Dr Deanna Meth

Biography

Deanna is a Senior Lecturer, Curriculum & Learning Design in the Learning & Teaching Unit at QUT. While new to an academic role in 2019, she has over 20 years’ experience leading and supporting strategic developments related to learning, teaching and research at universities in Australia, U.K. and South Africa. This is evidenced through her recognition as Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2017. In this capacity, she has also acted as mentor and reviewer for applicants to the scheme, locally, nationally and internationally.

Deanna’s experiences have translated into a wide range of research interests spanning higher education policy analysis, curriculum development and student engagement across institutional ecologies. This is exemplified in her 2016 doctoral thesis “Questioning the machine: academics’ perceptions of tensions and trade-offs in undergraduate education at one English university”.

Since joining QUT in 2018, Deanna has collaborated with Design academics to establish a program of research linked to the roll-out of the new Bachelor of Design degree (launched 2019). With a host of sub-projects, the research has yielded rich data on transdisciplinary design education, student partnerships, authentic learning, and exploring the digital-analogue divide in design visualisation and design graduate portfolios. Most notably, in-depth research on the global award-winning Impact Lab suite of transdisciplinary design units, People, Place, Planet and Purpose, has allowed for consideration and critique of notions of ‘impact’ in design education, and the critical role designers might play in collaborating to solve complex 21st century challenges concerning, for example, poverty, climate change and global health.

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