Design Next consists of four faculties: Art and Design, the Business School, Built Environment, and Engineering. That’s more than 30,000 students.
Art & Design is globally recognised for transdisciplinary research in science and technology. It leads Australia's focus on media innovation and emerging technologies, and it’s rated the top creative faculty in the country.
Built Environment is ranked No. 1 for Built Environment and Design in Australia. It is in the top 20 globally for Architecture and Built Environment. It has strong interdisciplinary learning programs and it produces award-winning Industrial Design graduates.
The Business School is Australia's leading Business School. Its MBA program ranks in Asia's Top 5, and it produces more tech entrepreneurs and CEOs in national top 50 companies than any other Australian university.
Engineering is the No.1 engineering faculty in Australia. It’s among world leaders in solar energy, quantum computing and robotics. It has the first biomedical engineering school in Australia, and its world firsts include ResMed and the Bionic Eye.
If you’ve been browsing this site for more than a couple of minutes, you will have probably noticed that UNSW is a sizeable design university. Its design competencies extend from fields like ceramics and graphics all the way to aerospace and mining.
Research Community in UNSW
UNSW’s design research competencies are similarly extensive. Design-related research in the Faculty of Engineering is too wide to be described, but other Design Next faculties are easier:
Art & Design
The Faculty of Art & Design focuses mostly on art, but its research facilities in interactive cinema, expanded perception and 3D visualisation are strong and routinely exhibited in festivals, shows and museums as well as in research papers. In addition, the Creative Robotics Lab focuses on experimental interfaces in physical spaces. The faculty is also strong in textiles and ceramics, among other areas, and there are several researchers working on speculative design (please google this term). The faculty is also developing competencies in expanded design.
For more information, go to https://artdesign.unsw.edu.au/research. Associate dean Prof. Dennis del Favero, is internationally famous for his work in interactive cinema and virtual reality.
Built Environment
The flagship of research in the Faculty of Built Environment is the City Futures Research Centre, which hosts several internationally well-known and respected scholars. It also participates with the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living. The faculty has almost 200 researchers and higher degree students. It clusters its research into four main areas:
- City planning, spatial analysis and urban design
- Architecture and landscape architecture
- Construction management and building
- Interior design and industrial design
For more information, go to https://www.be.unsw.edu.au/research/about-research. Associate dean for research is Prof. Michael Ostwald, an architect and a respected researcher known for his work on mathematics in architecture.
UNSW Business School
UNSW Business School doesn’t focus in particular on design or design thinking in its research. Having said this, several researchers in information systems study design thinking in the Business School. This research uses tools such as Lego’s serious play, and focuses on topics such as improving business processes and models, but also on areas where the faculty is strong, including services, big data and digital enablement.
For more information, visit Business School - Research Strengths and School of Information Systems Technology Research Page
