Dr Doreen Donovan is a communication designer, researcher and design educator based in South Australia, currently the Program Director of the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours) program at UniSA Creative. Her background as creative industry professional spans twenty-eight years, demonstrating international recognition through selection of her work in premier international juried design exhibitions such as the International Biennale of Graphic Design; Drawn: Singaplural at Singapore Design Week; and the To Death with a Smile exhibition at the Mexican Museum of Design—one of only three Australian entries selected from 30,000 submissions.
Her career as design practitioner is augmented by eighteen years as communication design academic and researcher, merging design, education and sustainability with the completion of a practice-based PhD. Her research outcomes include the publication of academic articles as well as non-traditional research outputs/creative artefacts. Currently an Early Career Researcher at the University of South Australia, Donovan's research focuses on addressing real-world problems particularly in collaboration with young people and marginalized communities. She is passionate about creative research and practice, particularly in the context of environmental and social sustainability. Her practice-based PhD research was recently shortlisted for the 2019 AIAP Women in Design Award (AWDA) and exhibited in Florence, Italy. This prestigious award is endorsed by the International Council of Design—the leading international industry body for Communication Design.
In her capacity as tertiary educator she has developed extensive experience in the management and curating of complex projects with multiple stakeholders in a range of contexts. Her teaching, co-ordination an supervision expertise extends to a diverse range of courses across a number of undergraduate and post-graduate programs in the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours), Bachelor of Design (Communication Design), Bachelor of Design (Illustration & Animation), Graduate Diploma/Master of Design (Communication Design), Graduate Diploma/Master of Creative Practice and in the Match Studio Consultancy.