Dr Heather McKinnon
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Design
Biography
Dr Heather McKinnon is a Lecturer in Interaction and Strategic Design in the School of Design, and a Chief Investigator with the Centre for Environment and Society. She is a qualitative designer-researcher specialising in design for climate resilience, with a focus on how interactive technologies can support community adaptation to climate change. She holds a Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts from the University of Sydney and a PhD in Interaction Design from QUT’s Urban Informatics Research Lab. Her doctoral research examined how design practices shape everyday cultures of resource conservation, frugality, and climate adaptation across urban and regional Australia.
Her design-led research combines interactive technologies, data storytelling, speculative futuring, and co-design to address challenges of environmental resilience and social wellbeing. She has led and contributed to multidisciplinary projects spanning design, science, health and wellbeing, and climate resilience research, translating qualitative insights into design artefacts, frameworks, and actionable recommendations. Her practice is grounded in research-through-design and iterative prototyping, with a particular interest in responsive digital environments, including tangible wearables, smart technologies, and interactive storytelling. Her work has received international recognition, including the Q1 Design Studies Journal Best Paper Award.
Heather teaches across the Bachelor of Design and Master of Strategic Design programs, bringing research-driven practice into studio-based learning.
Personal details
Positions
- Adjunct Lecturer
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Design
Keywords
Sustainable Interaction Design, Designer Researcher, Design Artefacts, Sustainability, Research-through-Design, Climate Resilience, More Than Human
Research field
Design
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)
- Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts (University of Sydney)
- Bachelor of Business (University of Southern Qld)
Professional memberships and associations
Chief Investigator - Centre for Environment and Society
Investigator - QUT Design Lab
Publications
- McKinnon, H. & Sade, G. (2019). Exploring the home environment: Fusing rubbish and design to encourage participant agency and self-reflection. Design Studies, 63, 155–180. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128982
- McKinnon, H., Foth, M. & Sade, G. (2020). 1300 Pieces of Rubbish: A Collaborative Approach to Making Sense of Everyday Resource Sufficiency in the Home. DIS 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 1351–1364. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/200268
- McKinnon, H., (2016). Domestic reflections, electric reflections: design interventions foregrounding energy mundanity in the home. Design Issues, 32(4), 29–39. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/89232
- McKinnon, H., (2016). Finding design value in modern mundanity. Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, 1059–1071. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/94370
- McKinnon, H. & Foth, M. (2017). The work of making: reflections on the process, form and function of two sets of design research artefacts. Proceedings of the 29th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference (OzCHI 2017), 191–200. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/111566
- McKinnon, H., (2016). The [everyday] future by design: opportunities for the design exploration of everyday sustainability. Presented at: ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) 2016, 37–38. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/96058
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Heather, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/h.mckinnon
Selected research projects
- Title
- Engaging Older Australians in Co-Designing An AI App for Grief - Grief Guide, Your 3am Friend
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- WickS2024024
- Start year
- 2025
- Keywords
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Making a stream a home | Co-creation in livestream communities over time
MPhil, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Jane Turner - Undesigning packaging: Disrupting the connection between single-use plastic packaging and fresh produce
MPhil, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Levi Swann
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.