Angus Donald Campbell

Associate Professor

V702g
+852 2766 6286
angus.campbell@polyu.edu.hk
Expertise: Product Design, Design Research, Service Design, Co-design, Design for Sustainable Development
Personal Website

ORCID ID

SCOPUS ID

Google Scholar

Research Gate

Biography

Prof. Angus Donald Campbell is a designer, educator and researcher who critically explores the power of design to creatively, collaboratively and sustainably innovate at the complex nexus of social, technological and ecological systems.

He holds a Doctorate of Literature and Philosophy in Development Studies (UJ) and a Master of Technology in Industrial Design (TWR). Originally from South Africa, he worked for 18 years at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), culminating in heading the Department of Industrial Design. In 2021, he moved to Aotearoa, New Zealand, as Head of the new multidisciplinary Design Department in the Faculty of Engineering and Design at the University of Auckland (UoA). He is currently an Associate Professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University of Technology (PolyU) School of Design and an Honorary Associate Professor in Design at UoA.

His professional design practice has included clients in South Africa, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, and his work has been exhibited at New York Fashion Week and Design Indaba. He has curated multiple design exhibitions and was a Non-Executive Director of the Museum of African Design from 2015-17. He was a co-founder and coordinator of the Design Society Development DESIS Lab (UJ) for over 10 years.

Prof. Campbell’s research and teaching focuses on creative social and technological innovation by co-designing sustainable products, services and systems. He is particularly interested in lay design and the role of technology in extending human capabilities. He has undertaken interdisciplinary design research projects focused on: Creativity and Innovation (Social Innovation and Lay Design); Local Futures (Local Making, Appropriate Technology, Urban and Rural Community Development, Urban Agriculture and Food Systems); Medical Device Design; and Pluriversal Design (Development, the Global South, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Decolonisation). He has been funded for teaching and research by organisations including the European Commission, Leverhulme Trust, Research England, DAAD and the National Research Foundation (SA).

For more information and to see his work, please visit www.angusdonaldcampbell.com

Education and Academic Qualifications

DLitt et Phil in Development Studies, University of Johannesburg
MTech in Industrial Design, Technikon Witwatersrand
BTech in Industrial Design, Technikon Witwatersrand
NDip in Three-Dimensional Design, Technikon Witwatersrand

Professional Qualifications

Member, Design Research Society (UK)
Member, Pan Afrikan Design Institute (SA)
Member, Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability (DESIS) Network (IT)
Member, Learning Network on Sustainability (LeNS) International (IT)
Member, International Alliance for Localization (UK)

Academic and Professional Experience

Honorary Associate Professor, Design, Faculty of Architecture and Design, University of Auckland (2025 - ongoing)
Management Group Member, Future Food Research Centre, University of Auckland (2024 - 2025)
Head of Department and Senior Lecturer (Above the Bar), Department of Design, Faculty of Architecture and Design, University of Auckland (2021 - 2025)
Head of Department, Department of Industrial Design, University of Johannesburg (2016 - 2021)
Senior Lecturer, Department of Industrial Design, University of Johannesburg (2010 - 2021)
Co-founder and Coordinator, Design Society Development DESIS Lab, University of Johannesburg (2011 - 2021)
Non-Executive Director and Member of Board, Museum of African Design (2015 - 2017)
Lecturer, Department of Industrial Design, Technikon Witwatersrand (2003 - 2008)
Designer, clients include Macmillan Publishing (UK + SA), Phumani Paper (SA), Jacqueline Rabun (UK), and WAACS (NL), amongst others (2021 - ongoing)

Teaching Area

Undergraduate Teaching:

BA Service Design

Postgraduate Teaching:

MDes Research and Academic Writing
MDes Intelligent Systems Design Capstone supervision
PhD in Design supervision

Research Outputs

Moseley, A.M. & Campbell, A.D. (2024). Human-Centred Design Processes for Appropriate, Equitable and Accessible Medical Device Design Innovation. In, Pfannstiel, M.A., Kueh, C. & Palozzi, G. (Eds). Service Design, Creativity and Innovation in Health-care: Challenges, Insights, Solutions. Cham: Springer.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-65766-5_9

The first baby treated with the Firefly beta prototype at the mother’s bedside. Source: Design that Matters

Campbell, A.D. & Rapitsenyane, Y. (2023). Advancing Afrikan Sustainable Design. In, Richie Moalosi, R. & Rapitsenyane, Y. (Eds). African Industrial Design Practice: Perspectives on Ubuntu Philosophy. Oxon: Routledge. https://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003270249-4

