The Team

Dr Frank O’Connor: Director

Frank was brought up in rural Ireland where his passion for environmental issues and their relationship with design began in 1988 with his first project on end-of-life recovery issues. Since then, he has worked in, or as a specialist advisor to, multinationals, SMEs, government organisations, higher education and NGOs in ecodesign, life cycle thinking and related issues. Frank set-up the Ecodesign Centre (EDC) in 2006.

Frank holds a Bachelors Degree in Technology with Education, Masters in Advanced Manufacturing, Postgraduate in Management and a PhD in Ecodesign. His roles have included Chair of the Welsh Assembly Government EEE focus group, Expert Witness to House of Lords Select Committee, Technical Advisor to Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), Chair of Sustainable Wales, MSc. Programme Advisor to Cranfield University, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Referee, IDI Design Awards Judge and Advisor to DME Awards.

Frank has published extensively and has been delivering lectures, workshops and talks in the UK and overseas on a wide range of issues since the mid-90s. He believes passionately that ecodesign is good design and good business practice.

Dr Sohail Hajatdoost: Head of Business Development

Sohail has worked in senior and executive positions within a number of blue chip companies as well as the SME sector. His industrial experience and knowledge includes food, pharmaceutical, healthcare, steel manufacturing, electroplating and the water industry. He has been advisor to the European Working Group for Reduction of Heavy Metals in Materials and also helped large companies and SMEs as a specialist consultant. Sohail is a Chartered Chemist and holds a PhD in Spectroscopy and Advanced Techniques for Chemical Analysis of Materials. He also has a Bachelors Degree in Applied Chemistry.

Sohail was Managing Director of Riochem® Ltd before joining EDC as Head of Business Development. He has significant experience in leading ecodesign innovation and product development from initial concept through to the manufacturing and marketing stages. He has also led the development of many industrial processes and products including Platinum and Gold medal award winning TinyLab® on-site water analyser. TinyLab® is also one of the finest examples of an ecodesign product developed within the SME sector. 

Sohail is passionate about ecodesign and having worked in blue chip companies and in SMEs he knows the challenges of all stages of new product development, manufacturing and taking it successfully into a competitive market place. Sohail has also published numerous papers on scientific, industrial and ecodesign subjects.

Simon O’Rafferty: Senior Research Officer

Simon has been leading the research, evaluation and education work of EDC since the outset. This research has supported the delivery of the ecodesign initiative, industry demonstration projects, national and international policy recommendations and non-specialist ecodesign communications. He has also been delivering ecodesign training to professional designers and design educators. 

Simon originally trained as an industrial designer in Ireland. He has an MSc in Sustainable Development and is currently undertaking a part-time PhD. This PhD will assess how regional governments can support ecodesign and sustainable innovation in SMEs. His current research interests include sustainable consumption and production, innovation systems and government intervention.

Simon has a number of publications on ecodesign and has spoken at numerous international conferences. He has previously held positions at other UK and Irish public sector organisations and various NGOs including ECO-UNESCO, Irish Fair Trade Network, and Sustainable Wales.

Merel Claes:  Research Assistant

Merel holds a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Product Development from the University College of Antwerp in Belgium and a MSc. in Innovation and Design for Sustainability from Cranfield University (UK). He is a fluent English and Dutch speaker. Between the two master courses, he gained experience in the fields of product development, product design, sustainable development, life cycle thinking, sustainable consumption and implementing regional environmental policies in Belgium, Germany and England. His MSc. thesis addressed the role of well-being in conceptualising sustainability in higher education.

Merel has lived in several rural and urban environments and is passionate about creating good, resilient futures for everyone. He started supporting the research at EDC in October 2009 and is particularly interested in innovation strategies, systems thinking and conceptualising sustainability. 
 

 Lynne Sheppard: Senior Centre Administrator

Lynne joined the EDC team in September 2009. Her previous administrative experience has been gained with a blue chip company, government bodies and a university. The experience covers project administration, office management and developing procedures. Lynne’s EDC role will include all of the above with the addition of event planning and the co-ordination of EDC communication strategies.

 Sharon Prendeville: Researcher 

Sharon has just started a Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS) funded PhD research project at the Ecodesign Centre (EDC), which is being run in conjunction with an industry partner Orangebox. The research is an interdisciplinary study that will focus on the sustainability performance of materials, as well as, the communication between scientists and non-scientists (designers) in material selection.

Sharon’s background is in Product Design and Technology, which she studied at the University of Limerick in Ireland. Here, she specialised in sustainable design with an approach to design development that is strongly process driven and user-centred. Her love of ecodesign has since been reinforced through a number of freelance projects and an internship at EDC in 2009. She is also experienced in the supply chain field, which gave her insight into the challenges of New Product Design (NPD).