community with equality of access for all. The College will continue to disseminate its knowledge and expertise to the benefit of the City of Dublin, the country and the international community. |
Prinicipal Investigator:Sara Dockrell Website:www.tcd.ie Phone:+353 1 896 1000 |
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Vereinigte Spezialmöbelfabriken GmbH & Co. KG (VS)Industry PartnerVS, founded in 1898, now has over 100 years of experience in school furniture. Today VS supplies furniture and equipment of the highest standard of quality, design and ergonomics to learning environments and offices. VS is positioned as a complete furnisher with a wide range of furniture for integrated furnishing concepts. VS is experienced in working on small- and large-scale projects and to this end can offer customer-individualised adaptations and modifications. VS supplies furniture to large government ministries, industrial concerns, banks and municipalities. In 2005 VS, a third-generation family business, received the MX Award for Manufacturing Excellence. The company’s head office and sole production site are in Tauberbischofsheim, Germany. The product development team at VS has a staff of 35 including engineers and designers. The company holds several patents and registered designs. As external partners, leading designers and architects like Verner Panton, Günter Behnisch and Juergen Greubel have worked with VS. For more than a decade, VS has worked very closely with Dr. Breithecker and his team of ergonomists at BAG in Wiesbaden, orthopaedists like Prof. Dr. Grifka of Regensburg University, and other scientific institutions on the transformation of results from scientific research into ergonomic products. These efforts strive to develop products that improve learning environments in terms of health and well-being for pupils, students and teachers. |
Prinicipal Investigator:Dr.-Ing. Thomas Mueller Website:Phone:+49 (0)9341 / 88-0 Email:vs@vs-moebel.de |
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Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Haltungs und Bewegungsförderung e.V. (BAG)Industry PartnerBAG was founded 1961 through the initiative of a group of orthopaedics, parents and teachers. The Institute operates as a private enterprise with some financial support from the German Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Woman and Youth. The institute concentrates largely on the postural disorders of adolescents and is particularly concerned with motor abilities and hypermotoric syndromes. The primary focus of the research at BAG is on the postural and physical development of adolescents looking at ‘movement’ (physical activity) as the most important factor influencing a well-balanced physical, mental and psycho-social maturity. The goal of the institute is to influence the design of equipment and environments for all ages, concentrating particularly on school classrooms and office workplaces in a way that promotes more effective physical behaviour, stimulated by settings which take account of movement (ergodynamic solutions). This is achieved by engaging in scientific research and the transfer of knowledge into practice through training and by consulting with industry, government agencies and equipment producers. The TFE project is an ideal opportunity for BAG to further the application of its objectives in the research and development of better school furniture. |
Prinicipal Investigator:Dr. Dieter Breithecker Website:www.haltungbewegung.de Phone:+49 611 / 37 42 09 Email:info@haltungbewegung.de |
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Fielding Nair InternationalIndustry PartnerFNI is widely regarded as the global leader for innovative educational facilities planning and architectural design. FNI plans and designs school facilities for today and tomorrow with one primary goal in mind: to improve learning. FNI has provided consulting services to local, regional and national governments, school districts and other educational clients in 26 countries on 5 continents. Principals of the firm have published dozens of important pieces in architectural and educational journals, written best-selling books including the landmark, The Language of School Design and won several majorindustry awards for excellence including the CEFPI MacConnell Award and International Planner of the Year. Their work has attracted the attention of media outlets CNN.com, The New York Times, BBC Radio, The Washington Post, National Educational Association, School Construction News, School Planning and Management, Edutopia, Education Week, Architectural Digest, and Australia Architecture to name just a few. FNI utilises cutting-edge processes for planning and designing school facilities. This includes their research-based Educational Facilities Effectiveness InstrumentTM (EFEI), used to assess over a billion dollars’ worth of school facilities worldwide. FNI’s culture of innovation helps create environmentally-sustainable, community-centric, quality-conscious facilities which cost less and are easier and faster to build. FNI includes leading international educators and technologists as well as planners and architects. The firm has great credibility with school districts as agents for change. Their collaborative process builds bridges across a diverse community of stakeholders to create exemplary school facilities that will stand the test of time. |
Prinicipal Investigator:Prakash Nair Website:www.fieldingnair.com Phone:+1 718 520 7318 Email:Prakash@FieldingNair.com |
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FP7Supported byThe Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) bundles all research-related EU initiatives together under a common roof playing a crucial role in reaching the goals of growth, competitiveness and employment; along with a new Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), Education and Training programmes, and Structural and Cohesion Funds for regional convergence and competitiveness. It is also a key pillar for the European Research Area (ERA). The broad objectives of FP7 have been grouped into four categories: Cooperation, Ideas, People and Capacities. For each type of objective, there is a specific programme corresponding to the main areas of EU research policy. All specific programmes work together to promote and encourage the creation of European poles of (scientific) excellence. |
Website:Phone:+352 2929 42210 |
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Enterprise IrelandSupported byEnterprise Ireland is the government organisation responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets. We work in partnership with Irish enterprises to help them start, grow, innovate and win export sales on global markets. In this way, we support sustainable economic growth, regional development and secure employment. |
Website:www.enterprise-ireland.com Phone:+353 1 727 2000 |
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GradcamSupported byThe Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media (GradCAM) located on the campus of NCAD provides a shared space of structured postgraduate doctoral studies and research support - what has come to be known as “fourth-level” education. Acting as the national centre for creative research development, GradCAM is an exciting new collaborative initiative of national and all-island significance which builds on the expertise of the National College of Art & Design, the Dublin Institute of Technology, the University of Ulster, and the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire. The School is a centre for creative research development; the School is a framework for critical interdisciplinary dialogue; and the School operates as a permeable institution of enquiry that facilitates, promotes and leads the interaction between cultural practice, educational practice and the everyday world of work and innovation beyond the academy. |
Website:www.gradcam.ie Phone:+353 1 6461181 Email:aidan.mcelwaine@gradcam.ie |
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