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Dr Karla Straker

Senior Lecturer

School of Architecture, Design and Planning
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
k.straker@uq.edu.au

Overview

Dr Karla Straker is an educator, researcher, and above all a designer. Being an alumnus of The Queensland University of Technology, having completed a Bachelor of Design (with honours) in Industrial Design in 2011, and PhD in 2016. She has expert knowledge in the area of design innovation, most notably through the recent publication of the books Design Innovation and Integration (2021), Design Innovation for Health and Medicine (2020) and Affected: Emotionally engaging customers in the digital age (2018). She has a strong track record of high-quality research outputs, with over 30 journal articles published in a variety of design, business, and technology journals.

Her research is in the field of Design Innovation, which is the application and adoption of design innovation methods into industry-led research projects. Her specific focus and contribution to the field is the continuing application and investigation of design methods in driving innovative digital solutions. Her publications appear in a range of disciplines including design, business, management, and medicine journals, disseminating the value of design to a variety of readers. Most notably in the Journal of Cleaner Production, Energy Policy, California Management Review, ASAIO Journal, and Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.

She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at The University of Queensland. Her previous position involved being a lecturer and program director of the Design Major at the University of Sydney. During her time as Program Director, she led the growth of the program from 59 students in 2018 to 139 students in 2020. The units on offer also increased to 12, including subject areas which were directed by student interests, including ‘Design for Social Impact’. These units were offered to students from 17 different degrees to combine their expertise and work collectively on a range of projects. She has developed and implemented new curriculum across 4 units of study which has been directly related to her research, seeing the scholarly development of all teaching resources. The complexity of these units is designing teaching resources and project which enable the diverse group of students to all learn and benefit.

She has a Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education) and has taught in undergraduate and postgraduate programs at the University of Sydney and Queensland University of Technology. Being nominated for the VC Award for ECR Outstanding Teaching (USYD, 2020) and won the Most Inspiring and Influential Teaching Practice award (QUT, 2011).

Karla was an Early Career Research Ambassador for the Sydney Nano Institute (2019-2021) working with the Deputy Director of Member Engagement. In this role she engaged with researchers at all academic levels, across disciplines and faculties to develop programmes and initiatives for ECRs across the university. She successfully developed and facilitated an ECR workshop with participants, which resulted in two projects being funded by the Nano Institute.

She became the Deputy Co-director of the Design Innovation Research Group in August 2020 and worked in a multi-disciplinary team in the Sydney Nano Institute to develop a low-cost method to capture enough water from the atmosphere to alleviate the effect of drought.

Securing over $1M in competitive grant and industry funding, Karla has been a Chief Investigator on three industry-supported projects. She currently supervises 2 Ph.D. students and has completed 1 Ph.D. and 6 honours students across the fields of design for health and medicine, science and business innovation. Her students have won awards including an Australian Good Design Award (2021), Sydney Nano Institute Publication Award (2019), the Nosé International Fellowship Award (2019), and the Top 5 Abstract at the ASAIO Conference (San Francisco USA, 2019).

Design of digital channel engagements

Dr Straker’s PhD thesis investigated the design of digital channel engagements, to understand how strong relationships with people can be built and sustained through a deeper understanding of customer emotions. Through her candidature she was trained by Professor Michael Rosemann, an internationally renowned Information Systems researcher, and Professor Wrigley, a leader in the field of Design Innovation. Her thesis was nominated for the Best Thesis Award (QUT) and was in the Top 40 of the International ISPIM Innovation Management Dissertation Award. This work also led to a book co-authored with Professor Wigley, titled Affected: Emotionally engaging customers in the digital age published in 2018 by Wiley Publishers. The purpose of this book was to consolidate and translate research findings into practical knowledge for companies to build deep and long-lasting relationships with customers in the digital age through design. It is distributed worldwide and sold more than 5,000 copies in the first 5 months through the Australian bookseller Dymocks. It also received industry reviews from Google, Sales Force, PwC, Accenture and the Boston Consulting Group. The front cover image is also an original artwork by internationally known artist CJ Hendry.

