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Dr Iestyn Jowers

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Senior Lecturer, Design and Engineering
  • Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
  • School of Engineering & Innovation
  • iestyn.jowers

Professional biography

Iestyn Jowers is a Senior Lecturer in Design and Engineering in the School of Engineering and Innovation. He initially joined the school in 2013 as a research fellow, after a series of PDRA appointments in world-leading research centres, inclduing the Institute of Product Development at TU Munich, the Institute of Engineering Systems & Design at the University of Leeds, and the Engineering Design Centre at the University of Cambridge.

Iestyn has a PhD in Computational Design from the Open University, an MSc in Applied Mathematics and Fluid Mechanics, and a BSc in Mathematics, both from the University of Manchester.

He also has a PGCE in Secondary Mathematics from Oxford Brookes University.

Research interests

Iestyn's research is concerned with digital and physical representations used in design and manufacturing processes. His interests include:

- design computation and shape grammars
- generative design
- interaction between geometry and mechanical properties
- the role of making in supporting design, and in supporting learning through design
- additive manufacturing
- engineering design processes

Teaching interests

Iestyn's teaching is varied and multidisciplinary, and he has worked on a broad range of modules, across the School of Engineering and Innovation. He is currently presentation chair for T276 'Engineering: professions, practice and skills', and a member of the presentation teams for T176 ‘Engineering: professions, practice and skills 2’ and 'T317 Innovation: desiging for change'. ​Previously, he was qualification lead for the MSc in Technology Management.

Iestyn is currently on the production team for T229 'Mechanical engineering', and has previously worked on the production teams for T848 'Managing technological innovation', T194 'Engineering: techniques, maths, application', T276 ‘Engineering: professions, practice and skills 2’, and T317 ‘Innovation: designing for change’ 

He is the author of the OpenLearn unit 'Innovation through representation'

Externally funded projects

Novel superior materials based on aperiodic tilings
RoleStart dateEnd dateFunding source
Co-investigator01 May 202130 Apr 2023EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

The proposed research aims at laying the mathematical foundations for aperiodic tiling - inspired structures to be used for additive manufacturing of novel cellular materials. http://www.open.ac.uk/r...ructures-inspired-maths

Makespaces and distributed design education: a feasibility study for the RCA Future Makespaces Level 1 Challenge call
RoleStart dateEnd dateFunding source
Co-investigator01 Jun 201530 Nov 2015EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

RE:FORM (‘Reimagining Education for the Future of Redistributed Manufacturing’) has been awarded £25K by the Royal College of Art to carry out a feasibility study as part of the larger RCA EPSRC funded project on ‘Future Makespaces in Distributed Manufacturing’ (http://futuremakespaces.rca.ac.uk/ ). The project is a collaboration between the Open University and MAKLab, a makerspace in Glasgow. The project aims to (1) Understand the key challenges faced by makespaces in providing effective and relevant education and training for redistributed manufacturing in the UK (2) to explore the potential of university- makespace collaborations to fulfil the education and training requirements for effective distributed manufacturing in the UK; and (3) Investigate the role of accreditation in supporting career trajectories in redistributed manufacturing. This will be achieved through (a) a series of workshops bringing together participants from education, makerspaces, and industry; (b) a ‘summer school’ pairing Open University design students with vocational learners at MAKlab to collaboratively design and fabricate furniture prototypes, communicating via the internet, and (c) a number of interviews with industry representatives.