Over the past three decades I have spent an equal amount of time in academia and industry. Having undertaken my first degree in Information Graphics (1986), I returned to higher education in 2001 to pursue a research career, first at the University of Derby (2001–03), then at Nottingham Trent University (2003–08), and in 2008 I joined Loughborough University. In 2011 I was awarded a PhD in Architecture (Social Sciences) at The University of Nottingham.
Prior to pursuing an research career I spent fifteen years in professional design practice in London, establishing an independent design studio between 1991–2001. Harland Design undertook commissions for national and international public and private sector organizations in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Portugal, and Belgium, working mainly in the field of visual identity, literature and signage design.
