Manu Thundathil

Experience

• 

  GE

  Jul 2007 - Dec 2007

  Industrial Designer

  Worked with GE Plastics Industrial Design team as a consultant with focus on opportunity assessment, concept generation and project supervision.

• 

  سابك

  Jan 2008 - Sept 2010

  Industrial Designer

  Lead the Industrial Design function at SABIC Innovative Plastics, India (formerly GE Plastics). Professional responsibilities included Project Management and Industrial Design for all nationwide Design programs. Focused on end-to-end application development projects which include designing for Railways, Defense, Healthcare, Consumer Appliances, etc.

• 

  DESIGNSCOPE

  Oct 2010 - Dec 2014

  Industrial Design / Materials / Innovation Consultant

  Worked as an Industrial Design consultant to Railway OEMs, Defence research Labs, MSMEs and Software firms; Focusing on Business Innovation, Material Design, Manufacturability and User Interface Design.

• 

  Kerala State Institute of Design

  Dec 2014 - Sept 2020

  Worked as Faculty and Department Co-ordinator for 5- semester Postgraduate Programme in Integrated Lifestyle Product Design. Conducted courses in Design Research, Design Process, Form Studies, Materials and Prototyping, etc. Academic pursuits included Creative Problem Solving, Design Methodologies and Material Design. Worked as Assistant Project Director with responsibility for converting the institute into a Design School. As a part of NID-KSID Vision Team, created the vision and mission of the school with curriculum, infrastructure requirement, manpower requirement, procurement, campus development, research & outreach programmes, etc.

  • Founding Faculty & Programme Coordinator (Integrated Lifestyle Product Design)

    Aug 2015 - Sept 2020

  • Assistant Project Director

    Dec 2014 - Aug 2015
• 

  University of Canterbury

  Nov 2020 - now

  In this role, I was a part of regular courses on materials, sensory perception and design projects. I was also part of a product development project coordinated by the University of Canterbury and a research project on sustainable material development. I was also awarded the UC Product Design Short-Term Research Scholarship (where I analyzed the possibilities of digital co-learning in design education) and the PhD Publishing Scholarship during this period. Conducting research on Material Design Methodology for biocomposites. Exploring human perception, aesthetic values and material engineering to create high impact biocomposites that can provide sustainable material alternatives for the Industry.

  • Teaching Fellow

    Jul 2024 - now

  • Teaching/Research Assistant

    Jul 2022 - Jul 2024

  • Doctoral Researcher

    Nov 2020 - Nov 2023