Professor Evonne Miller

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Co-Director, HEAL

PhD (University of Otago), Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) (University of Otago), Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing Management) (University of Otago)

Evonne Miller is Professor of Design Psychology and Director of the QUT Design Lab in the School of Design, Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice.

Evonne is also co-Director of HEAL – the Healthcare Excellence Accelerator Lab. HEAL is a collaboration between the QUT Design Lab and the Healthcare Improvement Unit at Clinical Excellence Queensland, and acts as a bridge between the QUT design and innovation community and Queensland Health, accelerating healthcare improvement efforts across the state (https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab/projects/qut-design-lab-and-heal-health-excellence-accelerator-lab/).

Her research focuses on how to design environments – built, technical, socio-cultural and natural – that better engage and support all users, especially older people in residential aged care. Evonne has over 100 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of urban design, population ageing, health and wellbeing, climate change and sustainability,  disaster and resilience. Evonne is the author of several books:   “Creating Great Places: Evidence-based urban design for health and wellbeing (Routledge, 2020, with A/Prof Deb Cushing) which outlines how designers can create great places that are inclusive, sustainable, and salutogenic (health-promoting), “Creative Arts-Based Research in Aged Care: Photovoice, Photography and Poetry in Action” (Routledge, 2021), exploring entering, living and dying in aged care, and edited How to be a Design Academic: From Learning to Leading (CRC Press, 2021, with Prof Thea Blackler). 

Evonne is also a passionate advocate for design and creative arts-based participatory research methods. She has been awarded over $3.7 Million in competitive research grant funding, including a current $1.15M National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grant (2020-2025) exploring how to develop an intergenerational model of  senior living/aged care on high school campuses and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (2021-2023) using creative-arts methods (poetic inquiry, participatory photography, citizen storytelling, interactive art) to amplify the voices of aged care residents and engage policy makers, providers, and the public in a reflexive, inclusive conversation about the past, present and future of aged care.

She led an Australian Research Council funded semi-longitudinal qualitative research project, which used participatory visual and creative arts ( photovoice, research poetry, art/drawing) to understand, improve and communicate the experience of aged care (2012-2017). This “Inside Aged Care” Project culminated in 2017 with an exhibition at the State Library of Queensland, and all images available for public use: https://insideagedcareproject.wordpress.com;Evonne also led a collaboration to co-design an app to support informal caregivers (https://ourcarejourney.wordpress.com/),

Evonne  is a Fellow of the Australian Association of Gerontology, and a founding member of Places for Ageing Australia, a community of designers, educators and age care providers promoting research, innovation and best practice in the design of healthy places for ageing. She is also a member of two other QUT Research Centres: Centre for the Environment and Waste-Free World, reflecting her interest in sustainability.

Additional information

Experience

Evonne’s expertise is in collaborative, interdisciplinary and industry-relevant research, and she  has strong collaborations and research partnerships with a range of community organisations,  industries and government departments.

She is currently the  co-Director of HEAL – the Healthcare Excellence Accelerator Lab. HEAL is a collaboration between the QUT Design Lab and the Healthcare Improvement Unit at Clinical Excellence Queensland, and acts as a bridge between the QUT design and innovation community and Queensland Health, accelerating healthcare improvement efforts across the state (https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab/projects/qut-design-lab-and-heal-health-excellence-accelerator-lab/). Within the broad fields of design, social gerontology and social sustainability, Evonne has been a Chief Investigator on one ARC Discovery, three ARC Linkage project grants and a NHMRC Ideas grant, as well as industry-funded projects including:

  • An Inter-Generational Learning and Living Campus: A New Model for Healthy Senior Living and Integrated School Communities Across Urban and Regional Australia – this $1.15M National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grant (2020-2025) is exploring how to develop an inter-generational models of senior living / aged care on high school campuses (https://grandschoolsproject.wordpress.com);
  • Amplifying voices from the Royal Commission into Aged Care (2021-2023) – ARC Discovery Grant (2021-2023). The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is a singular opportunity to reform Australian aged care and redress the marginalisation of aged care residents—a vulnerable demographic whose voices too often go unheard. Combining media analysis with poetic inquiry, participatory photography, citizen storytelling, and interactive art, this project amplifies the voices of residents and engages policy makers, providers, and the public in a reflexive, inclusive conversation about the past, present and future of aged care
  • Facilitating active ageing in residential aged care: strategies, opportunities and future directions (longitudinal qualitative research project utilising creative arts-based methodologies to better understand a how quality of life can be maximised for older Australians living in aged care, see: https://insideagedcareproject.wordpress.com);
  • Growing Sustainable Regions: Developing a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework (utilising interactive GIS technologies to visualise the economic, environmental and social issues facing rural Australia and foster evidence-based decision-making);
  •  Community Liveability: Impact on Social Connectedness and Active Ageing (utilises portable GPS trackers to track and better understand how the built environment facilitates – or hinders – older people’s daily lives in urban and rural Queensland).

Awards

Type
Appointment to Prestigious Positions
Reference year
2012
Details
In 2012, Evonne was made a Fellow of the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG), for contributions to Gerontology (the study of ageing). Evonne has served as AAG National Hon. Secretary (06-09) and AAG Queensland president (08-11), and was co-chair of the 2012 AAG annual conference "Challenging the Boundaries" in Brisbane where ~500 attendees shared and debated best innovative practice, research and policy in ageing.

Publications

Research Projects

Title
An Inter-Generational Learning and Living Campus: A New Model for Healthy Senior Living and Integrated School Communities Across Urban and Regional Australia
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
APP1187656
Start year
2020
Keywords
Aged Care;Aged Health;Services Research;Health Care Delivery;Health Care Worker Education
Title
Facilitating Active Ageing in Residential Aged Care: Strategies, Opportunities and Future Directions
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
LP130100036
Start year
2013
Keywords
Acitve Ageing;Population Ageing;Residential Aged Care
Title
The Neglected Dimension Of Community Liveability: Impact On Social Connectedness And Active Ageing
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
LP0883447
Start year
2009
Keywords
Community Liveability;Social Engagement;Community Well Being;Social Isolation;Population Ageing
Title
Growing Sustainable Regions: Developing a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
LP0776795
Start year
2008
Keywords
Sustainable Regions;Rural Sustainability;Regional Growth;Spatial Decision Support Systems;Economic Development;Decision Making

Current Supervisions

Completed Supervisions (Doctorate)

Completed Supervisions (Masters by Research)