Project Team

Mussa Chiwaula, George Kayange, George Torrens, and Timothy Whitehead are the lead team members managing this project since November 2017. 
George Torrens
Senior Lecturer at Loughborough University
Mussa Chiwaula
Director General at Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled
George Kayange
Programs Manager at Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD)
Timothy Whitehead
Lecturer in Product Design at Aston University
Rita Malangeni
Rita Malangeni
Crochet Artist
Shadreck Ndlovu
Shadreck Ndlovu
Basket Weaver
Simon Downs
Simon Downs
Lecturer in Graphic Design - Loughborough University
Jenny Pinski
Jenny Pinski
Lecturer in Textile - Loughborough University
Kerri Akiwowo
Kerri Akiwowo
Lecturer in Textiles - Loughborough University
Sarah Green
Sarah Green
Community Arts Practitioner
Caroline Jackman
Caroline Jackman
Talent Development Manager UK Craft Council
George Torrens Profile:

George is a Senior Lecturer in the Loughborgough Design School. He has been involved in assistive technology product design for over 30 years. In that time, he has worked with many charitable organisations, including Action Research, Motor Neurone Disease Association and Arthritis Care. He has previously been an active panel member in the Leicestershire and Rutland Remap Charity, which is part of Remap GB, that design one-off adaptions for disabled people in the community.

He has served an engineering apprenticeship as well as a first degree in Industrial Design. With his wife Julie, he is actively involved in craft design through Blue Sky Green Hills Design. The ‘Lincs Red’ has been exhibited in the National Centre for Craft and Design, Sleaford, as part of the ‘Made in Sleaford’ Exhibition; and, featured in Lincolnshire life magazine. He continues to design one-off pieces but also has seven patents granted and numerous products designed for Companies, some of which are still sold commercially. He has won a number of Awards as a designer and lecturer, including the Audi Design Foundation/ Leonard Cheshire 48 hour Design Challenge and Eric Dickens Memorial Award. He has been the recipient of research grants totalling nearly a Million pounds.