David McClean is Head of the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture & Built Environment at Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen, a position he has held since 2006. From 2014-18 he was a staff governor at RGU. Following academic study and registration as a Chartered Architect, he practiced in Cambridge for a period of 8 years before returning to his native Scotland where he entered academia. He has extensive experience of architecture education in the UK, being a Council member of the Standing Conference of Heads of Schools of Architecture, and having been heavily involved in the work of the Royal Institute of British Architects both nationally and internationally, for over 15 years. He has also undertaken validation work for the Union Internationale des Architectes, and the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.

A committed educationalist, his research work focuses on aspects of creative education and its underpinning pedagogies, and he has been invited as a keynote speaker and to deliver workshops in a number of countries. He joined the Board in September 2019.