Dr Andrew Johnson

  • Reader in Additive Protective Technologies

Research groups and centres

Publications
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Andrew Johnson

Dr Andrew Johnson is a Reader in Additive Protective Technologies within Loughborough University’s School of Design & Creative Arts.  

Dr Andrew Johnson has accrued research funding in excess of £620k as Principal Investigator and over £1.4m as Co-Investigator – with funding from the EPSRC, AHRC, Innovate UK, DSTL, and MoD. Recent highlights include:

  • ‘ACC2037012: Optimising the multi-strike knife and ballistic performance of laser sintered additive manufactured body armour’, funded by the Defence and Security Accelerator Rapid Impact Call, £277,825 (PI).
  • ‘ACC2024636: Evaluating the multi-strike stab and ballistic performance of laser sintered additive manufactured body armour’, funded by the Defence and Security Accelerator Emerging Innovation Call, £99,640 (PI).
  • ‘EP/R015155/1: Hybrid Additive Manufactured-Aramid Fibre Body Armour’. EPSRC New Investigator Award, £100,699 (PI).
  • ‘EP/X035433/1: EPSRC Capital Award for Core Equipment’, £875,000 (Co-I).
  • AH/S002804/1: AHRC Business of Fashion, Textiles, and Technology Partnership, £404,772 (Co-I).
  • ‘H2020 No.778068: Directional Composites through Manufacturing Innovation’. European Commission Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange, £169,000 (Co-I).

Andrew’s research is principally focused on the utilisation of digital design and manufacturing technologies to enhance the physical and protective performance of high-performance wearables such as body armour, with funding secured from the EPSRC and DASA. Projects have utilised design and manufacturing opportunities offered by Additive Manufacturing technologies, coupled with existing aramid-based fibre, to establish patent-pending next-generation body armour solutions capable of providing protection against stab, spike, and ballistic threats with elevated levels of protective performance, manoeuvrability, and wearer comfort. This innovative research has been showcased at the AHRC Design Research for Change Showcase within the London Design Fair and was awarded the 2024 British Plastics Federation Horners Award for Innovation and Design.

With previous experience as Admissions Tutor (2018-2021) and Programme Leader (2021-24) for Loughborough University’s BSc Product Design & Technology course, Andrew teaches across a range of cohorts and modules including but not exclusive to:

  • Final Year Design Practice (Part C)
  • Studio Product Design (Part B)
  • Fashion-to-Function (Part B)
  • Applied Mechanics, Materials, and Sustainability (Part B)
  • Understanding People (Part B)
  • Mechanical Principles for Product Design (Part A)
  • Design at SDCA (Part A)
  • Creative Problem Solving (Foundation)

Andrew is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and is currently an external examiner for the UWE Bristol BSc Product Design & Technology programme. He is also a regular reviewer for Additive Manufacturing; Rapid Prototyping Journal; Journal of Industrial Textiles; Virtual & Rapid Prototyping Journal; Materials & Design; Nature Communications; The Police Journal; Materials Research Express; International Journal of Design.

In addition, Andrew is engaged with a range of research and armour community networks, including:

  • EPSRC Associate College & UKRI Future Leaders Peer Review College
  • ACE Research Network
  • Land Integrated Survivability Technology Exploitation Network (LISTEN), UK Ministry of Defence/DSTL
  • East Midlands Policing Academic Collaboration (EMPAC) Cooperative Network

Doctoral researchers under the supervision of Andrew span the topics of personal protection and additive manufacturing materials and processes.

Current PhD Supervision

  • ‘Innovating the fit and wearability of personalised protection through 3D scanning and digital manufacturing’. Morgan Ewers.
  • ‘Towards enhancing the fit and comfort of generation-after-next body armour’. Anon.
  • ‘Material Precisely Where It Is Needed: Towards Design for Polymer Multi-Material Additive Manufacturing Within an Industrial Context’. James Willmott.
  • ‘Investigating the Modelling of Human Anatomical Articulated Joints via Additive Manufacture’. Nesrin Yuksel.

PhD Supervision Completions

  • ‘Smart Personal Protection: Integrating Printed Electronics into Additive Manufacturing’. Dr Umur Cicek, 2024.
  • ‘Pseudo-seams: An Empirical Solution for Seamless Knitwear’. Dr Eleanor Scott, 2024.
  • ‘Understanding Regional Skin Friction and Tactile Perception to Advance the Design of Comfortable Protective Clothing’. Dr Mevra Temel, 2023.
  • Design, Manufacturing, and Characterisation of Biodegradable Polylactic Acid by Fused Filament Fabrication, Alper Ekinci, 2020.
  • Additively Manufactured Personal Protection for Blunt Force Trauma in Sport, Jayme Rossiter, 2020.

If you would like to explore undertaking a PhD with Andrew within the area of 3D printing, Computer-Aided Design, AI, or ergonomic testing with respect to developing next-generation body armour and 3D printed textiles, please get in touch.