Since her PhD research, her work has continued exploring the design of digital channel engagements, in the medical, defence and retail industry.

Research Interests

  • Design Innovation

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Industrial Design, Queensland University of Technology
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Queensland University of Technology

Publications

View all Publications

Grants

View all Grants

Supervision

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • Design Methodologies for Burdened Users

    Project Opportunity

    This Earmarked Scholarship project is aligned with a recently awarded Category 1 research grant. It offers you the opportunity to work with leading researchers and contribute to large projects of national significance.

    We are seeking an enthusiastic PhD student to conduct a research project about incorporating emotional affect into safety-critical products. The work will characterise existing user-centred design and interaction design methodologies, identify key barriers to reconciling often diverging requirements, and propose new processes for overcoming these obstacles.

    Some users across healthcare, transport, manufacturing, logistics, and emergency service environments, are compelled to use safety-critical controller products, over which they have little or no choice, to perform high-risk tasks. These users are burdened with significant responsibilities, and increased stress.

    The design of safety-critical controllers is usually driven by risk-mitigation and usability principles as demanded by regulatory requirements and quality standards. However, product development often overlooks the day-to-day experience of the human tasked with critical duties, including their emotions, attitudes, and motivations. Your project will develop evidence to support new ways of accommodating these ill-defined factors into a robust design process.

    This is an exciting opportunity to work with industry partner BiVACOR Pty. Ltd., researchers across several institutes, and to contextualise your research in the development of Total Artificial Heart (TAH) devices. Patients who use TAH products are faced with critical product interactions every day. The scholarship is part of ARC LP LP200100336 “Design Guidelines for Safety-critical Controllers in High-risk Environments”.

    This position is located at our picturesque St Lucia campus, renowned as one of Australia’s most attractive university campuses, and located just 7km from Brisbane’s city centre. Bounded by the Brisbane River on three sides, and with outstanding public transport connections, our 114-hectare site provides a perfect work environment – you can enjoy the best of both worlds: a vibrant campus with the tradition of an established university.

    Research Experience and expectations

    Research experience and expectations include, but are not limited to:

    • Conducting qualitative data collection and analysis
    • Conducting content analysis on secondary data sets
    • Conducting interviews with patients, caregivers and medical practitioners.

    Scholarship value

    As a scholarship recipient, you'll receive:

    • living stipend of $28,854 per annum tax free (2022 rate), indexed annually
    • tuition fees covered
    • single Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC)

View all Available Projects

Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Introduction to the research handbook on design thinking

    Straker, Karla and Wrigley, Cara (2023). Introduction to the research handbook on design thinking. Research handbook on design thinking. (pp. 1-5) edited by Cara Wrigley and Karla Straker. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781802203134.00005

  • The role of emotion, experience and meaning: the comparative case of Apple and Samsung

    Straker, Karla and Wrigley, Cara (2016). The role of emotion, experience and meaning: the comparative case of Apple and Samsung. International perspectives on business innovation and disruption in design. (pp. 231-255) edited by Robert DeFillippi, Alison Rieple and Patrik Wikström. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781784716646.00021

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Exploring the role of design in the context of medical device innovation

    Ko, Keum Hee Kimmi, Dunn, Jessica Lea, Lahoud, David, Nusem, Erez, Straker, Karla and Wrigley, Cara (2019). Exploring the role of design in the context of medical device innovation. Academy for Design Innovation Management Conference 2019, London, United Kingdom, 18-21 June 2019. London, United Kingdom: Academy for Design Innovation Management. doi: 10.33114/adim.2019.03.303

  • Exploring the role of design in the context of medical device innovation

    Ko, Keum Hee Kimmi, Dunn, Jessica Lea, Lahoud, David, Nusem, Erez, Straker, Karla and Wrigley, Cara (2019). Exploring the role of design in the context of medical device innovation. Academy for Design Innovation Management Conference 2019, London, United Kingdom, 18-21 June 2019. London, United Kingdom: Academy for Design Innovation Management.

