Associate Professor Soumitri Varadarajan

Postgraduate research supervision

PhD supervision

Sue Thomas, Ethics, Sustainability and Fashion

Qassim Saad, Design for Development: Discourse in Development and Culture

Stephen Trathen, Locales of Contestation: The collaborative Practitioner’s Workplace

Anthea van Kopplen, Supermodern Gorgeous: Sustainable design thinking and practice within contemporary models of fashion.

Scott Mitchell: On Modding

Jeremy Yuille: Interaction Design

Masters by Research supervision

Liam Fennessy, Rhizomatics (2005 – )

Simon Curlis, Chinese Whispers (2005 – )

Vendy Oliver, Interventions in Aceh (2008)

Ban His-Liu (2007)

Ori Ben-Zvi (2005)

Mario Loyo (2004)

Research interests

Social Innovation, product design and service design. In the areas of - diabetes, consumption, food, transportation, China and India.

Grants

Ways of working together: Project Diabetes, Designing the future

Awards

Program Innovation, University Award, 2005, Awarded to The Learner Centered Project, Industrial Design Program, School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Innovation, Portfolio Award, 2005, Awarded to The Learner Centered Project, Industrial Design Program, School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Indo-German Greentech Award for Environmental Excellence, 2001, Awarded to the Campus Recycling Programme, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

Hindu Hitachi Scholarship Award, 1991–1992, Hitachi Research Centre (Tokyo) and Nippon Columbia (Denon, Shirakawa), Hitachi Ltd., Japan

GIA Award, 1996, British Council India - Travel Grant to tour Design Schools in UK

• PhD, 2003, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi – 'The Life Cycle of the Object: A Case Study in Material Culture', Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

• Train the Trainer, 1999, 2 Week Ecodesign Workshop, Delft Univerity of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands

• Diploma - Industrial Design, 1985, Advanced Entry Postgraduate Program, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India

• Bachelor of Engineering – Mechanical, 1982, Mysore University, India

2007: Associate Professor, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

2003–2006: Program Director – Industrial Design Program, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

1994–2003: Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

1992–94: Visiting Professor, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India

1988–92: Director, Product Design and Management, Ash Design (P) Ltd., New Delhi, India

1986–88: Visiting Faculty, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India

1986–94: Freelance Designer, New Delhi, India

1985: Design Manager – Projects and Planning, Matrix Design Consultants Pvt Ltd, Pune, India

Committee membership

Member of Program Advisory Committee for Building Design, Product and Furniture

International academic assignments and collaborations

• Clothing Care in Kumaon Hostel at IITD, 2001–2003, IITD-Milan Polytecnic, Milan, Italy, (Carlo Vezzoli)
• Anxious Objects, December 2002, Les Ateliers, Paris, France
• Indian Food and objects, October 2000, Syracuse University, USA, Coordinator: Prof. Glen Hougan
• Story Telling: A two week project on ways to design, December 1999, Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem, Israel
• Lecture, Izmir Institute of Technology (IYTE), June 1997, Izmir, Turkey
• Jury Member, June 1996, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

Invited positions

Adjunct Professor, Foshan University, Foshan, PRC

Adjunct Professor, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, PRC

Adjunct Professor, Ambedkar University, New Delhi, India

Research Fellow, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India