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Prof Suzette Worden

Image of Staff Member
    • Role:
    • Sessional Academic
    • Department:
    • School of Design & Art
    • Location:
    • Telephone:
    • +61 8 9266

Suzette Worden was appointed Professor of Design in 2002. She currently supervises Phd and coursework postgraduate students. She also contributes lectures to undergraduate units. She has previously taught courses on design history, craft history, digital arts and research methods at Brighton University and the University of West of England, Bristol (UWE), UK as well as at Curtin University of Technology.

She is developing collaborative research projects related to Western Australian resources. The 'Wool and Comfort' project is in collaboration with researchers at the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia (DAFWA). The 'Virtual Pit' is an exploration of the use of digital technologies for cultural heritage projects and seeks to make links between Australian Outback and Cornish heritage sites by tracing and documenting evidence of migration and cultural change.

Suzette Worden became involved in digital media projects through involvement in collaborative projects on the use of computers for art and design education. She was Director of CTIAD (Computers in Teaching Initiative - Art and Design) at the University of Brighton from its beginning in early 1996 until March 1998. Before joining Curtin University of Technology in 2002 she was Reader in Digital Media and Director of Research in the Faculty of Art, Media and Design, University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE). Research projects at UWE included research for the National Creative Technologies Initiative (NCTI) completed in June 2001 and an AHRB (Arts and Humanities Research Board) funded project, 'Digital Arts Curation: Aesthetics, Participation and Diversity'. She has also published various articles and contributed to books on women and design, furniture, and product design.

Suzette was a Board member of FORM, Contemporary Craft and Design Inc, WA. from 2006 to 2007 and was on of the convenors for the CADE -Computers in Art and Design Education International Conference, held in Perth WA as part of the Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth (BEAP), 12-14 September 2007.

Research Interests

Suzette Worden's current research considers the Materiality of Design. This brings together a group of research projects examining the historical significance of materials for design and the social implications of technology where the innovative use of traditional materials is combined with the use of new technologies.

The materials currently being researched have a distinct economic and social relevance to Western Australia. These include wool, timber and aluminium. Once a methodology for this first phase of the project is established, the research will be expanded to include other WA materials such gold, pearls, diamonds and other mining and mineral products. This research investigates the creative possibilities of design investment in traditional materials and also seeks to define the economic and social significance of the consumption of the resultant products and artefacts.

Research Projects

Completed Research Projects
1992-1993 PCFC Funded Research Project. 'Quality Educational Software in Art and Design History' Rediffusion Simulation Research Centre, University of Brighton. (0.75)

1993-1996 'Quality Educational Software in Art and Design History' Rediffusion Simulation Research Centre and Centre for Computers and Creative Work, University of Brighton. (0.5)

1998-2001 National Creative Technologies Initiative, UWE. (Included managing rapid prototyping projects in creative media, in particular, animation, electronic publishing, software for project management, research methodologies. Technology Foresight Challenge Award £500,000 via ESRC)

1999-2001 AHRB 'Digital Arts Curation: Aesthetics, Participation and Diversity' (£74,000 Award holder for Research Fellow for two year project)

1998-2000 Organisation of a series of conferences on Research in Art and Design. October 1998, February 1999 and November 2000. Launch of online journal, Exchange Online, December 2000. http://www.media.uwe.ac.uk/exchange_online

1998-2001 Partner in European Socrates funded Curriculum Development Programme project, 'Doctoral Education in Design' led by UIAH, Helsinki.

Memberships

The Decorative Arts Society (DAS), The Design History Society (DHS), Computers and the History of Art (CHART), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), CADE (Computers in Art and Design Education), Design Research Society (DRS).

Publications

Book Chapters (Authored, Research Quality)

  • Harrison, D, and Worden, S. 2005. Digital Arts On (the) Line. In Digital Art History, 1st Edition, eds Anna Bentkowska-Kafel, Trish Cashen, Hazel Gardiner, 65-75. United Kingdom: Intellect.

Refereed Articles (Scholarly Journals)

  • Worden, S. 2009. Aluminium and Contemporary Australian Design: Materials History, Cultural and National Identity. Journal of Design History 22(2): 151-171.

Fully written papers (Refereed Conference proceedings)

  • Worden, S, and Jeon, E. 2009. Aesthetic Experience and Comfort: The relationship between semantic form and body movement for the design of wool clothing. International Association of Societies of Design Research 2009, 18/10/2009. COEX, Seoul, Korea: Korean Society of Design Science.
  • Worden, S. 2009. Art-Science connections for the visualisation of minerals: historical precedents for media arts. Media Art History 09. Re:live: Third International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology, 26/11/2009. Victorian College of the Arts and Music & University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: The University of Melbourne and Victorian College of the Arts and Music.
  • Worden, S, and Squelch, A. 2008. Arts and science collaborations for mineralogy and cultural heritage: the social aspects of mineralogical visualisation and representation as knowledge creation connecting physical and virtual worlds. ISEA 2008, 25/07/2008. Singapore: ISEA2008 Pte Ltd.
  • Worden, S. 2008. Materials, Trade and Empire: Australian Wool Research, Marketing and Promotion in the Twentieth Century. The 6th International Conference of Design History and Design Studies, 24/10/2008. Osaka, Japan: Osaka University.
  • Worden, S. 2007. 'Visiting the Past as a way to the Future: Virtual Environments for Social Memory Construction'. Perth DAC 2007, 15/09/2007. Perth, WA: Curtin University, Perth.
  • Groombridge, B, and Worden, S. 2006. Complexity and Choice: Reassessing Support for Women in Leadership Programs. 2006 Australian Technology Network - Change in Climate? Prospects for gender equity in universities, 11/04/2006. Stamford Plaza, Adelaide: ATN WEXDEV.
  • Worden, S, and Fryer-Smith, S. 2006. Vision 2020 - Understanding Generational Change and its Implications for Women in the Academic Workforce. 2006 Australian Technology Network - Change in Climate? Prospects for gender equity in universities, 11/04/2006. Stamford Plaza, Adelaide: ATN WEXDEV.
  • Worden, S. 2005. Innovation for Added Value: Experimentation With Aluminium in the Fine Arts and Design. Futureground, 17/11/2005. Victoria: Faculty of Art and Design, Monash University.
  • Worden, S. 2003. Being There and Not Being There: Historiography and the Digital Arts. 4th International CAiiA-STAR Research Conference, Consciousness Reframed 2002, 01/08/2002. Western Australia: John Curtin Gallery.
  • Worden, S. 2003. Emerging Research Cultures in Design Education: the pure and the Applied. 6th Asian Design International Conference in Tsukuba Japan, 14/10/2003. Japan: Institute of Art and Design, University ofnTsukuba.
  • Worden, S. 2003. Sight or Insight: accounting for the visual in design research. 3rd Doctoral Education in Design in Tsukuba, 01/10/2003. Japan: Institure of Art and Design, University of Tsukuba.
  • Groombridge, B, and Worden, S. 2003. Values, vision, strategies and goals: Is coaching a viable pathway?. ATN WEXDEV 2003 Conference: Re-searching Research Agendas: Women, Research and Publication in Higher Education, 01/06/2003. Western Australia: Learning Support Network.

Minor Creative Works

  • Worden, S. 2005. The Appeal of Aluminium: popularity, Versatility and refinement. Western Australia: FORM Contemporary Craft and Design inc..