As the Public Service Design Lead in the Irish Government’s Department of Expenditure, NDP Delivery & Reform, Trevor Vaugh is responsible for embedding design across national government programmes. In this role, he leads the strategic design of the whole-of-government ‘Life Events’ programme and the development and delivery of the recently launched National Design Action Plan. Trevor is currently on secondment as an assistant professor of strategic design at Maynooth University where, in addition to teaching, publishing widely and securing significant research funding, he was founder of Mi:Lab—a government-funded, design-led innovation lab for the Higher Education sector.

​

Trevor chairs the ‘Design in Government’ expert working group and was a member of Ireland’s public service innovation advisory board. Trevor is a published author and a noted media contributor, with appearances on RTÉ’s critically acclaimed television series ‘The Big Life Fix’ and presenting Science Foundation Ireland’s ‘Science to the Rescue’ documentary. In 2021, his co-authored book, ‘ARRIVE: A Design Innovation Framework to Deliver Breakthrough Services, Products, and Experiences’, was published by Routledge. His work co-creating the AI voice technology for veteran journalist Charlie Bird received widespread media coverage and acclaim.

​

Prior to entering academia, Trevor developed a number of disruptive healthcare innovations, accumulating a portfolio of over 50 patents and winning numerous innovation awards, including a place in the prestigious Cleveland Clinic's top 10 innovations of 2009 for his work on LESS surgery for Olympus. Across all of his work, Trevor merges the theory and practice of Design, Anthropology, and Strategy, helping organisations navigate uncertainty, innovate, and grow through human insight, creative thinking, experimentation. And perhaps most importantly, he helps organisations find that often supressed spark of optimism, creativity and humanity.