Professor John Clarkson

Director Cambridge Engineering Design Centre at Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge

Share
Director, Cambridge Engineering Design Centre
Co-Director, Cambridge Public Health

John Clarkson returned to the Engineering Design Centre in 1995 following a seven-year spell with PA Consulting Group's Technology Division where he was Manager of the Advanced Process Group. He was appointed director of the Engineering Design Centre in 1997 and a University Professor in 2004. John is directly involved in the teaching of design at all levels of the undergraduate course.

At PA John gained wide experience of product development with a particular focus on the design of medical equipment and high-integrity systems, where clients required a risk-based systems approach to design to ensure timely delivery of safe systems.

His research interests are in the general area of engineering design, particularly the development of design methodologies to address specific design issues, for example, process management, change management, healthcare design and inclusive design. As well as publishing over 450 papers, he has written and edited a number of books on medical equipment design and inclusive design.

In the King’s Birthday Honours List 2024, John Clarkson received the title of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to engineering and design.

  • 2 June 2020, 11am

    Annual Conference Virtual Seminar Series: Systems thinking

    The third seminar in the annual conference virtual seminar series will be on the topic of systems thinking with speakers from government, academia and industry.

  • 8 February 2017, 5:30pm

    CSaP Annual Lecture 2017: Professor Chris Whitty, Department of Health

    There will be profound changes in health and disease over the next 20 years. The causes, demography and geography of ill health will shift significantly whilst the trend of demand for healthcare growing more rapidly than GNI is likely to continue. This lecture by Professor Chris Whitty discussed how it can predict, and help respond to, the policy challenges that will follow over the next 2 decades.