Role
Professor Richard Bibb joined NTU as Associate Dean of Research for the School of Art & Design in 2023. He is responsible for all research activities in the School and works closely with academic staff, researches, project partners and stakeholders to develop high quality research outputs and attract external research funding.
Career overview
After gaining a BSc in Industrial Design from Brunel University in 1995 he studied for a PhD in design for Additive Manufacturing at the National Centre for Product Design & Development Research (PDR), Cardiff Metropolitan University. He remained at PDR to lead the Medical Applications research group, rising to the role of Director for Research before leaving in 2008. From 2008 Richard joined the Department of Design & Technology, at Loughborough University and remained during the formation of Loughborough Design School and subsequently the School of Design & Creative Arts. During his time at Loughborough, Richard achieved Professor title in 2015 and then served as Associate Dean of Research for 5 years, interrupted by a 9-month period as Acting Dean. This was followed by a period as REF2021 Unit of Assessment Lead for D32 Art & Design and most recently Director of Research.
Research areas
Richard’s research explores the application of advanced product design and development technologies in healthcare. This focuses on digital technologies including 3D scanning, Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Additive Manufacturing / 3D Printing in modelling patient anatomy, design-manufacture of prostheses, surgical planning and the design-manufacture of surgical guides and instruments, 3D printed fluidics and 3D printed pharmaceuticals. Richard's research contributes to the Design Research Centre and the Medical Engineering Design Research Group.
He is also active in research into design for Additive Manufacturing and translating research findings to other fields such as forensic anthropology, archaeology and heritage.
Richard has contributed to research and enterprise projects attracting more than £26 million in funding from a variety of sources. This collaborative research has generated more than 100 peer-reviewed outputs and has been presented at prestigious events in the USA, Canada, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Turkey and the UK. Richard has supervised 15 PhDs to successful completion and examined more than 45 doctoral degrees.
External activity
Richard is currently serving on the UKRI Talent Panel College and EPSRC Peer Review College and previously served on the EPSRC Strategic Advisory Team for Healthcare Technologies 2014-17. He has previously served on the AHRC Peer Review College and reviewed for Medical Research Council (MRC), Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council (Canada), Technology Foundation STW (Netherlands), Innovate UK, Wellcome Trust and Leverhulme Trust.
He is on the editorial board of the Rapid Prototyping Journal, Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé Journal of Bioprinting and Advanced Design Research.
Richard is a Fellow of the
Sponsors and collaborators
Richard is currently a Co-Investigator on one EU and three UKRI funded projects in collaboration with colleagues in Fraunhofer IPA, UCL, UEA, University of Strathclyde, University of Salford, University of Leeds and Loughborough University.
, EPSRC
, AHRC Early Career Grant
, EPSRC Healthcare Technologies New Challenges Network Plus
, Horizon Europe, Pathfinder, Grant agreement ID: 101130241
He is also a theme lead in the .
Publications
Zhang, Bin; Belton, P.; Teoh, Xin-Yi; Gleadall, Andrew; Bibb, Richard; Qi, Sheng, “An investigation into the effects of ink formulations of semi-solid syringe extrusion 3D printing on the performance of the printed solid dosage forms”, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2023,
Willmott JD, Bibb RJ, Johnson AA, Paterson AM, Three-Dimension Dithering and its effect on the Interfacial Strength of Different Multi-Material Additive Manufacturing Processes, Additive Manufacturing, 2023, 78, 103837,
Christogianni, A., Bibb, R., Filingeri, D. Body temperatures, thermal comfort, and neuropsychological responses to air temperatures ranging between 12°C and 39°C in people with Multiple Sclerosis, (1 July 2023) Physiology and Behavior, 266, art. no. 114179,
Bibb, R., McKnight, L. Identification of bird taxa species in ancient Egyptian mummies: Part 2, a qualitative evaluation of the utility of CT scanning and 3D printing, (December 2022) Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 46, art. no. 103668,
Christogianni, A., Bibb, R., Filtness, A., Filingeri, D. Regional skin wetness perception and its modulation by warm and cold whole body skin temperatures in people with multiple sclerosis, (19 October 2022) American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 323 (5), pp. R648-R660.
Christogianni, A., O'Garro, J., Bibb, R., Filtness, A., Filingeri, D. Heat and cold sensitivity in multiple sclerosis: A patient-centred perspective on triggers, symptoms, and thermal resilience practices, (November 2022) Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, 67, art. no. 104075,
Zhang B, Teoh XY, Yan J, Gleadall A, Belton P, Bibb R, “Development of combi-pills using the coupling of semi-solid syringe extrusion 3D printing with fused deposition modelling”, Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé Journal of Pharmaceutics, 25 September 2022, 625, 122140,
Borgianni Y, Pradel P, Berni A, Obi M, Bibb R, “An investigation into the current state of education in Design for Additive Manufacturing”, Journal of Engineering Design, 3 August 2022, 33(7), 461-490,
Kayali Y, Ding M; Hamdallah S, Qi S, Bibb R, Gleadall A, “Effect of Printing Parameters on Microscale Geometry for 3D Printed Lattice Structures”, Materials Today: Proceedings, 24 September 2022, 70, 31-37,
Obi M, Pradel P, Sinclair M, Bibb R, “A Bibliometric analysis of research in design for additive manufacturing”, Rapid Prototyping Journal, 14 January 2022, 28(5), 967-987,
Zhang B, Gleadall A, Belton P, McDonagh T, Bibb R, Qi S, “New insights into the effects of porosity, pore length, pore shape and pore alignment on drug release from extrusion-based additive manufactured pharmaceuticals”, 22 July 2021, Additive Manufacturing, 46, 102196,
Zhang B, Nasereddin J, McDonagh T, von Zeppelin D, Gleadall A, Alqahtani F, Bibb R, Belton P, Qi S, “Effects of porosity on drug release kinetics of swellable and erodible porous pharmaceutical solid dosage forms fabricated by hot melt droplet deposition 3D printing”, Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé Journal of Pharmaceutics, online 3 May 2021,
UN Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainability is a central and essential element of all our research and we continually strive to address sustainable development goals in our funded projects. In particular these goals are addressed in my design and manufacturing research projects.



