Designer,
Academic,
Researcher.

Hi, I’m Idrees — a creative leader and strategic change-maker. I’m enabler of creative practice and pedagogy, partnerships and research that break boundaries between higher education, business, and society, with deep knowledge and experience in growing initial pilots into mature scaled systems.

︎Born in Kabul, raised in London, and nurtured in over a dozen countries — I’m an award-winning designer, academic, and researcher, with a focus on innovation and transformation. I’m enabler of creative practice and pedagogy, partnerships and research that break boundaries between higher education, business, and society through inter/multi/trans-disciplinary approaches to deliver mission-led and future-facing educational offer and make a meaningful impact in the socio-cultural system and socio-economic fabric of local and global communities.

I’m the Founder and Creative Director of X-Crop︎︎︎, a research and innovation lab focused on making cities, organisations, and people better by design! In the past 15+ years, I’ve been working with all kinds of cities, organisations and people, helping them solve issues of urbanisation in the 21st century on both local and global levels.

Throughout my professional and academic career, I have consistently pushed boundaries in design education, research and practice, focusing on diversity and inclusivity within design and have won various design and research awards including: a Daiwa Foundation Award︎︎︎, a InnovationRCA Fellowship︎︎︎, a Dyson Foundation Award︎︎︎, a Wates Foundation Award︎︎︎, and a Core77 Award︎︎︎. I have been awared scholarhips for design research by Ravensbourne University London︎︎︎(2015-20) and Anglia Ruskin University︎︎︎(2021-23), and awarded a Senior Fellowship of the UK’s Higher Education Academy︎︎︎.

I believe design should start from ‘small things’ — like a tornado that starts from small ideas and gradually turns into a bigger vision. A bottom-up approach that gives more agency to people and have them feel empowered by moving beyond the hierarchical traditions and old methodologies. A connected approach that integrates the immediate context, resources, systems and processes to find the most important problems in our cities, organisations and communities through observing and noticing everyday life conditions, and then trying to capture and turning them into something that’s simple, thoughtful and impactful as well as easy to understand and share.

Trained at the Royal College of Art︎︎︎ and Imperial College London︎︎︎ — I cultivated my design leadership skills through extensive practice, pedagogy, and collaboration with a number of world-famous architecture, innovation, design, engineering, and branding companies, such as the Office for Metropolitan Architecture︎︎︎, InnovationRCA︎︎︎, Ramboll︎︎︎, Fortune 500︎︎︎, and Fitch︎︎︎; with direct involvement in projects across a wide range of industries, including technology, automotive, energy, healthcare, transport, fashion, aviation, consumer goods, manufacturing, education, and construction throughout the UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

︎I'm a champion of transformative and adaptive leadership styles founded on empathy and transparency, with a focus on change vision and strategy that includes a clear purpose and a strong emphasis on morals and values. For me, leadership entails guiding and influencing a group of people while also connecting their ideas to a common vision.

I have the ability to identify and understand the perspectives and needs of others and respond to those perspectives and needs from a place of care, dignity, and compassion. In so doing, I help people to become better leaders and mobilise their intelligence, creativity, and talent to adapt to the change that is happening. My style of leadership makes me a proponent of codesign, someone who  brings everybody together to work across different fields, departments, and programmes to facilitate collaborations that allow for different approaches towards achieving a shared vision as well as collective and strategic objectives.

I have deep knowledge and expertise in the areas of experiential, authentic, and cross-cultural education and student experience that embeds decolonisation, inclusivity, diversity, employability, and sustainability in the curriculum, with business acumen and board-level experience in assembling, motivating, and inspiring outstanding teams to foster a culture of education innovation and deliver research-led education.

As a systems thinker, I bridge the gap between the strategic vision and day-to-day operations of an organisation, with the capability to scope, facilitate & implement ambitious institutional plans to lead policy development, civic engagement, and knowledge exchange.

I have a proven track record of senior academic leadership, management, enhancement, and achievement in dynamic and complex environments, with experience in driving change and improvement in a collaborative culture through excellence, influence, and self-esteem. I have the ability to operate confidently at a cross-institutional level, combining vision and design thinking with pragmatism and drive to deliver results and build strong purposeful networks and ecosystems with industry, government, and academia.

As a design academic, I’m an expert in the design and delivery of academic and creative development activities which embed active and inclusive collaborative learning and teaching practices. I have fifteen years of experience in participatory and people-centred strategic planning and effective operation of academic offering across all levels (module, subject, course, programme, department, school, and faculty), with a significant track record in initiating, developing, and delivering innovative academic practices at FE, UG, PGT, and PGR levels and influencing organisations in the UK and globally.

Previously, I developed, delivered, and led multiple design courses, including the world’s first ARB accredited interior design course︎︎︎, and eventually the Department of Architecture︎︎︎ at Ravensbourne University London︎︎︎, building high quality academic experiences and stimulating environment for students and staff from various backgrounds, with a focus on combining pedagogic experimentation, creative imagination, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to create the best propositions for the issues of the built environment and society. Moreover, I taught design and innovation to postgraduate and research students in the School of Design︎︎︎ at the Royal College of Art︎︎︎ alongside prominent academics and industry leaders, with a focus on cross-cultural design, transnational trends, and context-specific methods and approaches.

