Associate Professor Li Ping Thong
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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liping.thong@rmit.edu.au
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ORCID: 0000-0001-7255-3921
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LinkedIn
About
Associate Professor Li Ping Thong is the Associate Dean of Digital Design at RMIT University, leading the largest discipline within the School of Design. Overseeing undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Games, Animation and Digital Media, Li Ping is a highly experienced digital media designer, researcher, and educator with 20 years of international teaching experience across Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia.
A trusted and collaborative leader, Li Ping fosters innovative environments that advance digital design pedagogy and practice. Li Ping’s work focuses on the thoughtful crafting of digital media experiences that deliver meaningful and positive social impact. Her expertise spans immersive technologies, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Serious Games, User Experience (UX) design, Interaction Design, Digital Storytelling and creative content production.
Since 2017, Li Ping has secured over $1 million in external research funding, advancing initiatives in sustainability, cultural heritage, community engagement and emerging digital technologies. Her research projects are often cross-disciplinary with a strong industry and community focus. Of core importance to her work is creating projects that deliver meaningful societal impact. She has successfully collaborated with external partners such as the Australian Automobile Association, Foodbank Australia, Porter Davis, Federation Square, Melbourne Girls Grammar School, and Golden Plains Shire Council.
Li Ping is a passionate leader who empowers digital design staff and students to excel, fostering a culture of collaboration, creativity and transformative impact.
External Research Funding
The Road to Safer Walking: Improving Hazard Perception in Older Adult Pedestrians (2023-2025)
Funding: Australia Automobile Association (AAA) in collaboration with Australia Catholic University (ACU)
Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) Sector Action Plan Chapter (2023-2025)
Funding: End Food Waste CRC, NSW EPA, QDEWLP
Creative Digital Services in SEA – The Art/s of Exchange GLAM Sector Report (2022)
Funding: Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund
Community Banashi – Digital Storytelling Film Project with Garrthalala Indigenous Community and Kochi University (2021-2023)
Funding: Australia Japan Foundation Grant, DFAT
Golden Plains Stories – Web Museum and Community History Project (2021-2023)
Funding: Public Records Office of Victoria, in partnership with Golden Plains Shire Council
Angels of War: Remembering Australian Army Nurses – AR/VR Digital Media Exhibition (2021-2022)
Funding: Victoria Remembers Grant, in partnership with Federation Square
Playable Campus – Augmented Reality Contemporary App Development (2021)
Funding: Melbourne Girls Grammar School
Foodbank and YWaste – User Experience Research for YWaste App (2021)
Funding: CRC Fight Food Waste, in partnership with Foodbank Australia and YWaste
The Space We Live, The Air We Breathe – Augmented Reality Contemporary Art Trail (2021)
Funding: Moreland City Council
Foodbank and YWaste – User Experience Research for YWaste App (2019-2021)
Funding: CRC Fight Food Waste, in partnership with Foodbank Australia and YWaste
Technologist-in-Residence – Collaborative Mentorship with Staff and Students to Develop Digital Media Projects Using Emerging Technologies (2019)
Funding: Melbourne Girls Grammar School
XperienceVR Studio – Industry-partnered Studio in Collaboration with Porter Davis and RMIT Master of Architecture Students (2017)
Funding: Porter Davis
Research fields
- 3901 Curriculum and pedagogy
- 3903 Education systems
- 3904 Specialist studies in education
- 4701 Communication and media studies
Academic positions
- Associate Professor (Digital Design)
- RMIT University
- School of Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Jan 2025 – Present
- Associate Dean (Digital Design)
- RMIT University
- School of Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Feb 2024 – Present
- Senior Lecturer (Digital Media),
- RMIT University
- DSC|School of Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Feb 2021 – 31 Dec 2024
