As of the beginning of this year, I became a new management group member of the Future Food Research Centre (FFRC) based in the Faculty of Science at the Waipapa Taumata Rau | the University of Auckland. The FFRC aims to improve food and nutrition security and sustainably through education, research, and innovation bringing together research expertise from the University and food industry stakeholders. The FFRC brings together multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral expertise to find solutions for problems related to food security, sustainability, climate change, systems efficiencies, waste utilisation, food sovereignty and innovation. I will be providing a brief overview of the last few years of my practice-based design research on Design for Sustainable Food Systems Change at the FFRC Seminar on 5 Nov 2024 in Room 303-G14, Faculty of Science, University of Auckland. The tentative programme is as follows: 10:00 am – Welcome10:10 am – Presentation (+ Q& A)10:10 am … Read More
Health, Equality & Innovation – UTiM Keynote
I was honoured to be invited as a keynote speaker to the Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia, to participate in a forum on “Health, Equality and Innovation: Paving the Way for a Brighter Future” on the 12 January 2024. With a focus on the 9th Sustainable Development Goal, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, my online presentation to the forum was on the following topic, “From Imagination to Innovation: Exploring the Boundless Possibilities of Creative Art Industries.” In the presentation, I explore the role of technology in extending human capabilities, but not as a means in itself. Rather, through the careful consideration of technology’s appropriateness for context can innovative and impactful outcomes be arrived at. The seminar recording, from the start of my presentation, can be accessed here:
Design Monat Graz – Better Future
I am honoured to have been invited to sit on the Designing for People panel for the Redesign the Future Symposium as part of Design Monat [Month] Graz 2021 in Austria from 16:00 on the 11th of May 2021. I will be presenting an 8-minute lecture and then participate in a panel discussion on the topic with Emanuel Barbosa, Mariana Goncálex de la Rosa and Sigrid Bürstmayr. Emanuel is a designer, design educator and curator at ESAD—Arte Matosinhos Porto, Porto Design Biennale; Mariana is Coordinator of the Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Design, Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla; and Sigrid, who invited me to join the panel, is a Lecturer at FH|JOANNEUM idk_ Institut Design & Kommunikation. “Design Monat [Month] Graz bundles and condenses the energy of the local creative industries within one month, makes it visible to the outside world and thus makes a central contribution to anchoring the creative industries in … Read More
Studia Generalia Lecture & Workshop – Finnish Design Academy
I am honoured to have been invited to present a Studia Generalia lecture and a workshop for the Finnish Design Academy mid-November 2020! The Finnish Design Academy is a collaborative network of Finnish university-level design schools, which aims to develop design education to better answer the changing needs of working life. It is a collaboration between nine Finnish universities and I was invited by Sami Kauppinen from the Laurea University of Applied Sciences Masters Degree Programme in Service Innovation and Design to present the lecture and workshop through my prior engagement in an Erasmus+ project linked to the University of Johannesburg. The details of the lecture are as follows: Date: 17 November 2020 Time: 15.00 – 16.00 (EEST) Title: Designing with the Underserved: An Exploration of the Complexities of Design in South Africa from the perspective of the SDGs With reference to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this Studia Generalia … Read More
Designing the New Normal
I was invited to write the Thought Leader column for the Lexus Life Magazine July/July 2020 issue where I reflected on “Designing the New Normal.” You can access the article in print on page 2 of the magazine here: https://lexuslife.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Lexus_19_final.pdf “Designing the New Normal | From cars to furniture, housing, clothing, equipment – TECHNOLOGY from here on out is going to need to be considered holistically. The rapid spread of COVID-19 has fuelled an unprecedented rate of change. Many people have taken this forced pause as a moment to reflect on what the new normal might be. This in itself is the crux of design – an opportunity to transform our existing situations into preferred ones. Most people’s homes have become a refuge – and working from home has shown that a more flexible work-life balance is possible. The extended time spent in the home environment has brought about growing … Read More
Collaborative People in Challenging Places
These are some thoughts that arose from a request by Prof Ezio Manzini for me to provide some prior input into the DESIS DxCC Seminar on Collaborative People in Challenging Places which took place at the Cumulus Bogotà Conference on the 19 September 2019: “Much of my research engages with individuals who were previously legally marginalised under apartheid, and now even with a majority elected democratic government in place for the last 21 years, continue to find themselves on South Africa’s margins, both physically and politically. Cities in Africa, and South Africa in particular, hold the hope for a better future and hence have been the locations for extensive urban migration. The Gauteng-City Region, where I am based, is home to a quarter of South Africa’s total population. It generates a third of the country’s GDP, on just 2% of South Africa’s total land area. However, such economic stats only speak to those who are formally employed, which in … Read More
- Page 1 of 2
- 1
- 2