Stephanie Owens and Mel Brown receive professorial appointments at Arts University Plymouth

<p dir="ltr">Stephanie Owens has been appointed <strong>Professor of Arts and Material Futures</strong> and Mel Brown has been appointed <strong>Associate Professor</strong>, with immediate effect. Stephanie Owens will also serve as the inaugural Chair of the Centre for Circular Materials for an initial period of three years. The titles were conferred following a meeting of Arts University Plymouth’s Professorial Committee.</p> <p dir="ltr">Together, the appointments reflect the university’s confidence in two areas of growing importance across the sector: ambitious interdisciplinary research rooted in material practice, and creative pedagogy with clear institutional and national impact.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Professor Stephanie Owens, Dean of Arts, Design &amp; Media, is recognised for her leadership in building Arts University Plymouth’s research culture, postgraduate academic profile and international visibility.</p> <p dir="ltr">A central part of that work has been the development of <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/research/supported-projects/making-futures"><strong>Making Futures</strong></a> as a rigorous and influential international platform for dialogue around material-led practice, sustainability and emerging technologies. Through her intellectual leadership, Arts University Plymouth has strengthened its position within these networks and extended relationships with institutions including MIT, the Fab Foundation and UCL.</p> <p>Stephanie’s professorship also recognises her role in shaping the university’s wider research environment. As Editor of the <em>Making Futures Journal</em> and Convener of the Material Futures Research Group, she has helped to build an ambitious and outward-facing research culture, supporting scholarship, mentoring colleagues and creating new routes for interdisciplinary enquiry.</p>

<p dir="ltr">She has also played a key role in the development of Arts University Plymouth’s postgraduate offer, including co-authoring the new postgraduate curriculum and leading the validation of five new MA Design degrees focused on sustainability and regenerative design. Her additional appointment as inaugural Chair of the <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/research/centre-for-circular-materials"><strong>Centre for Circular Materials</strong></a> further underlines the significance of her work in shaping a distinctive institutional agenda around responsible material practice, circularity and the future of making. As a research-led hub, the Centre for Circular Materials brings together artists, designers, researchers and partners to rethink how materials are designed, produced and kept in circulation, connecting the South West’s natural and industrial assets with low-impact applications, research and knowledge exchange.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Professor Stephanie Owens, Dean of Arts, Design &amp; Media, Arts University Plymouth, said: </strong>“I am honoured to be appointed Professor of Arts and Material Futures. This recognition of my expertise in building theoretical and practical links between materials and emerging technologies in my scholarship is especially rewarding. Bridging these realms has been the focus of my work as a research-based artist and educator, and will have new purpose through my leadership of the Centre for Circular Materials. Leading this new Centre will allow me to connect contemporary creative practice, responsible material systems and collaborative research in new ways.”<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Associate Professor Mel Brown, Assistant Dean and Principal Lecturer in Design, is recognised for her sustained contribution to learning and teaching, curriculum development and pedagogic research. In 2025, she was named a <strong>National Teaching Fellow</strong> by Advance HE, a nationally significant benchmark of professional standing in learning and teaching.</p> <p dir="ltr">Since joining Arts University Plymouth in 2004, Mel has played a significant role in shaping the student experience within Illustration and across the wider university. Her work has included major contributions to the undergraduate and postgraduate Common Unit Framework and to the development of a creative learning culture that places curiosity, experimentation and critical thinking at its centre.</p> <p>Mel is also an active member of the university’s research community as Convener of the <strong>Making Learning Research Group</strong>. Her <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/research/repository/filter?profiles=18401">pedagogic research</a> spans curiosity, play and collaboration in creative learning and she has presented papers nationally and internationally, including conferences with ELIA, GLAD and the HEA. Through her own practice she explores how illustrated adaptations of existing texts could be reimagined when intertwined with personal memory and present experience.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Her appointment as Associate Professor reflects both her impact within Arts University Plymouth and her wider national standing in creative pedagogy.</p> <p><strong>Associate Professor Mel Brown, Assistant Dean and Principal Lecturer in Design, Arts University Plymouth, said: </strong>“I am delighted to accept the title of Associate Professor. My teaching and research have long been rooted in the belief that curiosity, play and creative risk-taking matter deeply in higher education, and I am proud to have developed that work within a university community that values pedagogy, generosity and shared endeavour.”</p>

<p>Together, these appointments demonstrate Arts University Plymouth’s continuing investment in research culture, learning and teaching, and forms of specialist creative education that connect material knowledge, critical enquiry and contemporary practice.</p>