ADELABU OLUWAFEMI SAMUEL

 Senior Lecturer

 osadelabu[at]futa.edu.ng; femmysamuel[at]gmail.com

 +2348102623182

 NIGERIA

 The Design Society (DS), the Pan African Institute of Design (PADI), The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) and the Ceramic Researchers Association of Nigeria (CeRAN)

 B.TECH (AKURE), M.TECH (AKURE), PhD (TSUKUBA)

 As a scholar with over 10 years of experience in teaching and research, I have evolved from a background of Industrial Design training to accruing pedagogical experience in design education and exploring the business world through entrepreneurial engagements. I had my first degree in Industrial Design from the Federal University of Technology, Akure in 2007 followed by an M.Tech degree in Industrial Design in 2011. In 2009, I started my lecturing career at the Department of Industrial Design at the Federal University of Technology, Akure as a Graduate/ Research Assistant (equivalent to a Junior Lecturer) after my National Youth Service. Toward the conclusion of my Master's study in 2011, I became a recipient of the prestigious Japanese Government award (Monbukagakusho: MEXT) for study and research in Japan. Through this scholarship award, I started my doctoral programme in 2012 at the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences of the University of Tsukuba. There, I advanced my areas of study from a craft-based industrial design to applying the knowledge of Kansei information science in understanding the perception of aesthetic value and preference in product design especially from a cross-cultural standpoint (focusing on Nigeria and Japan). After my doctoral study, I underwent a 3-month internship program at FabLab Sendai – FLAT under the scholarship of the Network for Developing Global Leader Career (GLCNet) at the University of Tsukuba. The same year, I co-founded igreenkraft, an enterprise registered in Germany to retail craft-based innovative products that are both nature and user-friendly. Since my return from Japan after the completion of his doctoral programme, I have been contributing significantly to the accomplishment of academic and administrative functions at my Department, Faculty and the University at large. I have been deeply involved in activities that revolve around teaching, research, project supervision for undergraduate and postgraduate students, participation in various university committees and community development services within and outside the university. I teach various design and research courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Likewise, I have been involved in the redesign of curricula for my Department having realised the need to critically review its content in the light of producing well-rounded graduates who are better empowered for a fast-changing world of work. My research interests include but not limited to issues on sustainability and innovation in product design and practices, design education and curricular framing in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. In October 2019, I was selected for the Global Excellence and Stature (GES) 4.0 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Industrial Design Department, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Architecture, University of Johannesburg, where I support with student lectures and also conduct research on assessing the Industrial Design curricula in the 4IR era. Coupled with several research outputs that I have garnered in terms of journal publications and contributions to books, I have attended and participated in both local and international conferences and workshops. I am a member of notable professional associations such as the Design Society (DS), the Pan African Institute of Design (PADI), The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) and the Ceramic Researchers Association of Nigeria (CeRAN) among others. My endeavour from primary through tertiary education amidst various challenges has made me a dogged optimist, passion-driven individual and a goal-getter.