Iain's research & design studios at ESALA are often interdisciplinary, engaging students of Architecture and Landscape Architecture in diagnosing problems and identifying solutions which can contribute to knowledge in particular subject domains and geographical places. Students become 'active researchers', often working with research teams and particular user groups, employing innovative methods and co-design practices in the pursuit of original spatial solutions. Students from previous design units have been awarded national student prizes in architecture, sustainability and urban design. Iain’s most recent ESALA Studio-Research projects have been based in Derry, Northern Ireland, titled 'Daire's Airc: Edge Effects, Eco-tones & the Ecological Condenser' (2023-25). Iain also has experience in teaching architectural management and construction technology. He also supervises students for MSc by Research, or PhD, acting as 1st, 2nd and co-supervisor to a number of students.

Iain is an experienced researcher within ESALA. Previous projects include ‘Mobility, Mood and Place’. (2013-18). A cross disciplinary research project investigating the relationship between older people and the built environment, which included academics from University of Edinburgh, Kings College-London and the University of York. Iain worked with students from the MA, MArch and MLA programmes engaged in fieldwork and co-design workshops in Manchester, London, Copenhagen and the Scottish Island of Orkney. 

Other previous projects include the ‘Present Voices, Future Lives’ (PVFL) Exhibition & Workshop Project awarded by the Scottish Government and Architecture & Design Scotland (A&DS). This project was commissioned to engage people from across Scotland on the draft vision and principles of a new policy for housing in Scotland (Housing to 2040). A report on the project was published by the Scottish Government in 2021 as part of the suite of HT2040 policy documents. Material from this project forms part of the newly instituted 'Our Place' web-site by the Scottish Government & A&DS, the go-to resource for place-makers in Scotland. More recently Iain has advised Play-Scotland on a report into 'children's space for play' which will inform a new 'play-policy' for Scotland. This work re-connects with earlier research with children and schools, including work with young people on the autism-spectrum. 

Iain recently led on a seed-project funded by the UofE 'Challenge Investment Fund' and partnered with the Advanced Care Research Centre to investigate the potential for a co-produced tool to investigate qualities of 'Ageing in Place'. This project includes academics from Heriot-Watt & Newcastle Universities and discussions are ongoing with Public Health Scotland around a continuation of the project. As Associate Director of the Joint Laboratory of Healthy Space he regularly conducts research as part of interdisciplinary teams in Chinese contexts, around the dynamic relationship between urban street-vending and patterns of everyday life in Chinese cities. He regularly peer reviews for a series of academic research journals around the subject of health and the built environment.