Associate Professor
Rafael Gomez
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Design,
Industrial Design
Biography
Currently seeking PhD applications across emerging technologies application to advanced manufacturing, experience design, design and emotion, wearable tech for design and health, and design with technology for empathy. Learn more around the project for Design with Technology for Empathy. Apply for QUT scholarships (2021). Also seeking PhD and Master of Philosophy Students for the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy. Apply for project (2021). School of Design Exhibition Committee Chair / Lead Researcher QUT Design Lab / Study Tour (2015, 2017, 2018) / Lead Researcher People & Systems LabAssociate Professor Rafael Gomez has led Industrial Design program as Study Area Coordinator for 5 years. He is a design researcher for QUT Design Lab and a prominent researcher in the field of emotional experience, wearable tech for medical/health applications and emerging technologies. He works closely with global industry partners and leads the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy (securing over $2M cash and in-kind contribution) which focuses on fostering design excellence, exploring new knowledge horizons and advancing cutting-edge technologies through internships, research and special R+D projects with BMW Group in Germany. Assoc Prof Gomez has developed frameworks for emotional experience currently being used by global industry leaders such as BMW to better understand peoples' evolving emotional experience with devices, interfaces, services and systems. He has developed an emerging track-record in applied research with wearable technologies in the medical/health area - having recently worked on a non-invasive respiratory device for covid-19 alongside Science and Engineering and Prince Charles Hospital. He helped secure close to $60,000 through the Cotton Research Development Corporation (CRDC) to explore the feasibility of using cotton in 3D printing. In 2015 Dr Gomez was co-curator of an international art exhibition: Wear Next_ An Exploration into the Future of Wearable Technology. This exhibition brought together artist, designers and technologists from Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe to investigate the future of wearable technology. He has been invited to present at leading institutions including Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Baptist University, Tsinghua University, National University of Singapore, Singapore Polytechnic, Fu Jen Catholic University, Technical University of Munich, IIT Institute of Design among others. He has contributed as a research theme leader for the People and Systems Lab and has secured over $1M in funding including national competitive grant schemes and direct industry funding. Dr Gomez developed, deployed and manages the new Industrial Design degree at QUT and has coordinated and written curriculum across all years in the School of Design. He was also part of a team that led the development of a cross-faculty Work Integrated Learning curriculum. Due to his international network another key role for Dr Gomez is to continue building strategic pathways with international institutions (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Baptist University, KAIST, Technical University Munich, Delft University, HTW Berlin, among others) and world-class industry (BMW, Bombardier, TechTronics Industries, IDEO, ZIBA, among others) at the teaching and research level. One way Dr Gomez continues to build this agenda is to lead the highly successful Asia study tour, which has secured competitive grant funding from the Australian Federal Government through the New Colombo Plan to the value of $330,000. In addition, Dr Gomez brings over 15 years’ industry experience as a designer for small, medium and large enterprises across aviation, construction, medical, government and consumer electronics. For almost 10 years he was design director for Propaganda Mill, a multidisciplinary design company working across product design, branding, graphics, high-end visualisation, projection graphics and virtual/augmented reality. Recent Achievements:
- Founder and Head of BMW Group + QUT Design Academy
- Vice-Chancellor’s Performance Individual Award – Partnership & Engagement 2020
- Awarded Creative Industries Faculty Teaching Innovation and Excellence Award 2020
- Awarded Healthcare Excellence Acceleration Lab (HEAL), Queensland Health research funding ($180,000)
- Awarded Cotton Research Development Corporation (CRDC) research funding ($58,000)
- Awarded Teaching & Learning seed research grant ($40,000)
- Awarded New Colombo Plan grant funding (competitive Australian Federal Government grant) Asia study tour 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 (over $330,000)
- Invited Delegate; Australian delegation to Korea for research and industry collaboration
- Nominated for Inaugural David Gardiner Teacher of the Year Award
- Nominated for University Doctoral Outstanding Thesis Award
Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor (Industrial Design)
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Design,
Industrial Design
Keywords
Design and Emotion, Experience Design, Human Factors, Human Product Interaction, Interface Design, Quailitative methodology
Research field
Design
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
- Master of Applied Science (Queensland University of Technology)
Professional memberships and associations
Associate Professor Rafael Gomez is Founder and Lead of BMW Group + QUT Design Academy, Study Area Coordinator of Industrial Design between 2018-2023, Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, Founder and Chair of the Design and Emotion Society Australia Chapter and Committee Member for the 2015 IASDR International Design Conference.
Teaching
Associate Professor Gomez is Study Area Coordinator for Industrial Design at QUT and leads the final year in the degree program. He established the Immersive Asia Study Tour for the Creative Industries Faculty which has run for 8 straight years (until 2020 when Covid paused all study tours). He has led the strategic development, planning, deployment and development of the new Bachelor of Design (Industrial Design) program. He has lectured, coordinated and written curriculum across the entire four year course including Introducing Design, Design Visualisation, Digital Presentation Techniques, Human-Factors and Ergonomics, Usability and also led Work Integrated Learning for the School of Design. His extensive teaching experience has led to various teaching awards over the years including a nomination for the Inaugural David Gardiner Teacher of the Year Award QUT in 2014 and a Faculty of Creative Industries Innovation Award for Teaching in 2020.
Publications
- Rittenbruch, M., Davis, J., Zhou, D., Gomez, R. & Wright, N. (2022). A design-led conceptual framework for developing school integrated STEM programs: The Australian context. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 32(1), 383–411. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/203570
- Blackler, A., Gomez, R., Popovic, V. & Thompson, H. (2016). Life is too short to RTFM: How users relate to documentation and excess features in consumer products. Interacting with Computers, 28(1), 27–46. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/80826
- Gomez, R. & Mealy, E. (2015). VIBRANTe 2.0. Presented at: VIBRANTe 2.0 [Design/Architectural Work]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/94520
- Davis, R. & Gomez, R. (2015). Investigating the future of wearable technology. Wear next: An exploration into the future of wearable technology [Textual]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/94523
- Gomez, R., Popovic, V. & Bucolo, S. (2008). Emotional driving experiences. In P. Desmet, J. van Erp & M. Karlsson (Eds.), Design and Emotion Moves (pp. 141–164). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/18526
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Rafael, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).