Ian Lambert

Dean of Graduate Studies and Research; Professor; Chair, MA/MFA Design for Sustainability

College for Creative Studies, Detroit 

A designer and materials-led researcher from the UK, Ian has worked in both practice and academia for more than 30 years. He is passionate about the role of design in the climate crisis and recently set up the MA/MFA program Design for Sustainability at the College for Creative Studies, where he is also the Graduate Dean. He has undertaken numerous practice-led research projects in the use of material waste streams. He completed a Carnegie funded research project on designing with ocean plastic in 2019, focussing on the West Coast of Scotland. His work with ocean plastic has been widely published, along with other work on sustainability, and recently he collaborated with the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit on diverting urban lumber from waste to narrative artifacts. His work with urban lumber is ongoing, and he is a member of the Detroit River Coalition continuing his work with plastic pollution. He has organized several academic conferences and is co-chair of Cumulus Detroit 2022: Design for Adaptation.