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Arts University Plymouth Associate Professor Mel Brown

melbrown@aup.ac.uk

sites.google.com/view/memelbrown/home

Associate Professor Mel Brown

Principal Lecturer and Assistant Dean (Design) and National Teaching Fellow

Dedicated to teaching both theory and practice since 1999, Mel began teaching at Arts University Plymouth in 2004. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Arts University Plymouth Teaching Fellow and RSA Fellow. Mel’s skills and experience are consolidated in her role as Assistant Dean and Principal Lecturer, having long since decided that working alongside the next generation of designers and creatives was exactly where she wanted to be. Previously course leader for BA (Hons) Illustration, Mel built a team of dedicated staff to help shape the identity and curriculum of the course, and the Illustration provision at Arts University Plymouth grew from strength to strength Current pedagogic research is focused on play and the role of curiosity in creative learning. Mel has presented papers at conferences across the UK and Europe: Illustr4tio International Conference (‘Illustration as Reparation’ 2019), GLAD Conference (‘Trading Places: Developing a Model for Interdisciplinary Practice’ 2017), HEA Annual Arts and Humanities Conference (‘The Great Editorial Race: the serious business of play’ 2016), ELIA Teachers Conference (‘The Serious Business of Play’ 2015). She is co-author of journal paper ‘Drawing Thinking: Illustration as Pedagogy' with AUP Senior lecturer Jason Hirons. With a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design and MA in Visual Culture from Bath Spa University, in her own practice Mel is obsessed with discarded books and abandoned photographs and seemingly random pieces of ephemera. Through drawing and collage Mel plays with juxtaposition to transform the use, meaning and interpretation of the images she finds and a recurring theme is the plight of lost, broken and damaged things. As part of Mel's role as Assistant Dean, she assists the Dean of Art, Design & Media in the academic and operational leadership of undergraduate Design courses at Arts University Plymouth, driving pedagogic innovation and supporting subject specialisms in Design. She is an active committee member and convenor of the Making Learning research group. In 2026, Mel was appointed as an Associate Professor at Arts University Plymouth, reflecting both her impact within the university and her wider national standing in creative pedagogy, further underscored by her recognition in 2025 as the university’s first National Teaching Fellow.

Awards & Grants

Professional Memberships

Research Interests

Research Outcomes

'That Little Jackdaw'- Exhibition and <a href="https://pylonpress.co.uk/">Pylon Press</a> publication inspired by The Jackdaw of Rheims. <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/memelbrown/current">https://sites.google.com/view/memelbrown/current</a> ‘That Little Jackdaw’ is Mel Brown’s interpretation of ‘The Jackdaw of Rheims’, a 19th Century poem written by Richard Harris Barham. It’s the tale of a jackdaw who attends a grand banquet, steals the Cardinal’s precious ring, is cursed for his sins and eventually absolved of his crimes and sainted. When we first meet the Jackdaw, he is mischievous, irreverent and very much alive. However, he becomes a broken bird – firstly as a result of the Cardinal’s violent and excessive curse and secondly when the lifting of that curse leaves him pious and devout with his most natural characteristics buried deep. “Reimagining the poem during a long period of recuperation, the Jackdaw’s fate became my own: a broken bird (my pre-op/post-op self) has a curse lifted (cancer removed and a scar healed) - my love letter to the NHS.” ‘Illustration as Reparation’ was Mel’s presentation of her journey in developing the book, presented at the Illustr4tio International Conference on ‘Illustration and Adaptation’ at the University of Burgundy, Dijon (2019) ‘Thinking Through Making’ - workshop delivered with Bridgette Ashton at the ELIA Biennial Conference ’Arts Plural’, Milan, 2024 ‘Global Challenges & Creative Practice’ - presented at the GLAD Conference ‘Gathering Pace’, Belfast 2024 ‘The Curiosity Incubator’ - workshop delivered with Bridgette Ashton at ELIA Academy ‘Exploring Situatedness’ Evora, 2023 The Little Poster Festival - poster presentation with Jason Hirons at the 11th Illustration Research Symposium - Education and Illustration: Models, Methods, Paradigms: Kingston University (2021) ‘Drawing Thinking: Illustration as Pedagogy' Hirons, J. and Brown, M. (2019), ‘Drawing thinking: Illustration as pedagogy’, Drawing: Research, Theory, Practice (2019) ‘Illustration as Reparation’ - Paper presented at the Illustr4tio International Conference ‘Illustration and Adaptation’ at the University of Burgundy, Dijon (2019) GLAD Conference ‘Exploring Territories: The Changing Landscape of Art and Design in Higher Education’- ‘Trading Places: Developing a Model for Interdisciplinary Practice’ presentation: with Paul Fieldsend-Danks and Ellen Sims (2017) HEA Annual Arts and Humanities Conference, Brighton - Inspire: Sharing great practice in Arts and Humanities teaching and learning - Presentation: ‘The Great Editorial Race: the serious business of play’ (2016) ELIA Teachers Conference, Tilburg, The Netherlands - Presentation: ‘The Serious Business of Play’ (2015) European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL), Berlin – Presentation: ‘Why Play The Great Editorial Race? Gamification and the role of ‘play’ in building professional practice skills’ (2014) The Changing Roles of Staff and Students within a Connectivist Educational Blog Model Paper presented E Garcia & M Brown) and consequently published in the proceedings of the European Conference on E-Learning 2012, Groningen (2012) The Effectiveness of Collective Group Blogs as a Tool for Reflection within Experiential Learning Projects: A Case Study of Simulated Work Based Learning within Higher Education Paper presented (by E Garcia) and consequently published in the proceedings of the 6th Annual Conference in International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia (2012)