Forensic Engineer

James McDonald has been a product development engineer for over 25 years.

He has deployed his skills across a number of industries including automotive, defence, public transport, composites and animatronics and spanned the full extent of the product development life cycle from research, to design and prototyping, manufacturing support, after sales support to, now, post failure investigation. The common thread being his passion for human centred design to contribute to high quality outcomes for users.

James has also served as a lecturer in the design department at the University of Newcastle, sharing his expertise and inspiring the next generation of designers.

Some examples of James’s work include:

• Automotive – Design, development and manufacturers
• Train design – Interior and external components including seats
• Defence – Munitions Development, pyrotechnics and high explosives
• Digitisation – 3D scanning, non-contact CMM, non-contact full field strain and motion digitisation
• Composites development – Large scale products, fire retardancy and ballistic protection

Awards and Achievements:

• CPEng
• RPEV
• NER
• APEC Engineer
• IntPE(Aus)

Memberships, Societies and Associations:

• FESA (Forensic Engineering Society of Australia)
• HFESA (Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia)
• Society of Automotive Engineers Australia
• Institute of Engineers Australia

In James’ spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing/coaching/watching field hockey, or working in the garden.