Dr. Caroline Francis
Details
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College: School of Design
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Department: School of Design
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Campus: City Campus Australia
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caroline.francis@rmit.edu.au
Open to
- Masters Research or PhD student supervision
- Media enquiries
About
Dr Caroline Francis is the Interim Associate Dean of Industrial Design and Senior Lecturer at the School of Design, RMIT University. She supports teaching, research, and industry engagements and coordinates the Social Studio, Design Internships, and Advanced Industrial Design Engineering courses. A Chief Investigator for the End Food Waste CRC and other research projects held under the School of Design, Caroline's research focuses on design research-led industry innovations and their impact on Australia and abroad.
Caroline works in consumer trust, packaging innovation, waste reduction and value-add, design pedagogy, self healthcare, cross-cultural studies, qualitative and quantitative data research, and design for sustainability. Previously, Caroline was the Program Manager of Industrial Design from 2021-2024.
Caroline contributes to the newly established Australian and New Zealand, Design and Engineering Network (ANDEN). She has established an international collaboration with the Scholarship Program for Overseas Study in Arts and Design (SPOSAD) held by the Taiwan Ministry of Education (MOE). She is exceptionally proud of the newly expanded Paul and Ian Howard Memorial Scholarship that supports both one Industrial Design Student and one Interior Design student to travel internationally to gain experience at design workshops, exhibitions, events, and to grow their global design networks.
Industry experience:
Before commencing her PhD on culturally perceived design variables strengthening consumer trust at the University of Melbourne, she was Capability Development Manager for the Food Innovation Centre of Excellence, an initiative co-founded by Mondelez and the Victorian Government. She has provided design thinking training workshops in collaboration with CSIRO, Food Innovation Australia Ltd, AsiaLink, Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP), Victorian Agribusiness, Meat Livestock Australia, Mondelez Australia, and the University of Melbourne. She has consulted many local and international clients on new product development projects and supported numerous patents.
Awards:
2024 National Food Waste Summit, Collaboration Action Award Winner
2024 National Food Waste Summit, Researcher Action Award Finalist
2022 RMIT Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Award of Excellence
2022 ACUADS Teaching Excellence Award
2021-22 RMIT School of Design Peer Awards: Leadership, Collegiality, Citizenship, and Teaching
2002 SYDNEY OBJECT Design Award Finalist
2001 DIA QLD Best Emerging Designer Award
2001 QUT Goldern Key Society Award (University top 3% GPA)
2001 Vice-Chancellors Honours List
Research fields
- 330309 Industrial and product design
- 300604 Food packaging, preservation and processing
- 350602 Consumer-oriented product or service development
- 350601 Consumer behaviour
UN sustainable development goals
- 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
Academic positions
- Interim Associate Dean of Industrial Design
- RMIT University
- School of Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 21 Oct 2024 – Mar 2025
- Senior Lecturer
- RMIT University
- School of Design, Industrial Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Nov 2023 – Present
- Chief Investigator
- RMIT University
- School of Design, Industrial Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 2 Feb 2021 – Present
- Lecturer
- RMIT University
- School of Design, Industrial Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 2 Feb 2021 – 2 Nov 2022
- Program Manager
- RMIT University
- School of Design, Industrial Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 2 Jan 2021 – 29 Mar 2024
- Research Officer
- RMIT University
- School of Design, End Food Waste CRC
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Jul 2019 – 2 Feb 2021
- Course Curator and Casual Lecturer
- University of Melbourne
- Master of Food and Packaging Innovation
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Jul 2018 – 31 Jul 2022
- Workshop Facilitator and Research Officer
- University of Melbourne
- Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Jul 2016 – 31 Jul 2019
Non-academic positions
- Director and Founder
- Fordholm Design Consultancy
- Company
- MELBOURNE, Australia
- 1 Jul 2016 – 30 Jun 2020
- Capability Development Manager and Head of Design Lab/Virtual Theatre
- Mondelez Australia
- Food Innovation Centre, Design Lab
- MELBOURNE, Australia
- 3 Mar 2014 – 28 Oct 2016
- Studio Manager
- Outerspace Design
- Headquarters
- MELBOURNE, Australia
- 1 Mar 2012 – 31 Mar 2014
- Client Manager Contractor
- Self Employed
- Beijing and Melbourne, China
- 1 Jul 2008 – 1 Jul 2011
- Asia Client Manager and Senior Industrial Designer
- Infinity Design Development Consultancy
- Hong Kong, China
- 3 Jul 2006 – 1 Jul 2008
- Industrial Designer
- Infinity Design Development Consultancy
- Brisbane, Australia
- 1 Jul 2001 – 1 Jul 2004
Supervisor projects
- Designing Design Education Teaching Industrial Design into the 21st Century
- 20 Apr 2023
- Designing wearable activity trackers for patients with Diabetes: A case study in open-source medical device design
- 15 Mar 2023
- Supportive Care for patients with diabetes
- 6 Dec 2022
Teaching interests
Supervisor interest areas:
- New product development (NPD)
- Consumer research-driven designs
- Design for sustainability
- Design business management
- Design pedagogy
- Design for self healthcare
- Food packaging design
- Applied or embedded technologies
- Design-deterrents for Anticounterfeiting
- User-Centred Design
- Consumer science or Consumer perceptions research.
Supervisor projects:
- Designing Design Education
- Second Pancreas Project: Supportive care for patients with diabetes
Programs:
-IBH104 - Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours)
(https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/design/industrial-furniture-and-product-design)
Research interests
Caroline’s research interests focuses on collaborative, sustainable, innovative, user-centred design approaches. She has published in journals on the themes of design education, HCI, sustainability, food packaging, consumer perceptions, and consumer science fields.
Research keywords:
New product development, Innovation management, Cross-cultural perceptions research, Participatory action research, Strength based learning, Design for sustainability, Food packaging design, Design-led trust strategies.
