Meet PhD graduate Julian O'Shea

Vehicle for Change exhibition at MADA Gallery.

Completing his PhD through the Mobility Design Lab, Julian looked into sustainable transport and how to move around cities in a better way. This culminated in a final exhibition at the MADA Gallery last May, alongside a 50,000 word exegesis.

The Mobility Design Lab is a research lab within Monash, Art Design and Architecture. They aim to facilitate the transition from carbon energy systems and private car ownership to sustainable mobility through the application of good design.

This is where Julian’s research fits in. He explores how truly sustainable vehicles made from sustainable materials and powered by non-carbon energy sources can be used to engage the wider public and create positive social change.

“A cool part of the Industrial Design PhD is that the physical stuff you build is actually part of it and assessed.” Julian said.

For the Vehicle for Change exhibition, five vehicles were on display; a solar power kick scooter, a solar powered bike, a plastic bottle kayak used to highlight issues of waste in the Yarra River, a green one-person electric-powered micro-vehicle, and a four-person four-wheeled quadricycle.

The one-person electric-powered micro-vehicle was an assessed project as a hands-on part of the industrial design PhD at Monash University.

The quadricycle was used to try and set a world record on World Bike Day, in completing the fastest 10kms ever done on a quadricycle. And it was successful in setting a new record!

Julian started his PhD at Monash Art, Design and Architecture at the start of 2020, the very first day of the degree was also the very start of the (first) COVID-19 lockdown.

One of his initial PhD goals was to tell stories through the vehicles he researched, explored and created. Lockdowns in Melbourne throughout 2020 and 2021 meant a lot of these projects were unable to come to fruition.

Like everyone during this time, Julian had to pivot, leading to the creation of his YouTube channel and, later, venturing onto TikTok.

One of the first of Julian O’Shea’s YouTube series Unknown Melbourne, was a video exploring why trucks hit the Montague Street bridge so often.

“I started making these educational videos and they’ve become really popular which has really shaped my career.” Julian said.

Storytelling and social engagement are a critical element of his PhD research and in 2022, it was this element that partially led to him receiving the prestigious Fulbright Future Scholarship. The scholarship gave him the opportunity to connect with scholars and researchers in the USA for four months, working alongside a host at the University of Kansas, he participated in projects such as bamboo bikes and other sustainable designs.

It was also an enriching experience towards his PhD through networking with other designers, YouTubers and other storytellers to understand more about the way things are done in the USA.

“[There were] good, bad and ugly differences between there [USA] and Australia. I think we should reflect that our urban design, that speaks to what transport is, is pretty good here in many regards.” Julian said.

Now that he has completed his PhD with the Mobility Design Lab, Julian has taken the next step in his academic career, teaching in the Bachelor of Media Communications at Monash.

“This world of media is changing…things like YouTube are going to have an increasing role, it is both a challenging and exciting time.” Julian concluded.

You can find more of Julian’s work here.

A snippet of the Unknown Melbourne series being shown on the ABC.