Prof. Mario Minichiello

Work Phone	(02) 4921 5428
Email	Mario.Minichiello@newcastle.edu.au
Position	Professor School of Design Communication and IT The University of Newcastle, Australia
Office	D209, Design Building

Biography

I went to art school to explore an irrepressible instinct to explain the world visually.

I studied graphic design because I wanted to help change that world for the better. Design and visual communication provides solutions to problems, promotes clarity of thinking and encourages creative ideas. In this way we are developing the human capacity to meet the challenges of our future. The chance to influence how people in any society think and behave, even for a brief moment, is a positive intervention in a world that is increasingly concerned with mindless celebrity, consumerism and self-interest. We have to strive to make life better and not merely make ourselves financially richer.

My current role at the University of Newcastle is to lead my highly professional team of design staff to deliver world class research and the best student experience in order to prepare our graduates for their chosen careers.

Qualifications

PhD, Loughborough University - UK, 2012
Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Leicester Polytechnic - England, 1986

Research

Research keywords

Critical thinking
Design thinking
Practice based action research and phenomenology

Research expertise

As a Professor at the University of Newcastle it is my personal responsibility to be an engaging and eloquent advocate for the core values of my discipline at both national and international forums. I am particularly focused on the role of design research and development in relation to climate change, economic betterment and human behaviour. I am also committed to developing a better understanding of the role of drawing as both a language for art and design practice, and as a means of thinking and researching social and personal issues. Examples of the application of this kind of thinking can be seen in the project with Birmingham Children’s Hospital conducted with Professor D Kelly and her team and in the recent Ikon Lunar debates. The purpose of my work is to remediate experience and ideas allowing the viewer to think beyond their normal confines. The activities within visual communication as a discipline have to have social agency as well as economic impact.

While my research activities have developed from my practice as an artist and designer. I believe that design as a means of thinking can be universally applied and that it traverses all disciplines within a University – that at its core it captures the interdisciplinary ethos of my school and attracts many international partners and friends.

Therefore my work in this field is intended to be an authoritative source of reference, instruction and critical thinking, while remaining politically provocative and intellectually disruptive.

This approach has allowed me to make a significant contribution to the discipline of art and design. Which has been achieved through practice based research resulting in academic papers, international conferences, as well as exhibitions, publications and media broadcasts.

Collaboration

- 2010 work accepted into ‘Vortex’: Archive and virtual gallery to further the dialogue on the iconography of war and peace.

- Drawings and adviser role for television series by Hurricane films, war over the generations.

- Contracts with: BBC, Guardian and Financial Times (1986-99)

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
120307	Visual Communication Design (Incl. Graphic Design)	100

Memberships

Committee/Associations (relevant to research).

Common Ground International Arts and Design Conferences Executive
Lunar Society Executive Committee

Editorial Board.

Editor - Common Ground Publishing
Editor - Arts in Society

National & International Standards Committees.

Member - The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (UK)

Appointments

Research Fellow
University of Sydney (Australia)

01/07/2007 - 01/07/2010

Invitations

Thinking Through Drawing: In STEAM London College of the Arts , United Kingdom (Invited Presenter)	2012
Drawing as Visual Communication 6th UNIDCOM/IADE International Conference, Portugal (Invited Presenter)	2011
Shadow Play: Alchemy, Redolence and Enchantment University of Wales, United Kingdom (Invited Presenter)	2010
Employability conference Birmingham City University and Regional Universities Group , United Kingdom (Invited Presenter)	2010
The Future World The Lunar Society , United Kingdom (Invited Presenter)	2010
Making Design That Sells The Second International Conference on Design Principles and Practices, United States (Key Speaker)	2008
Master of the Universe Royal College of Art, United Kingdom (Invited Presenter)	2008
'War and Conflict' The Annual Debate Northampton University, United Kingdom (Invited Presenter)	2008
Informed consent and the role of visual materials Birmingham Children’s hospital, United Kingdom (Invited Presenter)	1998

Administrative

Administrative expertise

Head of School (Birmingham City Uni UK)
Academic Director (Loughborough University UK)
Member of University Governing body (Academic Director University School of Art & Design Loughborough University )
Research review board (Common Ground Publishing)
Quality assurance in HE learning and teaching (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education UK)

The University of Newcastle, Australia