School staff
Dr Darren Southee
Senior Lecturer in Design
Programme Director BSc Product Design & Technology
Tel +44 (0)1509 222662
Email d.j.southee@lboro.ac.uk
Location LDS 2.06
Personal profile
Darren spent eight years working in the electronics industry in service, production and design roles. He designed the TD201 Digital Storage Adapter for Thandar Electronics Ltd (1987) and developed the TA320 Logic Analyser for TTi Ltd (1992/3). Both innovative products were deemed successful, with sales across the globe.
He joined the Loughborough Design School in November 2010. His 19 year academic career has included roles for Brunel University, Bournemouth University, Bradford University (United Arab Emirates) and the University of Lincoln. He was Course Director for the BA in Industrial Design & Technology at Brunel for seven years, a leading member of the Cleaner Electronics Research Group and spent time as Deputy Head of the highly regarded Design subject area.
He also spent a decade at Brunel developing and leading the delivery of Mechatronics and Creative Embedded Systems Design. He has been involved in the development of a number of successful undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes and the coordination of industrial placements and exchange opportunities for undergraduate students. Darren is currently a Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Ambassador and has been invited and delivered "Inspiring Futures" talks to nationally gathered audiences.
Darren's research in recent years has included the development of printed batteries and low power indicator displays. This work has provided a breakthrough towards the realisation of a fully printed electronic system with printed power. Darren has been PI on two EPSRC (IeMRC) grants in this area and six peer-reviewed journal papers have now been published along with UK and International patents.
He has also been involved in research funded by the EU and other bodies. Darren was invited and delivered a Masterclass on "Printed Electronics and Offset Lithography" at the University of Cambridge in April 2007. He remains active as a Design Consultant and collaborator with Industry. In March 2011, Darren co-designed and fabricated a brain-controlled interface for The Gadget Show.
He has been responsible for a range of Postgraduate supervision including successful outcomes at MA, MSc, M.Phil, EngD and PhD level.
Darren has helped other HE institutions ensure that their academic standards and assessment methods are appropriate and to identify good practice, acting as External Examiner for Undergraduate programmes in Design Products, Product and Furniture Design, for Ravensbourne, the University of Sussex and City University. He is also currently External Examiner for the Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) MSc at Imperial College London. This MSc forms part of the double Masters (MSc/MA) IDE programme delivered with the Royal College of Art (RCA).
Teaching
- DSA007 Electronics for Design
- DSB007 Further Electronics for Design
- DSC026 FYDP (Final Year Design Practice Project)
- DSP863 Major Project Research and Feasibility (Masters)
- DSP859 Industrial Design Major Project (Masters)
Research
Member of the Design Practice Research Group.
Research activities and interests include:
- Emerging Technologies
- Creative Embedded Systems for Design
- Environmentally Sensitive Design
- Mechatronics
- Product Design Engineering Education
- Measuring Design Impact
- When Science meets Art
Dr Southee has been invited and acted as a reviewer for a number of Journals including the IMechE Journal of Engineering Manufacture, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, Journal of Automobile Engineering, Elsevier's Sensors and Actuators A, IET Electronic Letters and the Springer International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing.
- Peer Reviewer for the EPSRC.
- Invited and elected as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in March 2007 in recognition of his standing as a professional communicator within academia.
- Invited and elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Circuit Technology (F.Inst.CT) in October 2007.
- MIET since 1992.
Featured publications
- 01/2009. "A time–strain monitoring system fabricated via offset lithographic printing". G. I. Hay, D. J. Southee, P. S. A. Evans, D. J. Harrison, G. B. Simpson and J. Wood. Institute of Physics Smart Materials and Structures, Vol. 18 (2009) 015015.
- 10/2006. "Examination of Silver-Graphite Lithographically Printed Resistive Strain Sensors". G. I. Hay, D. J. Southee, P. S. A. Evans, D. J. Harrison, G. Simpson, B. J. Ramsey. Elsevier Sensors and Actuators (A). 135 (2007), p534-546.
- 03/2008 "Characterisation of the lithographic printing of conducting films", Ramsey BJ, Harrison DJ, Southee DJ. Journal of Graphic Technology 4(1):25-34 2008.
- 03/2007 "Lithographically Printed Voltaic Cells - A Feasibility Study" D.J.Southee, G.I. Hay, P.S.A.Evans, D. Harrison. Emerald Circuit World, Volume 33, Number 1, 2007 pp. 31-35.