Dr. Neville Knott is the programme chair of the BA Interior Design at the Technological University Dublin. He specialises in the area of interior design, spatial planning, colour application, and historical interiors. He has been involved in the development and co-ordination of several degree and masters programmes over thirty years. Neville’s doctoral thesis focused on the topic of how television makeover programmes, broadcast in Ireland between 1996 and 2014, mediate the professional practice of interior design. It argued that the programme-makers, in seeking to engage viewers, used a series of strategies—notably the suppression of professional and educational knowledge about interior design—to convey an image of staged coherence that was arrived at unproblematically. It contented that interior design knowledge got lost in that process, and entertainment triumphed. As a result of combining his practice-based interior design knowledge with lecture-based communication skills, his involvement with Irish broadcasting grew over a twenty-year period as host and designer for multiple series of Beyond the Hall Door, Showhouse, My Showhouse, Roomers, Neville’s Doorstep Challenge, and Showhouse Showdown. This unique position allowed him to undertake research from a new perspective that explored the content from a production perspective.

Research Interests

Interior Design, Representation of Interior Design on Makeover Television, Ornamentation of Period Irish Interiors, Irish Interior Design History, Retail Design and Visual Merchandising Strategies.