Judith Glover

Dr Judith Glover is a researcher, educator and Industrial Design practitioner at RMIT, Melbourne, Australia. She is the only design researcher globally to develop the field of Industrial Design into Sexual Health contexts and applications. Her PHD thesis on the sex toy industry explored the technical capabilities that industrial design process and methods could offer in improving manufacturing and design quality. She is currently exploring the possibilities for new design research, service and product innovation under the umbrella of Design and Sexual Health Innovation. 2 research clients are releasing new products onto the market in 2023.

She was recognised by her peers for her ground breaking work in this area by being nominated as a finalist in the inaugural 2019 Women in Design Award/ for the Australian Good Design Awards. (https://good-design.org/women-design-award-finalists)

Her current passion is cross-disciplinary research practice bringing Design into technological innovation at early stages. She is the co-director of RMIT's Wearable and Sensing Network (W+SN) bringing together over 80 researchers from 9 different schools for collaborative approaches to research practice. She is also incredibly passionate about all the way 'MAKING' can be utilised by Industrial Designers. Old and new technique, technology and new biomaterials- what's coming and what's still relevant. While having a broad and varied range of experiences in design, fabrication, research and teaching her current material practice is in ceramic slip- cast production. In recent years her projects have explored how new technologies such as parametric modelling or 3d ceramic printing can be utilised with traditional slip-cast manufacturing techniques. She has exhibited internationally in Hong Kong and Germany, and within Australia in venues such as the NGV, RMIT Gallery, Craft Victoria and Craft ACT. She was invited to speak at the NGV's International Craft and Design event 'Parallels' in 2015.

Industry Experience:
Dr Glover spent a decade in the metal trades in mild-steel fabrication and metal smithing with a focus on engineering and architectural fittings for buildings, furniture and smaller scale forging techniques. While having a broad and varied range of experiences in design, fabrication, research and teaching her other current research practice is in ceramic slip- cast production.

She has been teaching various design, product design and sustainable design subjects since the early 2000s. She was one of the first Sustainable Design educators in Australia in the early 2000s. She spent a small amount of time as a Product Designer before starting her Sex Toy brand Goldfrau in 2006 eventually expanding that practice into the research field of Design and Sexual Health within academia. She has been teaching in Universities since 2004 and post doctoral research since 2013.