News and Events April 2011

WIRAD Development Seminar

Held on 2 March and hosted by Swansea Metropolitan University, the WIRAD Development Seminar brought together the universities, public bodies and individual researchers interested in discussing the future of WIRAD. Following positive feedback and firm commitments, the partnership will now look towards expansion and sharing REF best practice with a view to a possible joint REF submission in 2014.

Double IF Award Win For the PDR Design Team

PDR have been awarded another double success in the International ‘IF Product Design Awards 2011'. The design team have picked up on the awards in the Furniture & Home Textiles category for their work with on Mothercare's ‘MyChoice' range, and the Industry & Skilled Trades category their work with Mesuro.

‘MyChoice' is a new range of customisable children's furniture. PDR were involved in the ideation, product concept and design of the items. By focussing on providing ‘easy personalisation', the product range can provide a changeable children's furnishing to keep up with a child's development and ownership of opinion and choice.

Mesuro's MB20 is an entry-level RF test system that allows for all standard measurements such as s-parameters, AM/AM, AM/PM and introduces the unique capabilities of waveform engineering. PDR provided industrial design support in refining the product's design into a highly refined and considered product solution. Machined from Aluminium billet, all designed features and functionality are built into the cases uniform design.

New ESRC Research Seminar Series Digital Policy: Connectivity, Creativity and Rights

A new ESRC Research Seminar Series on Digital Policy: Connectivity, Creativity and Rights was launched at University of Wales, Newport, on April 1 2011. The series is led by Gillian Youngs (University of Wales, Newport), Tracy Simmons (University of Leicester), William Dutton (Oxford Internet Institute), Katharine Sarikakis (University of Vienna) and will run over two years.

The series aims to bring together a distinctive mix of academic researchers at all levels, including research students, with policymakers and practitioners to focus on three key areas: connectivity, creativity and rights. The series will explore questions such as: What kind of digital future is envisaged in Britain? Who continues to be left out or at risk in this digital future? What can be done to overcome major technical, knowledge and skills barriers to this? What new kinds of creativity and innovation are being unleashed by digital change and how can these be expanded? How is the public service ethos being tested and enhanced in the digital environment? The series will consider connectivity from social and skills-based as well as infrastructural and technical perspectives.

The first event ‘Digital Wales: Inclusive Creativity and Economy' featured speakers including David Warrender (Director Digital Wales, Welsh Assembly Government), Ian Hargreaves (Cardiff University), William Dutton (Oxford Internet Institute), Rhodri Williams (Ofcom), Hamish Fyfe (Glamorgan University) and the Artist Keynote will be John Goto (University of Derby).

For more information on presenting research, participating in the series or co-hosting an event visit Digital Policy or contact Professor Gillian Youngs.

Mayo & Murphy at NCECA

Dr Natasha Mayo and Ingrid Murphy (Centre for Ceramics Research) have presented their paper, "Ceramics in Virtual Learning", on their online teaching resource at this year's National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference in Tampa Florida. Taking place from 30th March - 2nd April, the conference examined the unbroken arc spanning traditional and the most contemporary emerging work.

The paper demonstrated the Virtual Learning Environment developed by Mayo and Murphy to inform, enhance and underpin the experiential learning that occurs within ceramic education. Working as educators in a studio based environment, they sought to explore how the VLE becomes and interactive tool in the students' creative journey and kill development and less a repository of information.

Philippa Lawrence: Barcode FB814

Philippa Lawrence (DiGIT) has created a new piece of work for the Meadow Arts Public Commissions programme, funded by Arts Council England and the Elmley Foundation. Barcode: FB814 has been installed at High Vinnalls, part of the Mortimer Forest in Herefordshire. Philippa's response to the commission continues her exploration of the use of materials and notions of ‘place', ‘landscape' and ‘ways of being' in a location. Barcodes from wooden dowelling of the type sold in hardware shops are wrapped onto the trees, sharply contrasting the individuality of each tree with the uniformity of the commodity it becomes.

In April, Philippa will also be travelling to the US to install "Bound, V-57" at the Morton arboretum, Illinois as part of the Nature Unframed: Art at the Arboretum exhibition

Jon Pigott

Jon Pigott (MeAT) will be presenting at two conferences this summer. Jon will present "Vibration, Volts and Sonic Art: a practice and theory of electromechanical sound" at the New Interfaces for Musical Expression 2011 conference in Oslo in May, which explores the creative appropriation of loudspeakers and other electromechanical devices in sonic arts practice. In June, Jon will present at Sound, Sight, Space and Play, an international postgraduate student conference at the De Montfort University, Leicester. This paper will explore examples of Jon's work within the field of electromechanical sonic art, specifically, the "Sonic Marble Run" (2007) and "The Infinite Spring" (2010).

"The Infinite Spring" will also be presented at the next Audiograft Festival of sound art and contemporary music at Oxford Brookes University and Jon has recently been awarded a residency with the River Torridge Project working with the North Devon Biosphere Foundation, Bedford Arts, Appledore Arts and University of Plymouth's i‐DAT.

PDR Welcomes Two Newcomers to The Team

PDR has welcomed two new members to its team who will join the Medical Applications Group (MAG). Peter Dorrington and Sean Peel will work with PDR's Patient-Specific Medical Device Knowledge Transfer Centre, has been created to improve the links between the clinical need and physical device creation for patient-specific products. The use of advanced manufacturing technologies coupled with cutting-edge research provides a full range of design and engineering support.

Following a number of years in industry as a design engineer, Peter Dorrington worked as a Research Officer with the Manufacturing Advisory Service, before being awarded an EPSRC doctoral training grant at Cardiff Business School to investigate how aspects of innovation management influence the success of emerging technologies in different organisational settings.

Sean Peel has joined PDR in the role of Medical Applications Research Technician and will be using his knowledge and experience of design and prototyping to adapt additive manufacturing processes for the production of medical devices tailored to specific patient's individual anatomical requirements.