Aug 2021 – Present · 4 yrs 7 mos

• Associate Professor Rafael Gomez FDIA is Study Area Coordinator of Industrial Design and built his career as an academic and practicing designer. He is Founder and Head of the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy.
• Rafael holds a Design PhD with an expertise in emotional experience publishing and presenting his work nationally and internationally as invited speaker and across top-tier design conferences, journals and books. In 2018 he was awarded an IgNobel Award (the only one from Australia to win this award that year) for research exploring people's emotional experiences using instruction manuals for digital devices. He has developed frameworks to better understand peoples' evolving emotional experience with devices, interfaces, services and systems. His research sheds light on the complex relationship between products and well-being with a focus on wearable technology.
• In addition, Rafael has over 15 years industry experience as a designer for small, medium and large enterprises in aviation, construction, medical, health, food, government and consumer electronics industries. He was Founder and Director of Propaganda Mill, a multidisciplinary design company that worked on national and international projects across industrial design, graphic and branding, high-end visualisation and projection graphics.
• Rafael recently led the strategy, design and deployment of the new Industrial Design degree and is now implementing the program. He has previously coordinated across the entire Industrial Design program and previously led Work Integrated Learning for the School of Design. His focus is to continue to deliver quality teaching while building pathways with world-class industry at the teaching and research level across Australia (Bombardier), Asia (TechTronics Industries), Europe (BMW, Fraunhofer) and North America.
• Expertise: Design and Emotion; Experience Design; Wearable Tech; Health and Well-being; Human-Machine Interaction; Activity Theory; Qualitative Methodology

Feb 2020 – Present · 6 yrs 1 mo

• Dr Rafael Gomez has spearheaded and is Leader and Founder of the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy in Brisbane, Australia. The academy is founded on three pillars including fostering design excellence, exploring new knowledge horizons and advancing cutting-edge technologies through undergraduate teaching, postgraduate research and collaborative R+D projects between BMW Group in Germany and QUT in Australia.
• The BMW Group + QUT Design Academy currently focuses on projects across a variety of emerging technologies including Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Systems, Robotics and Big Data in world-first innovations for real-world applications. The academy will forge new collaborations with BMW across other innovation areas.
• As head of the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy Dr Gomez will oversee the entirety of the academy operations including program structure and management, personnel recruitment, undergraduate internship program, PhD and MPhil projects, commercial research project collaborations, R+D initiatives, Tier 1 and 2 research grant applications, internal faculty collaborations, external engagements, and equipment and office management.

Nov 2014 – Aug 2019 · 4 yrs 9 mos

• Responsible for Education and Research portfolio. Liaise with President/s and National Councillor regarding National Education Policy including CPD courses/events; maintain relationships with education sector and promote DIA to academics; liaise with DIA Tarmac, student representatives and educational bodies providing advise as required; and address queries from public and professionals about avenues for design education.

Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 · 1 yr

Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 · 1 yr

Jan 2006 – Jan 2007 · 1 yr

Jan 2005 – Jan 2006 · 1 yr

Jan 2002 – Jan 2003 · 1 yr