Staff Profile

​As Senior Lecturer in Product Design, I encourage students to challenge the dynamic of functionality, desirability, the aesthetic, materials, sustainability, social contexts and ethics. These sensibilities have developed over the past decade, in part through my research and analysis of the relationship between Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) and design management – which has influenced my teaching methodologies.

These student design and community projects invigorate young people’s engagement with important areas of community life, and are built into the Design curriculum. Live projects in which undergraduate Design students work within the community include:

• 78 Derngate, which involved working with a preservation trust
• The Northampton Racecourse, working with a community grass-roots group on the local environment
• Delapre Abbey, in which students worked with a heritage community group on the design of a visitor centre
• The Sorrell Foundation’s Young Design Programme, a national partnership with local schools, in which university students work for pupils to develop design solutions in the school environment

Friedemann’s current research is concerned with particular mechanisms of knowledge transfer in relation to design management. Over a ten-year period, he and his colleagues have analysed the strengths and pitfalls of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) in the context of the global toy, games and gift markets. This decade-long project culminated in an academic book on design and technology management entitled Handbook of Research on Trends in Product Design and Development, and more than £840,000 income for the University of Northampton.

He also recently collaborated with the Sorrell Foundation and colleagues at the University of Derby as programme coordinator for two pilot projects with academies. This project subsequently led to the rebuild and regeneration of regional school campuses, and contributed to government policy on education through its ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme.

Further, a recent project with stakeholders in India enabled the University Design programme team to foster appropriate design solutions for international communities.

His other research interests include design management, design pedagogy, and material innovation.

For publications, projects, datasets, research interests and activities, view Friedemann Schaber’s research profile on Pure, the University of Northampton’s Research Explorer.