Find a Design supervisor
Design academic staff have a wealth of experience and expertise in their research.
Aaron Fry
Aaron is currently programme director of the Master of Design; his research interests are in: design cognition research – design thinking, creativity research and engagement with problem solving in complex contexts and systems, examples include financial literacy, and the effects of biophilic design on products, services and experiences in health and wellness contexts.
Research areas
- Design cognition and creativity research
- Psychological and psycho-social effects of design in clinical and care environments
- Socio-technical systems research
- Qualitative research methods with emphasis on design ethnography
- Design approaches to financial products, services and systems
Dr Allan Fowler
Allan’s research interests are in game development, and understanding the user experience. He has also undertaken considerable work in increasing the representation of minorities in STEM.
Research areas
- Game design and development
- Augmented and virtual reality
- User experience
- Human-computer interaction
- Increasing underrepresented minorities' participation in STEM
- Game jams and hackathons for teaching and learning
Dr Diana Albarrán González
Dr Diana Albarrán González is a designer, educator, researcher, and craftivist, and currently serves as the deputy head of the Design programme at the University of Auckland. Her research explores collaborative practices through decolonial, intersectional, and pluriversal perspectives, with particular interest in collective wellbeing, craft–design–arts intersections, textiles, interculturality, migration, embodiment, and creative practice.
With more than 20 years of international experience, she brings a deep sense of cultural awareness and sensitivity to diverse contexts, applying a strong
diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) lens and culturally responsive approaches to design practice. She holds a PhD in Indigenous Development and Design, a masters degree in Design Management, and a bachelors degree in Industrial Design.
Research areas
- Co-design, participatory design, human-centred design, design thinking.
- Decolonising design-craft-art through Indigenous worldviews.
- Pluriversal design, Indigenous design, design from the South.
- Design, craft and art for activism and socio-ecological transformation.
- Social change and social innovation with/by/for community development and wellbeing.
- Design for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and interculturality
- Embodied ways of sense-making in design-art-craft.
- Design research and creative research methods.
- Industrial design and textile design.
- Design for ageing
Dr Gabriela Baron
Gabriela Nuri Baron is an educator, researcher, and strategic consultant specialising in participatory methodologies for sustainability, conservation, and social innovation. With over 18 years of experience, she has developed a reputation as a passionate, versatile, and strategic problem-solver. She currently serves as a senior lecturer and researcher at the University of Auckland.
Her career has spanned multiple creative fields, always centred on the intersection of people and the environment. Having worked and studied across various countries and continents, she values learning through experience and finds inspiration in cultural and ecological diversity. She strongly believes in co-creation and collaboration as essential drivers of resilient innovation, and partners with Indigenous and local communities in her work, adopting a decolonial approach.
Gabriela holds a degree in Industrial Design from Argentina, a specialised masters from Politécnico di Milano, and a PhD in Environmental Engineering. Beyond academia, she is a dedicated mother of two and a certified Dive Master, deeply connected to the ocean and the natural world.
Research areas
- Conservation and biodiversity
- Sustainability accounting and reporting
- Service design
- Design practice and methods
- Transport planning
Dr Juhri Selamet
Dr Juhri Selamet is a design researcher, scholar, and educator whose research sits at the intersection of design, health, and communities. His work explores how design can engage local communities as active contributors to health and wellbeing, with particular interests in Indigenous and local knowledge, participatory and human-centred design, and culturally grounded approaches to design research.
His research draws on co-design, storytelling, and design ethnography to understand lived experiences and develop inclusive, context-sensitive approaches to complex health and societal challenges.
Research areas
- Design for health and wellbeing
- Social design and service design
- Participatory and human-centred design
- Indigenous and local knowledge
- Design ethnography and co-design
- Visual communication and health communication
- Community-centred design and social innovation
Dr Mairi Gunn
In addition to her academic research, writing and teaching, Dr Gunn is an award-winning documentary maker and cinematographer who has shot feature-length dramas, cinematic shorts, a slew of documentaries and music videos. Her practice-led research has broken through traditional aspect-ratio limitations to create ultra-widescreen (48:9) videos, 360 Cinematic VR and Extended Reality installations. She uses immersive experiences to build a commons grounded in the pre-modern concept of productive, non-hierarchical relationships within a shared space. Her intention is always to support and enable intercultural relationships with a view to making space for community economies.
Research areas
- Design
- Multicultural, intercultural and cross-cultural studies
- Global Indigenous studies of peoples, society and community
- Virtual and mixed reality
- Design practice and methods
- Photography, video and lens-based practice
Dr Ziyu Zhou
Dr Ziyu Zhou Brueck is an industrial designer, researcher, and educator working at the intersection of material innovation, sustainability, and design education.
Her work focuses on material-driven design methods and how interdisciplinary engagement with materials can generate new knowledge, shape material cultures, and foster sustainable design practices.
Research areas
- Material-driven design
- Materials experience
- Material selection
- Tinkering
- DIY materials
- Informed materials
- Form-giving/form generation
- Material education in design
- Materials for sustainability
- Speculative materials