Associate / Assistant Professor Design Management with Policy - Dubai Campus

Associate / Assistant Professor Design Management with Policy

Teaching & Research

Grade 9 / Grade 8

School of Textile and Design

Dubai Campus

About our Team

The School of Textiles and Design has staff across two campuses and delivers undergraduate and postgraduate degree education, taught and research degrees. We have a vibrant research culture and an increasing design research funding portfolio.

You would join an international team at our Dubai Campus, where our staff contribute to a dynamic teaching, learning, research, enterprise, and knowledge exchange environment. You will further enhance a community of committed academics and highly motivated students.  Our industry-facing focus on careers delivers results, and we have an excellent reputation for graduate employability. Our funded research portfolio champions ethics, excellence, and rigour. Heriot-Watt’s pioneering spirit underpins every aspect of business.

The design portfolio on the Dubai campus is growing. We focus on industrial, governmental, social, and systemic design. Currently, we offer Communication Design, Fashion Branding and Promotion, Interior Architecture Design and Design Management. They are delivered by passionate and dedicated academics from various backgrounds with distinct and diverse specialisms. As a discipline, design focuses on the original and practical creation of design as a policy, product, process, service, and system. It concerns many forms of innovation, from cultural and environmental to social and technological. Our community is committed to understanding design with contexts such as Cognitive Cities, Climate Change, Health Care and well-being, NetZero, and Artificial Intelligence. All programmes and courses are delivered cooperatively within our Dubai campus and collaboratively with our UK campuses.

Design on the HWU Dubai campus seeks to recruit enthusiastic academics with experience in teaching and research.  Successful candidates will be expected to build research over time and showcase innovative teaching pedagogies. Successful candidates will also be expected to develop strong links to colleagues across the global campuses to deliver high-quality learning and teaching, contribute to the continued development of the programmes offered to students, and establish external engagement endeavours in association with the Academic Schools in Edinburgh, Dubai, Galashiels, Malaysia, and Orkney. 

The successful candidate will possess a broad practical and theoretical knowledge of a range of topics within the sphere of 21st Century Design Management. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from candidates with expertise in Design for Policy and Governance, Design Science, Design Value and the Value of Design, Research Ethics and Methods, and Visualisation. Postholders will be key in connecting with our internal and external stakeholders to embed design management practices and principles into the curriculum. Candidates with industry and academic experience are particularly welcome. They will lead or support (as necessary) the creation of programmes and-or courses to support interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary design. Preference will be given to candidates with research interests in these areas and the potential to publish high-quality research output.

Teaching and research should be grounded in 21st-century design management practices with appropriate input from historical, theoretical, and practical perspectives. Given the broad, fast-moving, and collaborative nature of today’s industries and associated technologies, we expect the successful individual to work proactively within and across traditional discipline boundaries. We also expect the successful applicant to cooperatively contribute to teaching existing courses and collaboratively create new ones across the campuses, where it benefits knowledge creation and the student experience.

The role will be based at the University's campus in Dubai, UAE. Courses and programmes will be delivered in English, so fluency in English is essential. All new academic staff will be inducted into Heriot-Watt's standards and values, and an induction programme will be delivered to give practical experience in the preparation, delivery, and assessment of teaching.

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  Undertake teaching and assessment duties on academic programmes.  Support colleagues in the School of Textiles and Design and other Schools at Heriot-Watt University in delivering courses and other activities to support the delivery of HWU's aims.
• Develop relevant materials in appropriate formats for the future of design as a discipline.  Contribute to the content, design and delivery of the curriculum, and the quality of teaching and learning, in consultation with colleagues and within the international structures and mechanisms established by the University. Review teaching design and delivery by obtaining and analysing feedback from students and peers.  Support the accreditation processes of professional bodies.
• Mentor and supervise students, including PhD students (as appropriate), providing effective, well-documented, and timely feedback, both formative and summative. Provide pastoral support, recognising when to refer a student for further support. Play a key role in delivering and supporting an excellent student learning and living experience at HWU.
• Develop the level of subject expertise in line with the latest developments in business enterprise, research, and innovation and ensure these developments are reflected in teaching materials and methods. 
• Build and conduct research in one or more of the School and or Dubai Campus research areas at internationally competitive levels. 
• Develop and maintain strong links with creative design industries, external organisations and the education sector.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues in the UK, at other campuses, and with external networks to exchange information, share learning, and form relationships for future collaboration. Conduct and engage in peer review of teaching and research—locally, nationally, and internationally.
• Undertake a proactive role in promoting and marketing design at the University, ensuring the effective recruitment of students and the achievement of recruitment targets. Participate fully in Open Days and other student recruitment events. Participate fully in research impact, community events, and public engagement.
• Undertake management and administrative tasks associated with programme and course planning, preparation for examination boards and progression boards, etc, as instructed.  Participate in relevant committees.  Associate Professors will be expected to undertake additional leadership and management responsibilities. Associate Professors are also expected to publish and engage in high-quality research, submit to the REF and engage in funded research projects.
• Undertake continuous professional development (CPD) and participate in staff development activities.

