Assistant Professor – Interior Architecture and Design in Digital and Analogue Making

Job Description

Role Title: Assistant Professor- Interior Architecture & Design: Digital and Analogue Making

Grade and Salary: Grade 7, £37,694 – £47,389 per annum

FTE and working pattern: Full-time (35hrs per week) Open-ended

Reward and Benefits: 33 days annual leave, plus 9 buildings closed days for all full time staff. Use our total rewards calculator to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

About our Team The Creative Environments team at the School of Textiles and Design is a dynamic and interdisciplinary group at the forefront of spatial design innovation. We bring together expertise in architecture, architectural technology, interior architecture, retail design, product and furniture design, digital design technologies, and human centred design to explore how built and virtual environments shape human experience and behaviour.

We are committed to advancing both theoretical understanding and practical applications in architecture, interior architecture and design through cutting edge research and scholarship, including material experimentation, digital and analogue fabrication, circular design practice, and emerging construction technologies. The team fosters collaborative partnerships with industry leaders, engages in impactful community projects, and maintains strong connections with international research networks, leading particular lying regenerative AI, sustainable design and circular economy applications in the AEC industry. Our work spans residential and commercial interiors to healthcare environments and educational spaces, always with a focus on creating environments that enhance human wellbeing and sustainable design practices.

The team delivers the BA in Interior Architecture and Design and the MA in Interior Architecture and Design across our Scottish Borders and Dubai campuses.

Purpose of Role We welcome applications for one position at Assistant Professor (Grade 7) level to join the Creative Environments team. This permanent position is based at our Scottish Borders campus in Galashiels but collaboration with our Dubai team is expected and actively encouraged. Reporting to the Global Head of Creative Environments, this is a senior appointment that combines research leadership, design studio teaching, and programme management responsibility.

The successful candidate will bring deep expertise in design and making – spanning digital fabrication, analogue craft, material intelligence, and the space where these practices converge – and a strong commitment to integrating hands on making culture into contemporary interior architecture education. In addition to an active scholarly agenda and a strong presence in the teaching studio, the post holder will be expected to take on, or grow into, the role of Programme Director for the BA Interior Architecture and Design.

A defining feature of this appointment is the opportunity to help establish and shape the School’s new Makers’ Lab on the Scottish Borders campus – a physical research and making environment that the incoming postholder will play a central role in developing, equipping, and connecting to the team’s design research agenda. This is a rare chance to build something from the ground up, and candidates with a clear vision for how a University making facility can drive both pedagogical innovation and research impact are particularly encouraged to apply.

Key Duties and Responsibilities Teaching and Learning

• Serve as, or develop into, Programme Director for the BA Interior Architecture and Design, providing strategic and day to day academic leadership for the programme across both campuses.
• Oversee programme quality, student experience, and curriculum development in collaboration with the Global Head of Creative Environments and colleagues in Dubai.
• Manage programme administration, including timetabling, assessment management, external examiner liaison, and annual programme review.
• Act as a point of contact for students, supporting their academic progress and wellbeing in coordination with the University’s student support services.
• Lead on the development of programme partnerships and collaborations – with industry, maker communities, and international institutions – in alignment with the School’s strategic ambitions.
• Design teaching material and deliver either across a range of subjects or within a discipline.
• Deliver high quality undergraduate and postgraduate studio teaching, including design project supervision, with a demonstrable commitment to excellence in architectural and interiors pedagogy.
• Integrate digital and analogue fabrication methods – including CNC, laser cutting, 3D printing, joinery, model making, and material prototyping – into studio and workshop teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
• Develop innovative teaching that reflects the University’s global character and champions the value of making as a mode of design inquiry, not merely production.
• Mentor colleagues and postgraduate researchers in fabrication centred design pedagogy and research methods.
• Supervise student projects, field trips and, where appropriate, placements.
• Identify areas where current provision is in need of revision or improvement.
• Contribute to the planning, design and development of objectives and material.
• Select appropriate assessment methods, assess the work and progress of students on this basis and provide constructive feedback to students.

Research and Scholarship

• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research.
• Carry out and publish world class research in design and making, digital and/or analogue fabrication, material practice, or related areas within the context of interior architecture and the built environment.
• Establish, lead, and sustain a research agenda with clear vision and strategy, building collaborative networks with industry practitioners, makers, manufacturers, and international academic partners.
• Pursue and contribute to external research funding applications relevant to fabrication, material innovation, circular design, or design pedagogy.
• Lead the development of the new Makers’ Lab as a site of research activity, connecting its physical capabilities to the discipline’s wider scholarly identity.
• Conduct individual or collaborative research projects.
• Identify sources of research funding and secure funds.
• Extend, transform and apply knowledge acquired from scholarship to teaching, research and appropriate external activities.
• Disseminate results of research in peer reviewed journals and conferences, and/or through other appropriate media.
• Make presentations at conferences or exhibit work at other appropriate events.
• Participate in peer review as an individual reviewer.

Please note that this job description is not exhaustive, and the role holder may be required to undertake other relevant duties commensurate with the grading of the post and its general responsibilities. Activities may be subject to amendment over time as the role develops and/or priorities and requirements evolve.

Person Specification These are the criteria on which the short listing and recruitment selection will be made.

Essential

1. PhD in Interior Architecture, Architecture, Design, or a closely related field with a strong focus on making, fabrication, or material practice – or equivalent professional achievement with a clear scholarly contribution.
2. Demonstrable expertise in digital fabrication technologies (such as CNC milling, laser cutting, or 3D printing) and analogue making practices (such as joinery, model making, casting, or material prototyping) as applied to interior architecture and spatial design.
3. Strong design studio skills and a clear, demonstrable commitment to excellence in architectural and interiors pedagogy at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
4. A developing publication record or equivalent research output.
5. Demonstrated independence in research, with evidence of research vision and strategy.
6. Teaching experience in higher education, including studio- and workshop-based teaching.
7. Evidence of, or clear readiness for, academic leadership and programme management responsibility.

Desirable

1. Recognised teaching qualification – e.g. PG Certificate in Teaching and Learning or membership/fellowship of Advance HE. If the successful candidate does not have a relevant qualification, completion of this will be expected within 2 years of appointment.
2. Alignment with the discipline’s research themes in Design for Circular Economy, Material Reuse, and Sustainable Fabrication.
3. Experience of establishing, managing, or developing a workshop, fabrication lab, or making facility in a higher education or professional context.
4. Experience of programme leadership, course coordination, or significant administrative responsibility in a higher education context.
5. Evidence of external research funding, as lead applicant or contributor.
6. Experience of collaborative, cross institutional, or industry embedded research and making projects.
7. Experience of quality assurance processes in UK higher education.
8. Familiarity with circular economy principles and their application in material and fabrication practice.

How to Apply Please submit via the Heriot Watt online recruitment system: (1) Cover letter describing your interest and suitability for the post; (2) Full CV.

Applications can be submitted until 23:55 on Sunday 30 August 2026.
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