School staff
Personal profile
Debra has been actively involved in the field of Sustainable Design since 2002.
She holds a Masters of Research in Manufacturing, Sustainability and Design, a PhD in Design for Sustainable Behaviour and is the author of Design-Behaviour, a web-based resource supporting academics and practitioners in exploring how design could facilitate a reduction in the environmental and social impact of goods through moderating the way in which users interact with them.
Prior to working in academia, Debra held positions as a Workplace Consultant and Sustainability Policy Assistant. She is co-convenor of the Product Lifespans Behaviour Change group and administrator of the Sustainable Design Network. Her core research interests lie in identifying behavioural and psychological drivers for consumption; design for sustainable behaviour, ethics, e-learning and sustainable design education.
Teaching
Semester 1
- DSB013 Sustainable Design
- DSP860 Sustainability and Design
- DSC021 Dissertation
Semester 2
- DSB009 Industrial Design Studios 2
Research
Research Group: Sustainable Design.
"Carbon, Control and Comfort": User-centred control systems for carbon reduction and load distribution (2009-2011).
A three-year research project, funded by E.On and EPSRC UK, in collaboration with several UK Universities1 aiming to engage social housing tenants in the design of control systems that they like, that allow them to create the comfort conditions they want and which, through using the technology and fabric of their homes more effectively, reduces their energy use.
Kings College London, DeMontfort University, University College London, Cardiff University, Leeds Metropolitan University, University of Greenwich.
"The Development of E-Case Studies to Support Cross-Departmental Teaching" (2009-2010).
A development project conducted in collaboration with Loughborough University Business School, supported by the Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, to develop electronic case studies to support cross-departmental teaching in Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and professional ethics.
"Integrating ethics into the teaching of design and technology students using e-learning" (2008-2009).
A one year Academic Practice Award, funded by the Teaching Centre and the Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, to develop, deliver and evaluate new materials for the teaching of ethical thinking to support Design for Sustainable Behaviour.
"Design-Behaviour" (2007-present)
A research project funded by the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre which resulted in the development of "design-behaviour", a web-based resource created to support the teaching of Design for Sustainable Behaviour - a new field of enquiry in sustainable design research and teaching. Visit website »
PhD students
- Garrath T Wilson
- Natalie Moore
- Sarakard Pasupa
Featured publications
- Lilley. D (2009) Design for sustainable behaviour: strategies and perceptions, Design Studies, Vol. 30, No. 6, pp. 704-720.
- Lilley. D and Lofthouse. V. A (2009) Sustainable design education - considering design for behavioural change, Engineering Education: Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre, Volume 4, Issue 1.
- Lofthouse. V. A and Lilley. D (2009) Teaching Ethics in Design: A Review of Current Practice, In: International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED'09, 24th-27th August 2009, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Lilley. D, Bhamra. T, Haines. V, and Mitchell. V (2009) Reducing Energy Use in Social Housing - Examining contextual design constraints and enablers, In: Eco Design 2009, 6th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing, 7th - 9th December 2009, Sapporo, Japan.