Veronika Kelly

APrf Veronika Kelly

Dean, School of Visual Arts and Design

School of Art and Design

College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Available For Media Comment.

Veronika Kelly is inaugural Dean, School of Art and Design, Adelaide University and Associate Professor in Design, researching in the areas of design culture, rhetoric and ethics, critical design and design education. A particular interest is the ways in which design practice discourse shapes and is shaped by design culture, and how this in turn can transform what design as a professional practice is or could be. Veronika’s work in design is published internationally and she is the recipient of national and international awards in design education. Her current research for Routledge explores the experiences, perspectives, and career trajectories of women living and working as communication designers in diverse regions worldwide, with a focus on what design looks like in practice today.
Veronika is committed to higher education's contribution to the social construction of individuals and learning as transformative, and has extensive experience in academic leadership, design education and practice, including as Dean: Academic across Education, Arts and Social Sciences and Dean of Programs (Creative). Veronika is Chair, The Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools (ACUADS), member of the Creative People, Products and Places (CP3) Research Centre, the international Design Research Society (DRS), and Advisory Board Member of the international journal Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education.

Kelly, V. (2023). Embracing a Pedagogy of Ambiguity in Higher Education. In: Lehtonen, M.J., Kauppinen, T., Sivula, L. (eds) Design Education Across Disciplines: Transformative Learning Experiences for the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23152-0_5.

Abstract: The capability to thrive in uncertain and complex work situations that are beyond known routines and limits is key to the future of work (World Economic Forum, 2020). At the same time, higher education institutions are increasingly challenged by complexity, change, and ambiguity. Working with ambiguity is a familiar concept in design practice and education, particularly in studio-based learning, and it has further significance for higher education more broadly as a constructive force that supports learning. The chapter conceives of ambiguity as culturally and socially constructed in its context of use, and offers a series of provocations for a pedagogy of ambiguity to support the transformation of teaching and learning in higher education today.

Research interests include: Design and culture, rhetoric and ethics; design education; design for health and wellbeing; information visualisation.

Year Citation
2017 Thiessen, M., & Kelly, V. (2017). What students say about their work and what it says about their work: toward the development of rhetorical practice in the educational design studio. The design journal, 20(S1), 1511-1520.
DOI
2016 Kelly, V. (2016). Culture, practice, discourse: a theoretical framework for a critical approach to communication design. Studies in material thinking, 15(4), 1-17.
2015 Kelly, V. (2015). Synchronous agents: modeling communication design as rhetorical and resonant interaction. Studies in material thinking, 13(paper 5), 1-15.
2014 Kelly, V. (2014). Metaphors of resonance for visual communication design. Visual communication, 13(2), 211-230.
DOI
2010 Kelly, V. (2010). Triggers and tactics: resonance in visual design. Design principles and practices: an international journal, 4(5), 9-20.
2007 Kelly, V. (2007). An investigation into the nature of resonance in visual communication design. Design principles and practices : an international journal, 1(3), 65-70.

Year Citation
2024 Kelly, V., & Kelly, M. (2024). With great power comes great responsibility: the discourse of conduct and ethics in professional design. In Resistance, recovery, reflection, reimagination (pp. 1-14). US: DRS Design Research Society.
DOI
2019 Harland, R., Kelly, V., van der Waarde, K., & Spelman, E. (2019). Divergence and convergence in graphic design and communication design. In S. Prendeville (Ed.), Proceedings of the Design Research Society (DRS 2018) International Conference: Conversations Vol. CN14 (pp. 92-103). UK: Design Research Society.
2018 Kelly, V., & Thiessen, M. (2018). Have I got a proposition for you: developing the capability for compelling arguments through rhetorical practice in the design studio. In DRS2018: Catalyst. Proceedings of the international design research society Vol. 7 (pp. 2789-2800). Ireland: DRS Design Research Society.
DOI
2016 Kelly, V. (2016). "Dis-course is killer!" Educating the critically reflective designer. In P. Bohemia (Ed.), Proceedings of DRS 2016: Design + research + society: future-focused thinking Vol. 2 (pp. 425-439). UK: Design Research Society.
DOI
2015 Thiessen, M., Kelly, V., & Williams, J. (2015). Establishing a rhetorical framework for professional practice through the educational design studio: an exploratory study protocol. In L. Collina, L. Galluzzo, & A. Meroni (Eds.), Proceedings of the Cumulus Conference, Milano 2015: The Virtuous Circle Design Culture and Experimentation (pp. 1459-1469). Italy: McGraw-Hill Education.
2015 Kelly, V. (2015). Design as a discursive practice: a working methodology for exploring knowledge production in communication design using a critical orientation to discourse analysis. In L. Collina, L. Galluzzo, & A. Meroni (Eds.), Proceedings of the Cumulus Conference, Milano 2015: The Virtuous Circle Design Culture and Experimentation (pp. 1037-1049). Italy: McGraw-Hill Education.
2015 Kelly, D., Sampson, C., & Kelly, V. (2015). Treated like an equal, treated with respect: a sustainable co-design and systems thinking approach to aged care reform that empowers older people as a valuable community resource. In C. Crocker, & R. Robert (Eds.), Unmaking Waste 2015 Conference Proceedings (pp. 185-195). Australia: University Of South Australia.
2014 Kelly, V. (2014). Design as rhetoric in the discourse of resonance. In Proceedings of Design's big debates: pushing the boundaries of design research (DRS 2014) (pp. 718-727). Sweden: Design Research Society.
2010 Kelly, V. (2010). Asking the right questions: developing students' research skills and ethical conduct through design studio projects. In G. Forsyth (Ed.), Proceedings of ConnectED 2010 2nd International Conference on Design Education (pp. 1-5). Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales.
2008 Kelly, V. (2008). Bridging the gap: resonance in visual communication design. In K. Connellan (Ed.), ACUADS 2008 Conference: Sites of activity/On the edge (pp. 1-12). Australia: Australian Council of Universities Art and Design Schools.
2007 Kelly, V. (2007). From studio to community: collaborative design in practice. In Connected: International conference of design education. Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales.
2005 Kelly, V. (2005). Towards a design community: collaborative practice in design education. In Proceedings of the ACUADS 2005 Conference. http://acuads.com.au/conf2005/conf2005.htm: ACUADS.

  • OLT Design and Architecture Practice Research (DAP_r), OLT-Grants - Innovation & Development, 01/01/2016 - 01/04/2018

Courses I teach

  • GRAP 2008 Communication Design Studio 3 (2024)
  • GRAP 2022 Critical Design Practice (2024)

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2024 Principal Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Anh Do
2023 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Katrina Margaret Mclachlan

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