Info + Contact
- About me / social media links
— About me
I am a design researcher and academic working at the intersection of creativity, innovation, and technology.
I currently work at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), where I am a Professor and Head of the TD School. Before moving to Sydney, I was fortunate to study and work in Vienna, Reykjavik, Stockholm, and Paris. I’ve also held a visiting professorship at the Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts for a number of years, which involved delivering workshops and talks in China.
I have taught courses on interaction design, user experience design, design thinking, creativity, and innovation. My research investigates the interaction between people and future technologies, with a particular focus on citizens and communities, autonomous mobility, and new approaches for considering non-human stakeholders in the design process.
I am a founding member of the Urban Interfaces group at the University of Sydney, the global Media Architecture Institute, the Austrian Network for Information and Communication Technologies for Development, and the Life-centred Design Collective.
Before joining UTS, I was an academic in the Design Lab at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney, where I held various leadership roles, including Program Director for the Bachelor of Design Computing, Head of the Design Department, and Director of Innovation (Education, Enterprise and Engagement).
— Books
I have authored and co-authored a number of books, including Design Think Make Break Repeat – A Handbook of Methods (BIS, 2021, 2nd edition), Making Cities Smarter – Designing Interactive Urban Applications (jovis, 2017), Media Architecture Compendium – Digital Placemaking (avedition, 2017), and New Media Facades: A Global Survey (avedition, 2015).
— Learning resources
To learn more about design thinking processes and innovation, you can complete our online course Innovation Through Design, available for free via Coursera (or for a small fee if you want to receive a completion certificate).
Or, you can watch the 5-part mini series about design innovation in practice, featuring interviews with designers from Atlassian, Design+Industry, and Wunderman-Bienalto.
The compendium website for our book Design Think Make Break Repeat features free templates and resources for 80 design methods.
— Talks
I regularly give talks about my research and the role of design for innovation and for creating strategic value. You can listen to my 2011 Web Directions talk The World As a Canvas, my 2014 UX Australia talk When the City Becomes the Interface, and my 2021 UX Australia talk Non-human Personas and Other UX Tools for a Post-pandemic World, view my slides on Improving the Web Experience Through Biomimetics, and watch my IxDA Sydney talk Design Think Make Break Repeat (based on our book with the same title). I also speak at panels, for example, on the Role of Design for Future Work and Workplaces.
— Publications
My publications are listed on ResearchGate, Academia, and Google Scholar.
I occasionally publish articles on Medium and The Conversation. I’ve also written for the World Economic Forum and Sydney Business Insights.
If you are interested in applying for a PhD research project under my supervision, please read my publications and this Medium article first. Because of the competitive nature of PhD scholarships, I am only able to supervise PhD projects that are aligned with my research. If you are applying as international student please have a look at available scholarships before contacting me.
— Connect