Prof Thea Blackler

Professor Thea Blackler (PhD) is Discipline Leader for Industrial Design, Interaction Design, Visual Communication and Fashion Design within the School of Design at QUT.

Her principle area of research interest is intuitive interaction, in which she is one of the world leaders. She pioneered the first empirical work in the field, has led an ARC Discovery project on Facilitating Intuitive Interaction for Older People, and has edited a journal issue and a book on intuitive interaction. She is also working in the area of older people and technology and design for dementia (including an international EU Horizon 2020 grant project).

She was formally Head of Discipline for Industrial Design at QUT and Associate Director of QUT Design Lab.

Professor Blackler has attracted and worked with external partners in government, community and industry on various projects and has had three Australian Research Council grants. She is a very experienced HDR supervisor, with 7 current PhD students and 14 HDR completions (13 PhDs). She has published more than 80 peer reviewed papers, been invited to give presentations internationally and is the recipient of several awards, including a 2018 ig-nobel.