Recognising Success: 2022 Dean's Research Awards

Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA) researchers work together to undertake vibrant, innovative, creative research that addresses the social, economic and human issues facing Australia and the world.

Each year, we acknowledge research excellence through the Dean’s Research and Postgraduate Supervision Awards.

The winners of these awards are a testament to the strong culture of collaboration and innovation that exists across MADA, underpinning the faculty’s ability to translate outstanding scholarship into positive impact.

The Dean’s Research Awards are presented across four categories.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 Dean’s Research Awards

Marian Crawford - Dean’s Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision

Marian Crawford has been a member of the Department of Fine Art since 2007, and has seen numerous PhD candidatures through to timely completion. At the heart of Marian Crawford's success as a supervisor is her focus on working with candidates to strongly support them in discovering and exploring the power of the written word as they articulate their creative material and often process-driven practices exegetically. Writing about and alongside their creative and always-experimental activities illuminates the candidate's entire practice as they approach the conclusion of the research. This approach flows from Marian's artistic practice and research focus, which explores relationships between the book, fine art printmaking processes, and the printed image in contemporary culture.

Luke Smythe - Dean's Award for Research Excellence by an Early Career Researcher

Luke Smythe is an internationally recognised historian of West German and abstract art, whose research has been published in leading journals of art history, in exhibition catalogues from globally prominent museums, and in two recent monographs. The first of these, on noted New Zealand painter Gretchen Albrecht, was selected as one of the top ten arts and literature books of 2019 by that country's most important newspaper and its highest-selling current affairs magazine. A revised and expanded edition is forthcoming. The second book, on German painter Gerhard Richter, who is among the most important living artists, has been described by one reviewer as “the single most compelling study I have read that covers the full sweep of Richter’s oeuvre.” Exhibitions curated by Luke of the work of globally-renowned artist Joseph Beuys have each received more than 150,000 visitors. Smythe regularly collaborates with colleagues in Europe, North America and New Zealand.

Design Health Collab + Collaborators - Dean's Award for Excellence in Enterprising Research

DHCL in collaboration with XYX and Mobility Design Labs were selected for their collaborations with industry partner Micro-X. Using Design Research methods, the team delivered critical design outcomes that helped Micro-X succeed as a core technology partner in the Australian Stroke Alliance and secure Australian Government Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) funding. The deliverables included deep research and analysis of user profiles, needs and workflows that pinpointed critical areas in need of addressing, along with concept designs and visualisations. Together the body of work, culminating in a full-scale in-ambulance CT scanner prototype, demonstrated the feasibility of a stroke scanner in a standard ambulance, which Micro-X is now in the process of commercialising. The partnership has grown to include a major commission by the Transport Security Authority to create a next-generation security solution for airports using compact CT scanners in individual, self-service checkpoints instead of the current line and funnel system.

XYX Lab - Dean's Award for Research Engagement and Impact

"Local streets, parks, trails and recreational areas across Victoria need to accommodate diverse needs. YourGround is an innovative way to bring this about by drawing on the lived experiences of women and the gender diverse." - Associate Professor Nicole Kalms

The YourGround project was conceptualised by long-term collaborators Monash University’s XYX Lab and CrowdSpot to crowdsource women and gender-diverse people’s perceptions of safety when exercising and recreating for health and wellbeing in Victoria’s open spaces. It was partly funded by an anonymous industry partner, with co-funding provided by each of the 25 participating local and state government partners. Over the 13-week survey period, the YourGround website collected over 6,000 anonymous submissions or ‘pins’ across metropolitan, suburban and regional Victoria, uncovering important patterns in our community spaces that make women and gender-diverse people feel vulnerable or at risk.

Because of the innovative collaborative funding model, YourGround enables local governments to access high-quality data and insights that would normally be outside of their budgets. Communities can use this data to make well-informed decisions that will make recreation safer, more accessible, inclusive and equitable for women and gender-diverse people. The project represents a best-practice approach to advancing active communities and demonstrates how Victoria is leading the way for open space planning and providing equitable access for women and gender-diverse people.