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STAFF PROFILE

Associate Professor Simon Lockrey

Position: Associate Professor
College / Portfolio: Design and Social Context
School / Department: DSC|School of Design
Phone: +61399259021
Email: simon.lockrey@rmit.edu.au
Campus: City Campus
Contact me about: Research supervision, Media comments
iD icon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9814-4114

Dr Simon Lockrey is a leading sustainability and design-based entrepreneur, board member, and academic, having been based at RMIT since 2009.

Starting at the Centre for Design, he is now situated within the School of Design. 

Overview

The domains in which Dr Lockrey has managed research include life cycle assessment (LCA), co-design, design innovation, marketing, resource efficiency, flammable cladding, automotive history, and food waste. As a result, he has generated millions of dollars of 'industry facing' Category 1, 2, 3 and 4 research, creating global impact through policy changes, commercial outcomes, media coverage, quality academic publications, and hundreds of citations.

Dr Lockrey’s projects have required the deployment of sustainability strategy, tool development, and training for a range of industry partners. He has worked with global and nationally significant companies, including CHEP, Visy, Nestlé, Lendlease, Costa, Grocon and Breville. Relevant government and NGO projects have also ensued, with Sustainability Victoria, Australian Fresh Produce Alliance, Australian Food and Grocery Council, Australia Post, Australian Antarctic Division, Uniting AgeWell, and Meat and Livestock Australia.

Dr Lockrey works with partners in the UK, France, Sweden, Vietnam, New Zealand, and Antarctica, thereby fostering a global outlook and reach through his projects. He keynotes at/ convenes international conferences; mentors young designers through to PhD candidates in teaching roles; and applies practical experience to sustainability projects engaging industry, manufacturers, governments and wider community sectors. 

Dr Lockrey has been published on sustainability, design and innovation issues through international masthead newspapers, trade magazines, academic literature, and UN agency the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). His collaborations across industry and external universities have culminated in participation in the successful Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) bid in 2017, national supply chain and technology projects over 10 years from a pool of $210 million cash and in-kind funding. He is now a key leader in the 2018 funded Fight Food Waste CRC (FFW CRC), worth $121 million over 10 years. In 2021, he also took a further leadership role in the FFW CRC, as interim national leader of the Reduce Program, a suite of reduction projects with industry aimed at halving Australian food waste by 2030.

On practice, Dr Lockrey's professional work has crossed a large range of industries including consultancies, leading commercial interior furniture manufacturers and multinational appliance companies. The products he has designed have been both 'short run' and 'mass produced', and his roles have covered all stages of the design process. Since 2000 he has worked on over 100 commercial design and engineering projects for organisations such as Cyclone, Dyson, Whirlpool, Sabco, Sorbent, Novatech Controls, Schiavello, and Henkel, which has resulted in the generation of many billions of dollars in income and Intellectual Property (IP). He is currently Executive Director of global urban gardening brand Glowpear. Recent projects include the Dyson DC39 cylinder cyclone vacuum cleaner, and the Glowpear planter range. Simon has also won many international design and innovation awards for his efforts, including 2015 IDEA Award finalist (Glowpear); 2014 Melbourne Design Award Gold recipient (Glowpear); Australian Design Award 2011, and Good Design recipient 2011, 2012 (Dyson) and 2015 (Glowpear); and Red Dot Award recipient 2010, and honourable mention 2012 (Dyson). 

Dr Lockrey’s professional work has led to his elevation to board level, as Executive Director of global urban gardening brand Glowpear (after starting as Marketing Director). He now also operates at a board level in the academic context, with a pro-bono board position with the International Sustainable Development Research Society (ISDRS), and as Vice President of the Automotive Historians Australia. He executes similar duties to his work for Glowpear in terms of governance, financial and strategic activities in these roles, albeit in a non-commercial environment.

Key Activities

Grants and projects

Qualifications

  • B Eng(Hons) Product Design
  • PhD (Management)

Industry Experience

  • Neopurple (Design engineer)
  • Schiavello (Project engineer)
  • Dyson (UK, Design engineer)
  • Froth Design (Director)
  • Glowpear (Director)
  • Swinburne/RMIT (Studio lecturer)

Professional interests

  • Swinburne University Alumni
  • Member of Learning Network on Sustainability (LeNS) Oceania
  • Committee member of Design for Social Innovation Sustainability (DESIS) Melbourne
  • Member of International Association of Packaging Research Institutes (IAPRI)
  • Vice President of Automotive Historians Australia (AHA)
  • Member of Academy of Management (AOM)
  • Board Member of International Sustainable Development Research Society (ISDRS)

Accomplishments

  • 2004 Peter Meggs Prize recipient (Swinburne University) - Best Product Design
  • 2004 W Brown Medal nomination (Swinburne University) - Best 5th Year Engineering Results
  • 2010 Red Dot Award recipient (Dyson)
  • 2011 Australian Design Award and Good Design recipient (Dyson)
  • 2012 Red Dot Award honorable mention (Dyson)
  • 2012 Australian Good Design recipient (Dyson)
  • 2014 Melbourne Design Awards gold recipient (Glowpear)
  • 2014 House and Garden Style Award recipient (Glowpear)
  • 2015 Australian Good Design recipient (Glowpear)
  • 2015 IDEA Award finalist (Glowpear)
  • 2023 Good Design Award recipient (RMIT)
  • 2023 AFR Emerging Research Leader Award Finalist (RMIT)

Media experience

 

Publications

Supervisor Projects

2 PhD Completions3 PhD Current Supervisions

Grants

  • National Date Labelling and Storage Advice - Phase 1 (Project Code: 1.2.4). Funded by: Fight Food Waste CRC from (2023 to 2025)
  • Consumer fridge behaviour and waste reduction of red meat. Funded by: Fight Food Waste CRC from (2021 to 2025)
  • RMIT Glass Repurposing R&D Grant Project. Funded by: Sustainability Victoria - Competitive from (2017 to 2025)
  • Review of emerging packaging technologies and trends for red meat. Funded by: Meat and Livestock Australia Grant 2014 from (2014 to 2014)
  • Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the last frontier: quantifying the environmental impacts and environmental impact reduction strategy for Australia's Antarctic infrastructure. Funded by: Australian Antarctic Division Grants pre-2014 from (2013 to 2018)

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