Education, Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• PhD, Master’s Degree or equivalent in an appropriate discipline.
• Teaching experience
• Experience of reviewing and updating teaching materials
• Clear communicator with good presentation skills, explaining concepts well.
• Proven track record of industry engagement 
• Well-developed knowledge and understanding of contemporary product innovation practices. 
• Research Experience - Sole authored and co-authored research
• Funded research experience – independent and or team based.
• International or national Peer Reviewing of research.
• Fluent (verbal and written) in English 
• An ability to apply knowledge acquired from research or professional practices into teaching materials and methods.
• Willingness and potential to identify and develop independent /collaborative portfolio of research and scholarship

Desirable

• Member of appropriate professional body
• Teaching qualification or in the process of obtaining one or be committed to achieving this within two years of appointment.
• Teaching experience at undergraduate and postgraduate level 
• Experience for maintaining and developing new links with industry. 
• Strong understanding of industry needs and the skills required by graduates for employability
• Evidence of inter-disciplinary practice, flexible in approach with excellent communication, digital literacy, and report writing skills, and be willing to adapt to the duties associated with the role.
• Mentoring and personal tutor experience and PhD supervision
• Conference and Journal article authorship and co-authorship
• Examples of Research Impact and Community Engagement development plans
• Journal Editorial Board or College of Reviewers Member

About the University

With a history dating back to 1821, Heriot-Watt University has established a reputation for world-class teaching and professionally relevant, leading-edge research and enterprise, which has made it one of the top UK universities for business and industry.

We are a vibrant, forward-looking university, well known for the quality of our degrees, with employers actively seeking out our graduates. Heriot-Watt is also Scotland’s international university with an unsurpassed international in-country presence. We deliver degree programmes to circa 30,000 students in 143 countries worldwide, have a further overseas campus in Dubai and boast the most significant international student cohort in Scotland.

At Heriot-Watt we’ve created an environment that nurtures innovation and leadership - where our researchers, teachers, staff and students can realise their potential and develop their ambitions.

We are proud of our collegiate atmosphere and integrated teaching and research approach which has helped to build a community of committed academics and highly motivated students.  Our focus on careers delivers results and we’ve an excellent reputation for graduate employability.

In addition to the Edinburgh campus, we currently have campuses in the Scottish Borders, Orkney, Dubai, and Malaysia.  For all our campuses we aim to provide stimulating, supportive environments conducive to effective learning and research, where staff and students can excel. At Heriot-Watt, we have an established set of values that help us to nurture innovation and leadership and show our commitment to continuous improvement and development in all our activities. Our values describe our deeply held beliefs and our community spirit. They characterise not only how we are as a higher education institution but also frame how we want to be. Our values are:

• Belong
• Collaborate
• Inspire
• Celebrate

As a learning, living, and working institution, we use our values as the building blocks of how we go about doing our work and how we each conduct ourselves as members of Heriot-Watt University. They represent what binds us together as a university community and help us to become the best at what we do. For full details on our university, please view our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/about.htm

‘How to Apply’

Interested applicants must submit via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system a Cover letter describing their interest and suitability for the post and an updated CV. 

At Heriot Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team. 

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.

Learn more about our benefits here: Our Dubai Campus - Heriot-Watt University (hw.ac.uk)

Heriot-Watt University Dubai is (Commission for Academic Accreditation) CAA Licensed; therefore, successful candidates will need to either provide terminal degrees attested from a UAE institution accredited by the CAA or if the degree is not from a UAE Institution, the candidate will need to have MoE (Ministry of Education) Equivalency. More info on attestation can be found here on the MoE website. The candidate is responsible for getting their degree attestations done and these should be completed within six months of joining.

The appointment is conditional upon successful completion of all Labour and Immigration formalities.