Before starting my PhD, I was working as an Assistant Professor at Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara, Mexico. I was working closely with undergraduate students from Innovation and Design Engineering and developing research projects in the Innovation and Design Research Group.

During my master’s studies in Ergonomics, my professors always talked about the excellent quality of Loughborough University in my discipline. Some of my professors did their PhD at Loughborough as well, so they had first-hand experiences to tell me. Since then, I started to look closer at the School of Design and Creative Arts, their research groups and the different academics; I was always looking to read papers written at Loughborough! At some point, I felt that I could fit in here to develop my research.

Of course, I did look at rankings and national league tables, where I also had pleasant surprises about the quality of the School. It would have been great to attend some events, but it was not possible due to the distance from my home country. I did all my research online, but it was critical to talk with former PhD students and with some of the academics.