This research-on-design orientated Master's in Design by Ashton Moseley was focused on exploring the complexity of getting medical devices to market, particular consideration was made for paediatric medical device design in the South African context. Ashton graduated Cum Laude and received the Chancellors Medal for Most Merritorious Postgraduate Student in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture in 2019. I was the supervisor for the project. Overview: There is a global need for improved, appropriate medical devices (MDs) particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). The medical device industry is one of the fastest growing and most vital and dynamic sectors of the global economy, yet South Africa’s medical device industry is relatively underdeveloped, constituted mostly by multinational subsidiaries, importers and distributors with very little local design and manufacture of MDs. The lack of medical device development (MDD) in South Africa is attributed to the complexities of designing for healthcare, ... Read More

This project was led by Tim Slabolepszy and supported by myself in my role as the Head of the Department of Industrial Design at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in 2017. It was a project that extended out of Tim's BA in Industrial Design in 2016. Overview: Precious Plastic is a global, open source movement aimed at enabling people anywhere to recycle plastic waste. The project was started by Dave Hakkens in the Netherlands and as a result, all components and machine parts were designed using components available there. Tim's goal was to build these same machines using locally available standard components that were readily available in South Africa. South Africa has an extensive recycling culture, and by sharing tools that could transform plastic "waste" into new products, people could turn trash into cash. During 2017 Tim was appointed as a workshop technical assistant at UJ and during the year ... Read More

This project followed a participatory design process to develop a human-powered shredder for urban farmers in Soweto, Johannebsurg, South Africa. Professional Industrial Designer Peter Harrison undertook this project as his MTech (Master's) in Industrial Design from 2014-2017, which he completed Cum Laude. I was his main superviser with Dr. Naudé Malan, from the Department of Development Studies, as a co-supervisor. Overview: Despite mankind’s technical achievements, broader illusive issues like climate change, rapid urban sprawl and food insecurity still remain. In Soweto, South Africa, it is historically marginalised emergent farmers who remain at the forefront of the fight against urban food insecurity, but despite their efforts, much urban farmland remains under-utilised. Lacking appropriate equipment emergent farmers struggle to either maintain or rehabilitate their available soil. Farmers’ current methods of reducing organic waste for composting and mulch materials are laborious and ineffective. Soils therefore often remain infertile, damaged or under-nourished and hence farmers’ ... Read More

The Umoya Pump was the outcome of a BTech Industrial Design participatory design research project focused on off-grid irrigation for urban farmers in Soweto by Werner Charles Jacobsz in 2014. I was the main supervisor of the project with co-supervision from Dr. Naudé Malan, Department of Development Studies, UJ. The project formed part of an interdisciplinary student service-learning course offered in 2014 in the Departments of Development Studies and Industrial Design. The course utilised a methodology that integrated participatory social science and human-centered design research methods in order to develop technologies to improve the productivity of marginalized and resource-poor urban farmers. Teams of students worked with farmers on three urban sites, each with their own specific technological needs. Overview: The aim of the study was to design an off-grid pump for urban farmers in Soweto and additionally to educate the farmers on water saving irrigation techniques. The design of the ... Read More