Design researcher becomes honorary professor

Co-design is at the top of the list when Design Researcher Lisa Grocott works and collaborates with different interdisciplinary teams on social transformation projects. For Lisa Grocott, co-design helps to strengthen the interdisciplinary research collaborations she is part of, especially due to the integrative and relational focus of the approach.

Lisa Grocott is an employee of Monash University in Australia, where she is Professor of Design, Director of Wonderlab and responsible for several research projects within learning and technology development. Among others, she collaborates with scientists, queer methodologists, and social psychologists, while drawing on her own practical expertise and knowledge as a native of the Ngāti Kahugnunu people, who originate from the east coast of Aotearoa in New Zealand.

Lisa has signed a three-year contract with Design School Kolding and will work closely with Play Professor Helle Marie Skovbjerg and the entire team at the Laboratory for Play and Design. She will also be involved in both teaching and research activities.

Her latest book Design for Transformative Learning: A Practical Approach to Memory-Making and Perspective-shifting draws on indigenous and interdisciplinary experiences from her education and decades of practice-based research. Her interest in transformation is based on several years of leadership roles, including as Dean of Academic Initiatives at Parsons in New York, Head of Design at Monash, and Post-graduate Director of Design at RMIT.