Gunn, M., Campbell, A., Billinghurst, M., Sasikumar, P., Lawn, W., Muthukumarana, S. (2023). haptic HONGI: Reflections on collaboration in the transdisciplinary creation of an AR artwork. In, Brooks, A. (Ed) Creating Digitally: Shifting Boundaries: Arts and Technologies - contemporary applications and concepts. Switzerland: Springer Nature: Intelligent Systems Reference Library.
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31360-8_11

Albarrán González, D., & Campbell, A. D. (2022). South-South Dialogues around Buen Vivir-Centric Design. Diseña, 21, Article 4.
https://dx.doi.org/10.7764/disena.21.Article.4

Campbell, A.D. (2017). Lay Designers: Grassroots Innovation for Appropriate Change. Design Issues. 33(1):30-47.
https://dx.doi.org/10.1162/desi_a_00424

Projects

(Ongoing) Angus Donald Campbell (PI). “Lay Design,” is an ongoing design research project that explores design activities by non-expert designers. The project supports the design of more holistic systems of innovation and more appropriate technology. This research project has spun out of Prof. Campbell’s Doctorate, “Designing Development,” which was funded by the National Research Foundation (SA).

(Ongoing) Robyn Cook (PI), David Prior, Ashton Bullock, Kimberly Bediako, Angus Donald Campbell. “Unequal Stories: Researching Gender Equality in Design Disciplines,” began as a cross-national (UK and SA) comparison that aimed to investigate gender equality, diversity and representation in the design disciplines in higher education and industry. Funded by the Research England, Global Challenges Research Fund.
https://unequalstories.falmouth.ac.uk/

Unequal stories website: https://unequalstories.falmouth.ac.uk/

Naudé Malan (PI), Angus Donald Campbell. “iZindaba Zokudla (Conversations About Food)” 2001-2021 was a multi-stakeholder engagement project that aimed to create a more sustainable food system in Johannesburg through urban agriculture. The project was funded by the National Research Foundation (SA).
https://www.izindabazokudla.com/

Tatjana Schneider, Florian Kossak, Beatrice De Carli, Jhono Bennett, Angus Donald Campbell, Terence Fenn, Tuliza Sindi, Guari Bharat, Rutul Joshi, Pingping Dou, Andong Lu, “Researching Architecture as Urban Method (RAUM),” 2017-2019, was an international collaborative research project focused on rethinking the capacities, qualities, methodologies and tools that spatial practitioners need to develop, in order to have a positive impact in the face of epochal challenges affecting cities globally, such as climate change and social inequality. The project was funded by the European Union through Eramsus+ https://raummobilityexchange.wordpress.com/

Angus Donald Campbell (curator), Peter Harrison, Trevor Hollard, Rowan Mardghum, Jonathan Fundudis and David Holgreaves. “Thinking Design,” 2013, was an exhibition that explored the hidden thoughtfulness that goes into a design, or the solving of a design problem. The exhibition was funded by the University of Johannesburg. https://www.angusdonaldcampbell.com/project/thinking-design/

Awards

Social Impact Category Winner (2019) Good Design Awards, Australia. Beegin Bee Bunka Moulds. Ivan Leroy Brown, Angus Donald Campbell.
Beegin Bee Bunka Moulds, Good Design Award 2019 winner in the Social Impact Category
Best research poster (2014) Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Commonwealth Summer School “Global Food Security: Can we feed a growing world?” University of Nottingham, Malaysia. Group of five, including Angus Donald Campbell
Designboom/ SWAROVSKI Crystal Vision International Design Competition (2008) Finalist. Angus Donald Campbell
Safe Paraffin Stove Design Competition Winner (2005). Paraffin Safety Association of Southern Africa. Phillip Oosthuizen and Angus Donald Campbell

A Potential Difference Model for Educating Critical Citizen Designers: The Case Study of the Beegin Appropriate Beekeeping Technology System. In, Educating Citizen Designers in Southern Africa. Stellenbosch: SUNMeDIA. pp. 85-104.

Beegin: Fabricating more accessible beekeeping systems for farmers, beekeepers, and bees. In, Designing for Social Innovation: Case Studies from Around the World. New York: Routledge. pp.255-258

Local Design in the Global South. In, ReVeDA: An Investigation of Research by Art, Design and Media in Cumulus Association. Finland: Cumulus Association, pp127-128.

Advancing Afrikan Sustainable Design. In, African Industrial Design Practice: Perspectives on Ubuntu Philosophy. Oxon: Routledge.

Human-Centred Design Processes for Appropriate, Equitable and Accessible Medical Device Design Innovation. In, Service Design, Creativity and Innovation in Healthcare: Challenges, Insights, Solutions. Cham: Springer.