Polly Macpherson is Associate Professor of Design Practice and Programme Leader for  MDes Design in the School Art, Design and Architecture. She leads a group of internationally acclaimed practitioners and researchers who teach the thinking, inventing, designing and creating of sustainably produced spaces, objects, and artefacts relevant for 21st century living.
As the Associate Head of School for Post Graduate Taught study she works with a group of inspiring practitioners who teach across multiple creative disciplines - Art, Design and Architecture and Music, Theatre and Performance.

Polly's research is focused in practice based research methods and closely aligned with teaching within the fields of designing, making and objects with particular emphasis on materiality, storytelling and sustainably. As a visual cartographer and maker, she is interested in how things are made and how things can be made ethically and sustainability in order to produce new or improved objects and artefacts relevant for 21st century living.

Polly’s most recent projects include curating and developing new 3D Ceramic printed work for exhibition Green MAKING | MATERIALS | OBJECTS,  Creative Industry Lead & Co-Investigator for Low Carbon Devon and South West Creative Technology Automation Fellow.

Green MAKING | MATERIALS | OBJECTS
This exhibition (2024) celebrated green making, materials, and objects by showcasing creators, owners and processes. It highlighted the essential connections between eco-friendly practices, materials, and sustainability. It invited viewers to reflect on their personal relationships with objects, the environmental impact of artefacts, and the importance of adopting more responsible ownership and consumer habits.
Green MAKING is a practice which emphasises sustainability in the creation of objects, 15 MAKE Southwest professionals  presented work. In addition to celebrating innovative creations and objects, the exhibition included an opportunity to explore everyday MATERIALS. In the OBJECTS section 104 contributors shared stories behind their objects (a fake hummus pot from comedian Alex Horne, a metal hole punch from curator and broadcaster Kathleen Soriano, a ceramic pot from chef Tony Singh MBE), examining connections to items that bring joy, highlighting their influence on decision-making, and discovering how awareness might contribute to reducing their carbon footprint.

Creative Industry Lead & Co-Investigator
Sustainable Earth Institute – Low Carbon Devon, Co-Investigator Creative Industries  - Supported by an investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the three-year £2.6 million programme (2020-3), supports Devon-based organisations to access research, business support, and engage with the University of Plymouth around the low-carbon agenda. There were many outcomes from this project including the Green Maker Initiative and related book, a timely collaboration project with MAKE Southwest.

South West Creative Technology Automation Fellow
In 2019 Polly was awarded this fellowship with South West Creative Technology Network and has started exploring how automation developments are effecting the skills, creative ideas and processes of Designer Maker / Craft Practitioners in the South West. Outcomes included a new body of ceramic 3D printed work and Unboxing the Black Box: Reflections on Making with AI and Automation.

• Fellow Royal Society of the Arts (RSA)
• Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)

Design Making practice - Designing / Making / Craft / Material Culture / Objects / Sustainability / Digital Printing & Making Technology / Exhibitions

Polly is interested in interdisciplinary designing, making and material investigation that inspires, challenges, disrupts and rethinks design practices to create unique and compelling objects, artefacts and user experiences. She is continually asking how things are made, how things can be made ethically and sustainability and how this can be taught in order to nurture individuals and develop creative voices.

External Expert

• Board of Trustees - Exeter Phoenix
• Judge – Channel 4, Kirstie’s Celebrity Craft Masters
• Judge - BBC Woman's Hour, Crafts Council and V&A Craft Prize
• Creative Cultivator Advisor 
• Board of Trustees - The Devon Guild of Craftsmen. 
• Creative & Cultural Skills –Expert Advisor 
• Craft Council Hothouse 3, South West coordinator. 
• ‘Get Fresh’ Exhibition sector, Emerging Designer Devon Guild of Craftsmen & Arts Council.
• ‘Craft+ STEM in the 21st century’, Crafts Council, Associate Parliamentary Design & Innovation Group, House of Commons
• Contributor to Design Commission, Restarting Britain, Design Ed.& Growth.
• Judge & selector, Contemporary Craft Festival
• Consultant – Crafts Councils Higher Value: Redefining Best Practice in Crafts Graduate Support

International Expert

• EQ Arts Expert Reviewer - Enhancing Quality in the Arts
• Quality Enhancement Review, Programme Review Visual Arts – Faculty of Multimedia Communications, Tomas Bata University, Zlín, Czech Republic
• Key Note Speaker at 1st China Crafts Week, Hangzhou - Innovative Design of Traditional Crafts
• Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts - Singapore: BA (Hons) Fine Art, Graphic Design and 3D Design New Practice – External Expert

Guest Professor

• Industrial Design at Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China 

Visiting Professor

• Industrial Design Department, Faculty of Architecture at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. (3months)