Sharing the passion for doing

Swinburne Design Factory Melbourne is part of the Design Factory Global Network (DFGN), a network of innovation hubs in universities and research organisations in five continents of the world. 

DFGN is on a mission to create change in the world of learning and research through passion-based culture and effective problem solving. 

Shared understanding and common ways of working enable Design Factories in the network to collaborate efficiently across cultures, time zones and organisational boundaries fostering radical innovations.

Meet the team

Design Factory Melbourne is made up of a unique group of talented individuals all working towards disrupting and challenging the status quo in industrial and university collaboration.

  • Woman with short brown hair in a black trench coat standing in front of red door.

    Dr Anita Kocsis

    Professor
    Anita leads Design Factory’s vision to create the conditions for innovation through industry university collaboration. Anita’s passion is to discover unexplored potential and knowledge not easily developed by a single discipline through multidisciplinary collaboration.
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    Professor Christine Thong

    Academic Director and Global Programs
    Christine leads DFM’s academic direction and is involved in teaching, research and strategic initiatives. Passionate about coaching the next generation of globally responsible design innovators, Christine heads DFM global programs with Stanford University (ME310 SUGAR) and CERN (Challenge Based Innovation).
  • Angela Pye

    Angela Pye

    Centre Manager
    Angela is passionate about strategies to support collaborative practices. She’s across a range of activities within DFM’s early-stage innovation space. She also facilitates team strategic research directions and contributes to the workshop services portfolio.
  • Aaron Down

    Aaron Down

    Applied Innovation Lecturer
    Aaron leads DFM’s global academic programs with Stanford University’s ME310 Course, SUGAR Network for Global Innovation, the Design Factory Global Network and CERN’s IdeaSquare. As a brand designer and strategist, Aaron has worked across strategy, design, events, R&D and education.
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    Dr David Mesa Saldarriaga

    Applied Innovation Lecturer
    With a background in product design and engineering, David researches practices to improve the development and commercialisation of technologies emerging from scientific research and processes to embrace digitalisation and I4.0. At DFM, he helps coordinate and deliver teaching programs and industry services.
  • Pauliina Mattila

    Pauliina Mattila

    Innovation Coach
    Pauliina is a senior lecturer in Innovation bringing 15 years of experience in design innovation across industry and academia. In her current role, she helps organisations enhance their innovation processes and leads a teaching program on inclusive design. Talk to Pauliina about formative innovation discovering opportunities and advancing ideas closer to fruition.
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    Melanie Calleja

    Applied Innovation Lecturer
    Mel is a multidisciplinary designer, focussing on human-centered design and is passionate about collaboration and coaching. She lectures across DFM’s program offerings, with an emphasis on the Global programs with Stanford University (ME310 SUGAR) and CERN (Challenge Based Innovation).
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    Mitchell Ransome

    Prototyping Coach
    As DFM’s prototyping coach, and technician. Mitchell supports students on best practice of prototyping for their projects through a range of digital and traditional fabrication techniques.
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    Amelia Iverson

    Project Manager
    Amelia looks at commercialisation opportunities for DFM’s research. Strategising with our Swinburne Edge and business development partners, Amelia collaborates across teams to translate our research outputs and learning and teaching content to create meaningful products.

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