Transforming the future through design-led research
Our research explores the role of design for speculating on the future, and to envision, define and inform the interactions and experiences between people and digital and emerging technologies.
Through making and imagining new forms of existence we critically rethink objects, systems and processes that shape human experience and life on the planet. We combine methods and approaches from the social sciences, humanities, science, engineering and the arts to explore and evaluate ideas, prototypes, new materials and experiences through the lens of design.
We collaborate across disciplines and with external partners, including industry, not-for-profit, government and community groups and organisations. Our areas of research span interaction design, design innovation, co-design, computational creativity, designing for health and well-being, digital place-making, human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, smart cities and urban data science.
The group’s expertise contributes to the following Labs:

Exploring new perspectives on meaning-making through emerging technologies

Prototyping new kinds of intelligent design materials, processes, and collaborators

Good design needs good sound

Interrogating the role of emerging technologies in cities through speculative prototypes

Design for complex civic, social and cultural challenges to support equitable and impactful positive change.
Our researchers
- Associate Professor Lian Loke (Head of Design)
- Dr Naseem Ahmadpour
- Madeleine Borthwick
- Liam Bray
- Associate Professor Densil Cabrera
- Dr Clare Cooper
- Associate Professor Wendy Davis
- Dr Joel Fredericks
- Dr Melinda Gaughwin
- Dr Phillip Gough
- Dr Kazjon Grace
- Dr Leigh-Anne Hepburn
- Dr Luke Hespanhol
- Dr Wenye Hu
- Dr Erez Nusem
- Dr Callum Parker
- Dr Somwrita Sarkar
- Professor John Redmond
- Professor Martin Tomitsch
Adjuncts
- Oliver Weidlich
- Dr Manuj Yadav
PhD researchers
- Yuxiao Chen
- Louis Chew
- Shuyao Dai
- Rob Dongas
- Joelene Elliott
- Alex Elton-Pym
- Reza Ghanavi
- Adam Hannouch
- Hamish Henderson
- Marius Hoggenmueller
- Brittany Klaassens
- Zhuosi Lai
- Geoffrey Lazarus
- Yihan Lu
- Kristina Mah
- Joanne Martin
- Khushnood Naqshbandi
- Mariana Papa
- Dorian Peters
- Ajit Pillai
- Mary Rapp
- Crispin Rock
- Tram Tran
- Yiyuan Wang
- Yi Zhao
Former PhD researchers
- John Bassett
- Mark Bassett
- Hugo Caldwell (MPhil)
- Karen Cochrane
- Augusto Dias
- Frank Feltham
- Sam Ferguson
- Robert Fitzell
- Mohammad Khan
- Youngdong Kim (MPhil)
- Doheon Lee
- Ella Manor
- Luis Miranda
- Crighton Nichols
- Claudia Nunez-Pacheco
- Ian Stevenson
- Hong Jun Song
- Manuj Yadav