Board of Management
The Board of Management is the Governing body of the Society and is responsible for managing the business of the Society. On particular matters, the Board of Management may delegate powers to appropriate bodies or individuals to act on behalf of the Society.
The Board of Management comprises five elected members of the Society including the President, Vice President and Secretary. The members of the Board of Management are elected by the members of the Society at the General Meeting, which is called every two years during the ICED conferences. The normal term of a Board of Management member is four years with the opportunity to serve for one further term.
The terms of the Board of Management ensure at least two members are subject to election every two years to provide continuity and rotation of the board.
The office of the President is limited to two terms of two years.
The officers of the Board of Management are decided by the Advisory Board, based on a proposal by the Board of Management.
Current Board of Management
President
Gaetano Cascini
I'm a mechanical engineer and Professor of engineering design at Politecnico di Milano. My research interests cover methods and technologies supporting design creativity and innovation, as well as the behaviour of humans while designing. These reflect also my courses at university and innovation projects in industry. After several years dedicated to the Design Creativity Special Interest Group, I started my service in the Board of Management in 2017 where I'm responsible for Publications and Events.
Vice President & Treasurer
Anja Maier
Anja M Maier, PhD, is Professor of Engineering Systems Design and Head of Department Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK and also at DTU-Technical University of Denmark, where she was Head of Engineering Systems Design, Department of Technology, Management and Economics. She holds a PhD degree in Engineering Design from the University of Cambridge, UK, and a Master’s of Arts degree in political science, communication science, and philosophy. Her research focuses on engineering systems design, with a particular emphasis on complexity and human behaviour. This includes design communication, network-based modelling and analysis in design, and design cognition. Prof. Maier serves on the Board of Management of The Design Society, on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Engineering Design, as Associate Editor of the journal Design Science, is a member of the International Council on Systems Engineering, a Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, a Board member of the Copenhagen Center for Health Technology (Cachet), and a member of acatech - the National Academy of Science and Engineering, Germany and a member of the ATV – the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences, Denmark. She works in close collaboration with industry and public organisations, predominantly in cleantech and healthcare, and has worked as a technical consultant in the manufacturing and software industries.
Secretary
Kristin Paetzold
I am Professor of Technical Product Development and head of the institute of the eponymous name at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bundeswehr in Munich. In teaching, I am responsible for product development and systems engineering. My research focuses on the design of data and information flows in development processes on the one hand and on the analysis and description of human behaviour in development as well as in the use of products on the other. I am co-chair of SIG Human Behaviour in Design. I was recently elected to the Board of Management and responsible for membership support.
Member
Ola Isaksson
MSc (-93) and PhD (-99) from Luleå university of technology Sweden. Career as a specialist (1994-2016) in engineering design and product development in Volvo Aero that became GKN Aerospace engine systems in 2012. Associate and Adjunct professor in Functional Product Development at LTU between 2007-2012. Adjunct professor at Chalmers University of Technology 2012-2015 and became full professor in Engineering Design and Systems Development in 2015, now leading the Systems Engineering Design research group at the Division of Product Development at the Department of Industrial and Materials Science at Chalmers. Broad interest in theories, practices, methods, tools and processes that improve product development ability, yet research focusses primarily on modelling support for engineering design in a systems context. Design Automation, Knowledge Engineering, Set Based Engineering, Functional Modelling, Value Modelling and how to utilize these methods when integrating new technologies into complex engineered systems. Co Chair of the Design Practice SIG and member of the Advisory Board to the DS BM .
Mario Štorga
I am the Head of the Chair of the Design and Product Development at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Naval Architecture of the University of Zagreb Croatia and visiting professor at the Product Innovation group at the Luleå University of Technology Sweden. My research and teaching concern product development methods and tools, data-driven design, knowledge and information management, complex-socio technical systems, technology evolution, and teamwork modeling and simulations. After serving as a member of the DS AB from 2011, I started my service in the Board of Management in 2021.
ex-officio Past President
Tim McAloone
I am Professor of Sustainable Product/Service-Systems at the Technical University of Denmark. My research and teaching concerns methods and models for a wide range of product development issues, such as ecodesign, circular economy, product/service-systems, product innovation and the process of product development itself. I currently serve as President of the Design Society, with great pride.
Previous Boards of Management can be seen here.