Dr Nicole Lotz

Professional biography

I joined the Open University as a Lecturer in Design in 2008 and became a Senior Lecturer in 2018. In 2019, I became Chair for the Engineering and Innovation AthenaSWAN Silver submission and I was appointed Equality Diversity Inclusivity and Accessibility Lead in 2020. In 2024. I was appointed Deputy Director STEM EDIA.

Before I joined the OU, I was Research Associate at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design. I've also worked as a design consultant for various agencies and companies in Germany and Hong Kong. 

Education

Ph.D. Design Patterns for Cross-Cultural Collaboration: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2008)

Dipl.Des/MDes in Communication Design: Burg Giebichenstein, Halle, Germany (2002)

Research interests

My research interests are in inclusion and social aspects of designing and design education.

There is a synergy between my scholarship and research, both of which aim at understanding and supporting designers and those interested in creative design and making to engage, persevere and succeed even during challenging situations. My unique approach is to uncover and strengthen the designers’ shared values to drive engagement and collaboration.

I currently supervise 5 PhD students, with 2 completed projects. Andreas Peter looked at prototyping in design collaboration and graduated in 2015. Tanveer Ahmed critically examined inequalities in fashion design education and graduated in 2023.  Iain Aitchison investigates curricula development in design education. Daniel Chapman looks at youth violence in relation to social networking. Muriel Sippel investigates how creative thinking may support mental wellbeing in design education. Sam Osys looks into the ethical decisions in digital product design and Rachel Wood researches service co-design in parenting education. I am happy to supervise PhD students in subjects that broadly align with my interest framed by current and past projects.

Funded Projects

Design and implementation of a FabLab in a marginalised district in Monterrey, Mexico (2019),

This British Council Mexico HE Links funded project (£15K) co-designed and co-implemented a FabLab in La Campana-Altamira district with members of the community.

Reducing marginalization and promoting inclusive education with the mediation of digital technology in Higher Education (2018)

This British Council Mexico HE Links funded project (£10K) developed projects that foster inclusive education in marginalised communities (disabled, ethnic minorities and conflicted communities in Mexico).

Developing a sense of community through cross-level engagement between staff and students in creative industries subjects. (2017-2018)

This OU internally funded scholarship project (E&I and eSTEeM and MSQ, £12k) aims to pilot and evaluate four innovative programme level engagement events that aim to create a community of learners across a qualification.

Designing effective, interactive learning resources to teach practical STEM subjects in Nigeria at a distance (2017)

This OU internally funded research networking event (RAS and eSTEeM, £6k) aimed at identifying pathways for collaborative research between NOUN and the OU to address Nigeria’s challenges in developing locally relevant and high-quality interactive ODL applications to teach STEM subjects at a distance. 

Are we making progress? Progression through learners’ interaction in OpenStudio across a qualification (2015 - 2017)

This OU internally funded scholarship project (eSTEeM, £6k) looks at learners' engagement with the online design community 'Open Design Studio' across the Design and Innovation qualification at the Open University.

Teaching interests

In my teaching, I am involved, to some degree, in all our core Design and Innovation Qualification modules and in the producion of the new BDes Design Qualification. I took part in the production of the groundbreaking Design Thinking module - U101. I chaired U101 in presentation. I co-authored Block 5 Systems and Services in T190 Design Practices. I was presentation chair for the csecond level Design and Designing - T211 until 2012. I was part of the production team of the third level module Innovation: Designing for change - T317. I am currently chairing the production of the third level module T390 Final Design Project.

I am interested in the design of innovative educational technologies, such as the OpenDesignStudio or CompendiumDS, and investigate the effectiveness of those in teaching and learning.

I lead the Annual Show of student work and I am interested in offering real-world employability opportunities for OU design students across all levels of study https://www.oudesignshow.org/.

I mentor Virtual Interns at the OU with the aim to co-design and co-produce curriculum with students as partners.

Previously I have gained teaching experience in Hong Kong, at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and in the CONVIVIO international interaction design summer school in Romania.

Impact and engagement

Building Stories (2013)

I was Academic Advisor for 3 interactive stories shown on OpenLearn that are based on a 3-part BBC documentary 'Brits Who build the World' broadcasted in 2014.

Design@Open

I actively contribute, maintain and manage contributions of others in the areas of design education, design research, design engagement and design commentary to our Design Group's Design@Open blog

Design on YouTube

I actively contribute, maintain and manage contributions of others to our YouTube channel. 

External collaborations

DRS Design Pedagogy SIG convening group member.

International links

I have worked with Botho University in Botswana and made links to NOUN, the National Open University of Nigeria. I maintain links to several German Higher Education Institutions around distance design education and work with Tec de Monterrey in Mexico and IYEM in Yucatan Mexico.