Adjunct Professor Vesna Popovic

PhD (University of Sydney), MFA (Industrial Design) (University of Illinois), DipEngArch (University of Belgrade)

Background
Vesna Popovic, PhD is a Professor in Industrial design at the Queensland University of Technology and she is founder of the Industrial Design infrastructure in Brisbane, Queensland. She has worked as corporate and practicing industrial designer and ergonomics/ human factors consultant and was involved in international studies conducted by ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design), UNDRO (United Nation Disaster Relief Organisation) and The League of Red Cross Societies. She has a number of realised designs and some of them received significant awards. She is the recipient of various awards (31 awards). She is recipient of ARC Discovery and ARC Linkage grants and is an ARC Discovery Grant Reviewer.Vesna Popovic is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia and Fellow of the Design Research Society (UK). She was the Executive Board Member of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), Education Chair 1997 – 2001 and South Pacific – South East Asia ICSID Region Portfolio Leader (1997-2001). Since 2001 she has been an ICSID adviser. She has been an International corresponding Council Member of the Design Research Society since 2002. She is a Fulbright scholar.
Broad Area of Research: Design
Professor Vesna Popovic has been pioneering in implementing research as a vehicle for human-centred innovation as applied to complex devices. The research has been conducted within the Human-Centred Research and Useability Domain that has world class research laboratory. The domain is focusing on human interaction with complex devices, context of use, expertise and applied product research focusing on activity and experiences. Professor Popovic leads the domain.Research areas

• Human-centred research and interaction with complex devices
• Expertise and user research
• Applied product design research

