Fraser Bruce

Fraser started his career in the early 90s as an application engineer with a laser manufacturing company in Dundee where he specialised in laser material processing. In 1997, he then took up a position as a mechanical design engineer with pioneering keyhole surgeon Sir Alfred Cuschieri at Ninewells Hospital. Fraser became an integral part of the R&D team devising novel instruments and manipulators, as well as new imaging and optical techniques for Minimal Access Surgery (MAS). In 1999, he then went on to work as a product development engineer on the ERDF ‘Dundee by Design’ project. Combining conventional handcrafted techniques with the latest advancements in digital fabrication technologies, he led the design and development of a portfolio of new product offerings for the commercial marketplace, serving clients in the art, consumer, medical, telecommunication, automotive and industrial product sectors.

He was also instrumental in setting up a New Product Development (NPD) Excellence Programme for microenterprises to integrate design and design thinking into their organisational culture. Fraser finally made the transition from industry to academia where he now teaches at both undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels in product design, delivering specialist lectures, seminars and workshops on design thinking, participatory experiences, prototyping and digital technologies. His current research focuses on the integration of biomimetic design with the practice of product design and innovation management. Fraser has successfully supervised PhD students to completion and is part of the interdisciplinary product design research studio with Professor Jon Rogers, Dr. Chris Lim and Dr. Nick Taylor. The studio has a successful track record of research funding from EPSRC, AHRC, EU and also includes collaborations with NASA, Mozilla, Deutsche Telekom, Microsoft, Met Office and the V&A Museum.