- Program Manager (Digital Media)
- RMIT University
- DSC|School of Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Jan 2018 – 31 Dec 2020
- Lecturer (Digital Media)
- RMIT University
- School of Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Jan 2018 – 31 Dec 2020
- Associate Lecturer (Digital Media)
- RMIT University
- School of Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 14 Feb 2015 – 31 Dec 2017
- Senior Lecturer (Design - Multimedia Systems)
- RMIT Vietnam
- DSC|School of Design
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
- 1 Jan 2014 – 1 Jan 2015
- Lecturer (Design - Multimedia Systems)
- RMIT Vietnam
- School of Design
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
- 1 Jan 2008 – 1 Jan 2013
- Lecturer
- Taylor's University
- Subang Jaya, Malaysia
- 1 Jan 2006 – 31 Dec 2008
Non-academic positions
- Photographer/Graphic Designer
- Fotorex Holdings
- , Kuala Lumpur
- 1 Apr 2005 – 30 Apr 2005
- AV Application Specialist
- Taylor's University
- Subang Jaya, Malaysia
- 1 Jan 2005 – 31 Dec 2006
- Designer
- Hunter Studios
- , Kuala Lumpur
- 1 Jan 2005 – 31 Dec 2008
- Animator/Line Artist
- FAT Lizard
- , Kuala Lumpur)
- 1 Apr 2004 – 31 Dec 2004
- Animator/Graphic Designer,
- Flextronics Asia
- , Kuala Lumpur
- 1 Jan 2004 – 1 Jan 2005
Supervisor projects
- Crafting Vietnamese Digital Heritage: Navigating Cultural Hybridity through Interactivity and Extended Reality Design Practice.
- 23 Feb 2024
- Mind You!: A Card Game Design for Learning the Pragmatics of a Second Language
- 1 Apr 2019
- Designing an Immersive Virtual Reality Classroom to Assist Pre-service Teachers with Supporting Low-level Challenging Behaviours
- 20 Sep 2018
- Towards Developing an Effective Virtual Reality Instructional Tool for Secondary Students Learning English as a Foreign Language in Saudi Arabia
- 2 Jul 2018
- Volumetric Light Sculptures: Occupying the Space Between the Apparatus and the Image
- 12 Feb 2018
Teaching interests
Teaching Activities
Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Studio Courses (Selected List)
Golden Plains Stories (2022) - Externally funded WIL project
Remembering Australian Army Nurses (2021) - Externally funded WIL project
Design for All studio with Foodbank and YWaste app (2020) - CRC funded WIL project
Digital Media Creative Collaboration (2018, 2019) - International study tours, funded by DFAT
Xperience VR (2017) - Industry funded WIL project
Core courses taught (Selected List)
Digital Media Studio (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, UX/UI design, web design)
Interactive Media
Advanced Electronic Imaging (Digital Illustration)
Advanced Web Authoring
Advanced 3d Imaging and Animation
Content Design Project (Motion Design)
Serious games, Game-based learning, Interactive media, Virtual reality, Digital media, Interactive storytelling, Animation, User experience design, Digital environments.
Research interests
Li Ping's research projects are cross-disciplinary and applied research by nature, with existing and emerging digital media technologies designed and developed across diverse array of contexts, such as culture and heritage, education, health, architecture and traffic safety. Her current project involves collaborating with researchers at RMIT University and Australia Catholic University to develop a cutting-edge 3d simulation training platform to allow older pedestrians to respond safely to traffic-related threats.
Li Ping's research interests include:
Virtual Reality (VR)
Augmented Reality (AR)
Serious Games
Interactive Media
Interactive Storytelling
2D/3D Animation
User experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design
Digital Environments
Culture and Heritage
Technology-based teaching and learning with digital media technologies
Innovative Digital Media Projects
Li Ping's PhD study investigated the learning effectiveness of digital role-playing games (RPG) to accomplish learning outcomes in digital media education, in which she interrogated how situated learning could be achieved through game-play in an immersive 3d environment. She designed and developed a serious game – Virtual Designer. Utilising non-linear scenarios, the 3d game simulates a design studio. Students role-played as designers and were confronted with various situations typically faced by design practitioners, in which they apply their design knowledge into workplace contexts.
