For Admission
DESIS Lab Melbourne
City: Melbourne
Country: Australia
Coordinator: Dr Yoko Akama, yoko.akama@rmit.edu.au
Operational manager: Dr Juan Sanin, juan.sanin@rmit.edu.au
Lab’s address/phone/website: GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia, + 61 (0)3 9925 2805, www.desis-lab.org
Hosting institution: RMIT University, GPO Box 2476. Melbourne VIC 3001. Australia, +61 3 (0)9925 2000, www.rmit.edu.au
Background and objectives
DESIS-Lab Melbourne creates liminal, non-institutionalised spaces to connect, relate, critique and play in the aim of fostering companionable, peer-to-peer learning opportunities. We care more about going fishing or sharing a meal than strategizing problem-solving. In valuing inclusivity and plurality, we seek to meet complexity and contradiction head on, recognising that initiating and sustaining change is rarely easy or pleasurable. We aim to contribute to design’s transition from valuing commodification and progress to respecting inter-relatedness and reciprocity, exploring together how to build capacity and resilience in people and communities. We seek to keep alive questions of care and responsibility by engaging with the dynamic, but often toxic processes of change consuming our world the level of the local and place-based to the scale of cities, regions, nations and continents.
DESIS-Lab Melbourne was established in 2012, and the structure is goverened by a 15 strong volunteer committee of various practitioners listed below. It has over 400 members and is supported by major design academic institutions in Melbourne including RMIT University, Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria University, Melbourne University, Monash University. Partnerships with organisations range from civic sectors like the City of Melbourne, Green Living Centre, Oxfam Australia and Victorian Eco Innovation Lab (VEIL); and social enterprises like Co-Design Studio, Design Managers Australia, Open Government Melbourne, Shareable, Doing Something Good and The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI). It is also affiliated with several prominent networks, such as Service Design Melbourne, Design and Social Innovation in Asia-Pacific (DESIAP), and the Centre for Social Impact.
Primary research areas and activities
We support several activities, including public events, educational studios, community projects and research initiatives. The project outlines are shared through an on-line platform (www.desis-lab.org).
List of projects and research:
Please go to http://desis-lab.org/projects/
People (participants’ names list)
Yoko Akama (RMIT University)
Carolyn Barnes (Swinburne University of Technology)
Kate Bissett Johnson (Swinburne University of Technology)
Emma Blomkamp (Policy Lab, University of Melbourne)
Ryley Lawson (Future Sensitive)
Simon Lockery (RMIT University)
Tania Ivanka (RMIT University)
Kirsty Moegerlein (The Weekly Service)
Rowan Page (Monash University)
Mark Richardson (Monash University)
Juan Sanin (RMIT University)
Darren Sharp (Social Surplus)
Helaine Stanley (226 Strategic)