Currently, I am Associate Professor (Art & Design) and Deputy Head of Cambridge School of Art (Education)︎︎︎ in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences︎︎︎ at Anglia Ruskin University︎︎︎ where I lead the portfolio of Art & Design programmes with a particular focus on vertical and horizontal experiences and progression and new forms of multi-site and shared collaboration integrating practice-based research with teaching and knowledge exchange as well as evolving Art & Design’s relationship to the key local, national, and global challenges by rethinking the role of critical and contextual studies in an art school environment and the purpose of an art school in the 21st century.

At CSA︎︎︎, I have been working with various teams to reposition the school, academic staff, and existing provision and make them future-facing, global and leading-edge. I lead on the planning and development of formal and informal offerings as well as new and exciting undergraduate and postgraduate courses (including a new postgraduate framework for art & design education that includes MA Human-Centred Design︎︎︎, MA Art, Health, and Wellbeing︎︎︎, and MA Interior Design Innovation︎︎︎) with a focus on extending the school’s Art & Design curriculum and portfolio, particularly around ethical, inclusive, and systemic practice and innovation; looking at how we can move beyond disciplinary boundaries towards interconnected, holistic, analytical, decolonial, and entrepreneurial approaches that enable positive contribution to society, health, and planet.

In academia, my strength is in being a key resource in the development, articulation, and delivery of policy and strategy for education, research & innovation, and operations, and my principal accountabilities have included; leadership & direction, strategic planning, quality management and assurance (learning, teaching, and assessment), internationalisation, student experience, wellbeing & outcomes, financial performance, workforce planning & recruitment, change management, professional and scholarly development of colleagues, effective management of school community, environment and resources, programme innovation & development, promotion of research & knowledge exchange, cross-school/faculty/university collaboration, professional compliance, and representation.

Additionally, I am External Examiner and Course Development Consultant for Interior Design and Interior Architecture courses at School of Design, Architecture, and Interiors︎︎︎ at Falmouth University︎︎︎ with a focus on providing guidance and expert advice on the development of new multi-site, digital, and cross-cultural undergraduate and postgraduate design courses. I used to be a member of the Board of Advisors at Digital Influx︎︎︎(a world’s first EdTech company to teach young people User Experience and Design Thinking) and my responsibility was to help the company better understand design, technology, education, economics, demographics, geopolitics, and policy. I am a Senior Fellow [SFHEA] of The Higher Education Academy︎︎︎, a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts︎︎︎, and an Academician and Member of The Academy of Urbanism︎︎︎, all of which enable me to actively contribute to the social, cultural, economic, political, and physical development of cities through mission-led and future-facing design education, research and practice.

︎My pedagogy focuses on pioneering new methods and strategic models for partnering public and private sector organisations, such as the Transport Research Laboratory︎︎︎, Greater London Authority︎︎︎, Ford Motors︎︎︎, and Ogilvy︎︎︎; with academia to co-create prototypes that respond to everyday and future needs; investigating through world-class ideas and concepts that define the future of urban environments, learning and experience, mobility and energy, transaction and trade, health and wellbeing, living and care, working and play.

My teaching focusses on encouraging an international and cross geo-cultural educational experience through multi-site and shared collaborative projects that challenges stereotypical approaches and methodologies to design education and practice by connecting the ostensibly unconnected, recognising the relationship and value of the local & the global as well as the importance of experimentation and the need to innovate for purpose.

As a doctoral researcher in Innovation Design Engineering, School of Design︎︎︎ at the Royal College of Art︎︎︎, my practice-based research explores the concept of Decolonised Innovation. I investigate new system of methods, principles, and rules for design that are free from the forces of globalisation—liberating from the constraints of a world that is already made and from externally imposed conventional methods and perspectives, therefore decolonised—whilst balancing with resource-constrained ways of knowing, designing and making in the moment of now in an unsettled context to approach the construction, longevity, and suitability of objects within specific culture and context.

My research through private practice, teaching, and writing and in collaboration with public and private sector organisations, such as the World Humanitarian Forum︎︎︎, Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation︎︎︎, Vestre︎︎︎, Crisis Response︎︎︎, and Atlantic Pacific︎︎︎; examines the concepts of Human-Connected Design, Design in Crisis and Emergency, Autonomous Design, and Design Under Resource Constraints, and questions the role of borders and transnationalism in design and innovation across the least developed, developing, and developed economies.

I’m often humbled by my students’ and colleagues’ potential, creativity, tenacity, and positivity despite the difficulties they face in education and the industry. Equally, I’m interested in the synergy between the purpose of a design school, the advances in technology and science, the needs of the city where the school is based, the stimulus of national and international industries and institutions, and the creativity and resilience of the school’s multidisplinary staff and its diverse body of students. I always question, how do we bring the ‘big six’ together and how do we relate all of the complexities that is design to the real-world issues that people, organisations, and cities are facing? And this is the kind of thinking that, I believe, will help ensure that design education becomes more inclusive and design practice more relevant to all communities.

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