I work with organisations on long-term strategy, applying strategic foresight through design to help them navigate uncertainty, anticipate change and shape their futures.

My work spans global organisations, civic and cultural institutions, universities and non-profits on complex strategic challenges. This includes developing Manchester’s ‘Original Modern’ city strategy with Manchester City Council and creative director Peter Saville; speculative futures work with adidas examining their role in the London Olympic Games; design fiction exploring emerging technologies with Save the Children; defining strategic business models for the Medici Quartet in collaboration with NESTA; mission-led organisational strategy with the ODS Cooperative; and spatial futures work with Gehl Architects.

Alongside this, I am Professor of Practice in Strategic Design and Futures at Loughborough University. My research examines how futures methods can be integrated within organisational and design processes to strengthen organisations’ ability to anticipate change and make informed long-term decisions, with a focus on how anticipation is embedded in everyday practice. I have extensive experience across postgraduate teaching, programme leadership and executive education, with a strong emphasis on applied learning and industry engagement.

Earlier in my career, I was CEO of the interdisciplinary design studio four23, which I led for more than a decade. Working across Manchester and London, I led multidisciplinary teams delivering global strategic and creative work for organisations including Virgin, Oakley, Kjus, Somerset House, the Old Vic and Médecins Sans Frontières. This included developing holographic concepts with Stella McCartney to explore sustainability in fitness and wellbeing; producing immersive 360° storytelling for UN delegates with Fight for Peace in Rio de Janeiro; creating large-scale visual narratives for U2’s world stadium tours; and interactive public installations for the London Design Festival.

My career began at the influential independent record label Factory Records, where I worked closely with artists, designers and producers during a period of significant cultural and technological change in the music industry.

I hold a PhD in Futures Literacy and an MA in Global Political Economy. I am an alumnus of the UK Design Council’s Design Leaders programme at Hult International Business School, and the Strategic Executive Programme at Northwestern University in Chicago, supported by a UK Trade and Investment scholarship.

I live with my partner, designer Harriet Paterson, and our daughter in Sheffield, on the edge of the Peak District.