Speakers

Alfredo Gutiérrez Borrero currently works at the academic area of product design in the Facultad de Artes y Diseño, Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano. He has a PhD in Design and Creation, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia. Alfredo does research in  indigenous thought,  declassification of knowledge, decoloniality and southern epistemologies. Their most recent publication is Dessobons and archaeodesign.

Martín Ávila is a designer, researcher, and Professor of Design at Konstfack, in Stockholm, Sweden. Martin’s research is design-driven and addresses forms of interspecies cohabitation. His latest book is Designing for Interdependence: A Poetics of Relating. See also www.martinavila.com

Mariana Salgado is a senior designer and a researcher working in service and interaction design. She is part of Inland design, an innovation and design lab in the Ministry of the Interior, Finland.

In addition, she produces and hosts Diseño y diáspora, a podcast on design for social change (in Spanish and Portuguese). The podcast has now 370 episodes published and it is the most listened design podcast in latinoamerica. Around 6000 listeners monthly.
She has a doctoral degree from the department of Media, in Aalto University. 

Michèle Wilkomirsky Uribe is an Associate Professor, Graphic Designer, Doctor of the Rey Juan Carlos University, Secretary of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV) Graphic Designer Faculty, Doctor of Tourism from the URJC, Madrid, Spain. Professor of the design career at the PUCV School of Architecture and Design (EAD). In the Design undergraduate course, she teaches the Observation, Foundation and Form workshop and the Legible City workshop in the cycle of the trade. In addition, she teachs the subject Design and contemporary culture in the disciplinary cycle. She direct Design projects with emphasis in Graphic Design and Interaction Design. She is a member of the faculty of the Magister in Architecture and Design in the Extension, City and Habitability area.

Dr. Diana Albarrán González is a Native Latin American design researcher and craftivist from Mexico. She is a Lecturer in the Design programmes at the Creative Arts and Industry faculty at the University of Auckland. With more than 18 years of international experience, she seeks to address challenges in a variety of contexts through a meaningful sense of culture, diversity awareness and sensitivity, and the exploration of connections between Moana-nui-a-Kiwa and Abya Yala.

Rodrigo is an established exhibiting artist both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. He positions himself as a photographer/lens- based artist specialized in gallery installations and publications. Rodrigo’s photography practice focuses on people, place and its intrinsic relationships. Explorations of place and its surrounding dynamics have always been the core of Rodrigo’s work. Rodrigo’s creative interests are rooted at the intersection of lens-based approaches and place-making processes in which photography plays the role of
representing layered ‘place-imaginaries’. Rodrigo’s photography practice explores the use of imagery to create meanings and understandings of place based on feelings and experiences connected to the landscape. Rodrigo is a lecturer at the University of Waikato School of Arts Screen and Media. Rodrigo’s research explores the multiple possibilities that surround photographic practices and how photography is used as a way to perceive and make place.

Marcos Mortensen Steagall is an Associate Professor in the Communication Design department at the Auckland University of Technology - AUT, where he started in February 2016. He is the Communication  Design Postgraduate Strand Leader and Programme Leader for Communication Design and Interaction Design for Year 3.  He holds a Master's (2000) and PhD (2006) in Communication & Semiotics acquired from The Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a PhD in Art & Design from Auckland University of Technology in 2019. My research interests are connected to visual semiotics; practice-oriented research methodologies in Art, Design and Technology; Lens-based image-making and indigenous epistemology. I Supervise both Master's and PhD students and have supervised both to completion.

Professor Hinematau McNeill is Tapuika, Ngāti Moko and has always maintained active involvement in Māori communities, which informs her research. As a Treaty negotiator for her tribe, she was responsible for the historical portfolio. Tapuika settled with the Crown in 2014. She has served as a Trustee on the tribal Post-Treaty Settlement Board. One of the first Māori woman appointed to a national governance role in Women’s Refuge ,she advocated for mandatory reporting. Hinematau was also invited to the prestigious Iwi Leaders Forum. Additionally, an interest in artistic practice-led research has invigorated her postgraduate work and afforded emerging scholars to operate creatively in a way that values and acknowledges indigenous epistemologies and ways of working. She believes that when indigenous knowledge is truly valued, it is not only a decolonising force, but can enrich our collective lived experience.

Tangaroa Paul (they/them) of Muriwhenua descent, is in their final year of a PhD in practice-led research that explores gender role differentiation through the nature of performative expression. They also lecture in Te Ara Poutama - Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies at Auckland University of Technology, teaching in te reo Māori, Media, Gender Studies and more. Tangaroa is passionate about Kapa Haka (Māori Performing Arts) and is finding a space for gender fluidity to exist in this art form.

Toiroa Williams is a Māori documentary filmmaker with tribal links across Te Whakatōhea, Ngai Tai and Te Whānau a Apanui. He is passionate about telling Indigenous stories specific to his people which might aid in the teachings of their history to future generations. He completed a Masters’ degree in documentary film making in [2016], has been the recipient of numerous scholarships including [AUT INTERNZ at Sundance Institute] and he is currently completing a Ph.D. that considers Māori approaches to indigenous film making.

Nicholas Jones (Ngāi Tūhoe/Ngāpuhi) is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at Waipapa Taumata Rau/The University of Auckland. As a research assistant at the James Henare Research Centre, he has experience in a range of Kaupapa Māori-led community-based research projects. He has worked on projects examining kaumātua health and wellbeing, the uptake and integration of technology and artificial intelligence amongst Māori agricultural businesses, and Māori data sovereignty.

Jani Wilson hails from Pāroa on the outskirts of Whakatāne. She has a PhD in Film, TV and Media Studies from the University of Auckland, and is currently an independent researcher in Screen Arts/Studies

​Robert Pouwhare is a television director/producer and app developer with 40 years of production experience in broadcasting. As an artist, he has exhibited paintings and a sculptural installation at The National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa and the Wellington Art Gallery. He has also composed music and is the lyricist for over 50 original songs aimed at kohanga reo (Māori language immersion pre-school) children in a concerted effort at language revitalisation.

Welby Ings is a Professor in Design at Auckland University of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in
applied narratology and is an elected Fellow of the British Royal Society of Arts. His research navigates trajectories across linguistics, typography, education and visual communication design. Welby is also a multi award winning film maker, designer and author. In 2002 he received the New Zealand Prime Minister’s award for Tertiary Teaching Excellence and in 2013 and 2022, AUT University medals for his research and teaching. He has in publication over 50 books, book chapters or research articles that are accessible here: https://academics.aut.ac.nz/welby.ings