Human-centred research and interaction with complex devicesI am interested in researching human activity and experiences people have during various levels of interaction. I have been challenged to research ‘activity based’ or ‘activity-centred’ interaction. Within this area, I would like to explore how knowledge and experiences are represented during an interaction and within activities.
Expertise and user researchThis research aims to provide artifacts designers with more knowledge about the human users of interactive artifacts that they design. It is focusing on researching novice and expert differences during interaction with complex devices. I have been challenged to research and model the transition from a novice to an expert, and what is the minimal knowledge required to achieve an intuitive interaction. I am interested in exploring how artifacts have been used and how the new uses, not yet designed, emerge and how this impacts on expertise and interaction. Applied product design researchThis applied research aims to situate artifact design within the social context in order to generate new knowledge and support innovation. The research is situated within the social structure that constitutes people, activity, context and culture where an artifact is positioned to be a mediator for the generation of new knowledge and its application. I am interested in how the knowledge generated from this concept can identify the new strategic direction for design of artifacts, systems and services. I am exploring concept potentials to supports the diversification of innovation within international market. Therefore, I have been investigating the relationships between design and knowledge: design as contributing factor for knowledge integration and knowledge as a resource to support and promote innovation.
Grants
Over $1,500.00 dollars in funding has been received to conduct research and commercial research projects.Selected List of Awarded/Pending Grants (External and Internal)Professor Vesna Popovic in collaboration with the research teams has been granted or applied for funds to conduct the following research projects:Facilitating intuitive interaction with complex devices for older users
Chief Investigators: Dr Alethea Blackler, Prof Vesna Popovic, Dr Douglas MaharFunding Sources: Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects (2008-2010)Older people have difficulties using complex electronic devices, and our research has shown that they use them less intuitively than younger people do. Older people are often not experiencing the benefits of new developments and technologies, and so can feel isolated from modern workplaces and society generally. This project aims to investigate, and build a clear picture of, the relationship between age and intuitive interaction with complex devices, particularly healthcare devices. This picture will inform the development of a tool to guide designers in making complex devices more intuitive for older people to use.Remote patient assessment using digital stethoscope for telehealth systems in AustraliaChief Investigators: A/Prof Raj Gururajan, Prof Vesna Popovic, Dr Donald KerrPartner Investigators: Ms Annette Scott, Mr Clint Moloney, Prof C Kesawan (India)Funding Sources: Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Projects (2008-2010)Contributing Partner: Telehealth, QueenslandHealth departments in Australia use a significant amount of their budget to assist patients travelling to major centres for assessment prior to surgery or for routine checks. This travel is expensive and disruptive to the patients involved. Digital Stethoscope and associated communications technology offers an alternative for a significant amount of this travel. This project will produce a user friendly, remote patient assessment tool for illness that requires a stethoscope for diagnosis or assessment. Benefits of the project will include incidental learning by remotely located health workers, less disruption to patients and more effective use of the medical professional’s time.Investigation of Compression Bandaging Methods and Nurses Interaction during this Process (pending)Chief Investigators: Prof Vesna Popovic, Assoc Prof Keryln Carville and Dr Ben KraalExternal Collaboration: Curtin University of Technology and Silver Chain, Perth, WAFunding Sources: NHMRC 2009-2011 (pending)This research investigates the way in which nurses interact with patients during the application of compression bandaging. Overall the research aims to gain a better understanding of the methods used in the clinical application of compression bandaging in order to develop improved bandaging techniques and inform clinical practice guidelines. The research investigates, for the first time, the way community nurses interact with patients during the application of compression bandaging in order to identify variations in techniques and nurses’ decision-making rationales. It also aims to identify specific design opportunities.This research has emerged from QUT Strategic Collaborative Seeding Grant across Science, Health and Engineering Faculties and IHBI (2005-2007)Facilitating Novice to Expert Transition in a Medical Emergency Care Context (pending)Chief Investigators: Prof Vesna Popovic, Dr Michael Lawley, Dr Paul Barnes, Prof KP Lee (KAIST) and Dr Ben KraalExternal Collaboration: KAIST, South KoreaFunding Sources: Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects (2009-2012) (pending)During emergencies, the possibilities for confusion are greatest when equipment with poorly designed interface is pressed into service. As a matter of principle, all such interfaces, whether simple or complex, should be designed for ease of understanding and operation and must support quick novice-to-expert transition in life and death situation. An innovative novice-to-expert transitional model developed from this study will allow the design of interfaces that support this faster transition. This will significantly improve communication and efficiency within a medical emergency care context, minimise the potentials of confusion and, subsequently, reduce casualties.
Awards and RecognitionsVesna Popovic has been recipient of significant awards and recognitions totalling 31 awards. Selected awards are listed only.

• 2007: Vice-Chancellor Performance award, QUT
• 2006: Fellowship of Design Research Society (DRS), UK
• 2005: BEE Best Postgraduate Supervisor Award
• 2003: Excellent Paper Award, 6th Asian Design Conference, Tsukuba, Japan
• 2002: Nomination for the Best Entrepreneurial Educator 2002, Nominator: Design Institute of Australia (DIA)
• 2000: Nomination for Design Festival Osaka Prize for the international contribution to Industrial Design Education, Japan
• 1999: Nomination for Best Postgraduate Supervisor of the Year, QUT
• 1995: 1995 Honorary Member of CIDA, (Industrial Designers Association of Taiwan) for contribution to the progress of the design profession
• 1990: QUT Award for Distinguished Academic Service
• 1989: Fellowship of Design Institute of Australia (FDIA)

Selected Design Awards

• Finalist (two designs), Design Festival, Osaka, Japan.
• Finalist, Mainichi International Design Competition, Japan.
• Diploma “Good Design”, Design Centre, Belgrade.
• International jury selection of the project Rescue Kit for Crushed Limbs, International study: Design for Rescue & Relief, ICSID, Brussels, Belgium
• BI0 8 Good Idea Award, 8th Biennial of Yugoslav Industrial Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Honourable Mention, Award of the international jury for the design of the “Kitchen 2000”, AS Design Contest, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Career History
2005 – Present: Professor in Industrial Design, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology
1990 – 2005: Associate Professor in Industrial Design, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology

Additional information