DIVERSE ROLE MODELS & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Celebrating positive role models who are relatable to young people is a great way to engage a more diverse cohort of students to participate in Design & Technologies - whether that is women, people with a disability, Indigenous creatives, ethical operators or those from the LGBTQI+ community. It's also a great opportunity to learn more about the professional practice of professionals. And DATTA Vic has worked with some of these incredible creatives in the fields of design and engineering!
We have created a wide range of resources which feature the work of some amazing designers and engineers working in Victoria and beyond. We've also collected some other great stories from around the world that will inspire your classes. Some are open to all, and some are for members only. Members, simply login to our website and you can access all of these. Here is a selection below:
DATTA VIC RESOURCES |
| Fantastic Fungi - the Sustainable Solution to Plastic Waste Watch a presentation by Amanda Morgan, founder of the multi-award winning Fungi Solutions. Amanda shares how they use mycelium to divert resources from landfill to sequester carbon, create new materials and generate economic opportunities. |
 | Careers in Design & Engineering Toolkits These resources, produced in partnership with RMIT and Monash University, feature the work of some amazing young women carrying out further study and careers in these fields. From sustainable design to space rovers, your students can't fail to be inspired by their examples! |
| Engaging Girls in Industrial Design & Engineering Jump to the 2nd half of this video to watch Dr. Caroline Francis from RMIT discuss her experience in engaging a more diverse group of young people in the design & engineering sectors. WATCH HERE |
| Wearable Technologies Watch Dr. Emma Luke from RMIT discuss her practice as a designer of wearable technologies. She engages with data, materiality, aesthetics, and personalisation to inform the development of holistic wearable technology and enduring post digital personal objects. |
| Piinpi Contemporary Indigenous Fashion Watch this recording of a presentation by Bendigo Art Gallery which shares the work of some amazing female First Nations designers who are making their mark on the world of fashion, including Lyn-Al Young, Grace Lillian-Lee, Babbarra Women’s Centre, Maree Clarke, Lisa Waup x Verner, and many more. WATCH HERE |
| Design, Health & Emerging Technologies - From Disability to Desirability Discover the award-winning work of Dr Leah Heiss, a Melbourne-based designer working at the nexus of design, health, and technology. Her practice traverses product and service and her process is deeply collaborative, working with experts from nanotechnology, engineering and health services through to manufacturing. WATCH HERE |
OTHER RESOURCES |
| Nicole Monks Nicole Monks is an award-winning multi-disciplinary creative of Yamaji Wajarri, Dutch and English heritage living and working on Worimi and Awabakal Country. Monks’s design practice is informed by her cross-cultural identity, using storytelling as a way to connect the past with the present and future. Her Marlu (Kangaroo) furniture range demonstrates how she takes culturally significant stories and weaves them into her contemporary works. Her practice is a powerful example of how a designer's culture influences the products they create. |
| Women in STEM by STELR The STELR team has produced a series of 19 video profiles featuring female role models and entrepreneurs from STEM fields. |
| Insights on Disability Help Designers Design for All Emily Siira is a Product Designer from Milwaukee and a person with disabilities. She gave an interview with Design Wanted in 2022 about her experience. According to Emily, " Because of my personal background as a person with disabilities, universal design and accessibility are always front-of-mind when designing”. |
| The Design Files Talks with Jefa Greenaway Jefa Greenaway is a Wailwan / Kamilaroi man, and the first architect of an indigenous background to be registered in Victoria. He runs his own practice, Greenaway Architects, he’s the co-founder of Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV), and he’s also an academic and a lecturer at the University of Melbourne. He appeared on the Design Files Talks podcast where he talked about the power of embedding Traditional Knowledge in design. |
| Stories of Indigenous Engineering Project with EWB Dennis Jose is a Civil Engineer and a Wanyurr man from the Yidinyji Nation in far north Queensland. He founded Jabin Project Management to create pathways for Indigenous engineers. He was interviewed by Engineers Without Borders for their Stories of Indigenous Engineering project. |
| Gender Inclusive Product Design Moran Yoseff is a UX and Product Designer, who discusses how important it is for designers to be gender inclusive in a world where over one third of Gen Z believe than gender does not define a person. |
 | Ethical Clothing Australia Q&A with Shannon Ley from Hellweg Ethical Clothing Australia has a great range of resources on their website, including interviews with sustainable Australian manufacturers. This one features Shannon Ley from Bayswater-based Hellweg, which is a manufacturer of load bearing vests, body armour, nylon and leather belts, pouches and holsters. Shannon talks about the benefits and challenges of ethical manufacturing. |
| Ethical Clothing Australia Q&A with Kirsty Barber of Kawaii Kirsty Barber is the designer and director of Melbourne-based ethical fashion brand Kuwaii, which has been operating since 2008. In this Q&A, she discusses how she became a designer, a typical work day for her at Kuwaii and the benefits and challenges of operating an ethical business in the fashion world. As Kirsty says, "Since our first-ever Kuwaii piece...our vision has been to offer an alternative to throwaway fashion." |
| How One Man Made Google Home More Accessible for Anyone Google engineer, Lorenzo Caggioni, was inspired by his brother Giovanni, who lives with Down syndrome and a visual impairment, to make Google Home better for people who don't speak. He created a device that would trigger commands to the Google Assistant without using his voice. It involves a button that plugs into a phone, laptop or tablet using a wired headphone jack that can then be connected via Bluetooth to access a Google Home device. |
| Invisible Women Podcast This is not a resource about a single positive role model, but rather a reminder of how important it is for designers and engineers to be fully inclusive in their practices and consider the specific needs of end users - in this case women - when they create products and services. From crash test dummies to Swedish snow-clearing policies, there are some fantastic examples from author Caroline Criado Perez of what happens when things are created for the needs of only 50% of the population! |
| Design Icons - Disruptive Designs Everything around us has been engineered, from the smartphone in your pocket to the pen in your hand. But some designs truly challenge the norm and change the way we live. The James Dyson Foundation has shared the stories of some disruptive designs and designers inspire us to keep thinking differently. |
| Beulah Louise Henry - Lady Edison Beulah Louise Henry was an American self-educated inventor and entrepreneur born in the 1800’s. She was so prolific, she became known as 'Lady Edison'. Among her creations were designs for a vacuum-sealed ice cream freezer, a typewriter that produced copies, a bobbinless sewing machine, a kiddie clock to help children learn to tell the time and an umbrella with interchangeable covers to match your outfit! |
USEFUL LINKS | PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
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