Dr. Kumari M.C. is an Assistant Professor in Product Design & Innovation at the Department of Design Innovation, Maynooth University. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge, and the founder of OctoPii AI, a startup developing AI-enabled smart learning technologies.

Prior to joining Maynooth, for over eight years Dr. Kumari served as the Program Manager and Research Scientist of the National Design Innovation Network (NDIN) platform, a Government of India-sponsored project at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, housed at the Department of Design and Manufacturing. During this period, she also managed the Design Innovation Centre at IISc, promoting design education, and mentoring early-stage product-based startups. She has over fifteen years of experience in leading new product development teams, both software and tangible products.

She received her PhD and MDes in Product Design & Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, an MPhil in Environmental Design in Architecture from the University of Cambridge, and a five-year professional Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Anna University, Chennai.

Her research interests are in remote design collaboration and education, AI in design and design process, and sustainable and regenerative manufacturing.  Her areas of expertise in practice include design of digital products, design for government, and design for STEM education.