Regenerative Futures: What do they mean for RMIT and beyond? A presentation, launch and discussion

'Regenerative Futures' as a framing concept has the potential to be significant within RMIT - across the full breadth of its disciplines, fields, and arenas of impact. But some will be wondering exactly what it all means, where such ideas have come from, and how they might practically land in a higher education context - including how they can inform transformative education and research. This important talk by guest speaker Philipa Duthie, Oceania Director of the Royal Society of the Arts (RSA), will trace the intellectual history of Regenerative Futures, including how this paradigm has particular significance in an Asia Pacific context in light of Indigenous and First Nations knowledge stretching back more than sixty thousand years.

Introducing the RSA's ground-breaking work in this arena including the 'Regeneration Rising' podcast, Duthie will also reflect on the outcomes of an emerging collaboration between RSA Oceania and RMIT that explores the significance of regenerative thinking in higher education contexts worldwide - an essential intervention in our time of climate crisis. Following this, Professor @Andrea Siodmok will preview a white paper on this topic: a collaboration between RMIT and the RSA which proposes a path for Universities to move toward a regenerative approach through strategic planning, policy-making, and funding frameworks, whilst shaping future practitioners and citizens.

Speakers

Philipa Duthie is the Oceania Director of the RSA, a global social change and research organisation working to unite people and ideas in collective action to regenerate our world. A researcher, convenor, and story-teller, Philipa has spent the last decade working with not for profit and community organisations to weave narratives for positive change. She is the host and producer of the ReGeneration Rising podcast with Dr Daniel Christian Wahl and Josie Warden.

Professor Andrea Siodmok OBE is Dean of the RMIT School of Design. Andrea is an internationally renowned expert in design and was previously Chief Impact Officer at The RSA in the UK. Prior to this, she founded the UK Government’s multi-award-winning Policy Innovation Unit to bring design, digital and data science skills to policy-makers. In this capacity, Andrea delivered over 100 policy innovation projects for government departments under three British Prime Ministers. She was also previously Chief Design Officer at the UK Design Council and Design Director at the UK’s business innovation accelerator for the built environment and smart cities, the Connected Places Catapult.

Professor Chris Speed FRSE, FRSA is Professor of Design for Regenerative Futures at RMIT, Melbourne, Australia, where he collaborates with a wide variety of communities and partners to explore how design provides methods to adapt toward becoming a regenerative society. Chris has an established track record in directing large complex grants and educational programmes with academic, industry and third sector partners, that apply design and data methods to social, environmental and economic challenges.

Gheran-Yarraman Steel is a member of the Boon Wurrung community, with ancestral ties to the Wemba and Trooloolway clans. At RMIT University, he serves as the Senior Manager within the Office of Indigenous Education, Research & Engagement, operating under the auspices of the Policy Strategy & Impact portfolio. In this capacity, Mr. Steel heads the Planning & Transformation team, overseeing the comprehensive execution of the Responsible Practice Strategic framework throughout the RMIT Group. In addition to this he occupies roles on various boards and committees, leveraging his expertise to advocate for the integration of Indigenous rights into the fabric of organisational policies, plans, strategies, and governance mechanisms. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Monash University, he also holds an Executive MBA, from here at RMIT University. Currently, he is pursuing a Ph. D in Law, where he is investigating the relationship between International Investment Law and Indigenous Rights.

Cristina Hernandez-Santin is a placemaker, biodiversity inclusive designer and researcher. Cris has spent the last decade working to bring bridge the gap between ecology and design by working through regenerative design, placemaking and biodiversity. As a current PhD Candidate at RMIT university, her research delves into opportunities to give voice to non-human stakeholders of place (biodiversity) and shift predominant built environment practices towards biodiversity inclusive practice culture. Aligned with more-than-human right to the city, she advocates for species being seen as non-human users whose needs must be considered to achieve regenerative futures. She also currently works at Village Well, where she is actively exploring opportunities to bring her research to practice.

Associate Professor Simon Lockrey is a leading sustainability and design-based entrepreneur, board member, and academic based at RMIT, having managed research in life cycle assessment (LCA), co-design, design innovation, marketing, resource efficiency, flammable cladding, automotive history, and food waste. He has generated millions of dollars of industry-based research, creating global impact through policy changes, commercial outcomes, media coverage, academic publications, and citations. Dr Lockrey’s research and professional work has crossed a large range of industries including consultancies, leading commercial interior furniture manufacturers and multinational appliance companies including Dyson. He is currently Executive Director of global urban gardening brand Glowpear. In 2021, he took a leadership role in the Fight Food Waste CRC, as interim national leader of the Reduce Program, a suite of reduction projects with industry aimed at halving Australian food waste by 2030.

Professor Naomi Stead is Director of the Design and Creative Practice Enabling Capability Platform at RMIT, where she works with researchers across the creative fields to engage in interdisciplinary research leading to social and environmental benefit. Throughout her academic career she has been committed to research-based advocacy - particularly into gender equity and work-related wellbeing in creative workplaces. Stead has a particular focus on understanding the experiences of marginalised groups, including the LGBTIQ+ community. She has edited or co-edited six books, including the award-winning After the Australian Ugliness (NGV & Thames and Hudson, 2020). She is widely published as a critic and commentator – most recently as architecture critic for The Saturday Paper. In 2023 she was the recipient of the Bates Smart Award for Architecture in the Media, and in 2024 she was made an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects.

There will be an opportunity for discussion, and the event will be followed by a networking reception. All are welcome.

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