  • Building relationships and sustaining dialogue between patients, caregivers and healthcare practitioners: a design evaluation of digital platforms for ventricular assist device users

    Dunn, Jessica Lea, Ko, Keum Hee Kimmi, Nusem, Erez, Straker, Karla, Wrigley, Cara and Gregory, Shaun (2018). Building relationships and sustaining dialogue between patients, caregivers and healthcare practitioners: a design evaluation of digital platforms for ventricular assist device users. DRS2018, Limerick, Ireland, 25-28 June 2018. London, United Kingdom: Design Research Society. doi: 10.21606/drs.2018.639

  • Cascading mentorship: designing a support tool for patients with ventricular assist devices

    Etherington, Mackenzie Norman, University of Sydney, Ko, Keum Hee Kimmi, Dunn, Jessica Lea, Straker, Karla, Nusem, Erez, Wrigley, Cara and Gregory, Shaun (2018). Cascading mentorship: designing a support tool for patients with ventricular assist devices. DRS2018, Limerick, Ireland, 25-28 June 2018. London, United Kingdom: Design Research Society. doi: 10.21606/drs.2018.692

  • The interconnected process of design and science: a method for mapping concepts and knowledge

    Azzam, Carol, The University of Sydney, Straker, Karla and Wrigley, Cara (2018). The interconnected process of design and science: a method for mapping concepts and knowledge. DRS2018, Limerick, Ireland, 25-28 June 2018. London, United Kingdom: Design Research Society. doi: 10.21606/drs.2018.637

  • The design movement: Two case studies from the edge of the discipline

    Price, Rebecca and Straker, Karla (2017). The design movement: Two case studies from the edge of the discipline. 12th International Conference of the European Academy of Design (EAD), Rome, Italy, 12-14 April, 2017. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.1080/14606925.2017.1352953

  • Can emotion provide a new approach to business model innovation?

    Straker, Karla, Wrigley, Cara and Rosemann, Michael (2014). Can emotion provide a new approach to business model innovation?. 2013 IEEE-Tsinghua International Design Management Symposium: Design-Driven Business Innovation, TIDMS 2013, Shenzhen, China, 1-2 December, 2013. Piscataway, NJ United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/tidms.2013.6981252

  • Designing innovative business models: Five emerging meta-models

    Johnson, Dean, Wrigley, Cara, Straker, Karla and Bucolo, Sam (2014). Designing innovative business models: Five emerging meta-models. IEEE Tsinghua International Design Management Symposium, Shenzhen, China, 1-2 December 2013. Piscataway, NJ United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/tidms.2013.6981218

  • The educational design ladder: creation of a multi-discipline design thinking program

    Straker, Karla and Wrigley, Cara (2014). The educational design ladder: creation of a multi-discipline design thinking program. NordDesign, Espoo, Finland, 27-29 August 2014. Espoo, Finland: Aalto University.

  • Designing innovative business models: five emerging meta-models

    Johnson, Dean, Wrigley, Cara, Straker, Karla and Bucolo, Sam (2013). Designing innovative business models: five emerging meta-models. 2013 IEEE Tsinghua International Design Management Symposium, Shenzhen, China, 1-2 December 2013. Piscataway, NJ United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/tidms.2013.6981218

  • Designing innovative business models: five emerging meta-models

    Johnson, Dean, Wrigley, Cara, Straker, Karla and Bucolo, Sam (2013). Designing innovative business models: five emerging meta-models. 2013 IEEE Tsinghua International Design Management Symposium, Shenzhen, China, 1-2 December 2013. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/tidms.2013.6981218

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • Design Methodologies for Burdened Users

    Project Opportunity

    This Earmarked Scholarship project is aligned with a recently awarded Category 1 research grant. It offers you the opportunity to work with leading researchers and contribute to large projects of national significance.

    We are seeking an enthusiastic PhD student to conduct a research project about incorporating emotional affect into safety-critical products. The work will characterise existing user-centred design and interaction design methodologies, identify key barriers to reconciling often diverging requirements, and propose new processes for overcoming these obstacles.

    Some users across healthcare, transport, manufacturing, logistics, and emergency service environments, are compelled to use safety-critical controller products, over which they have little or no choice, to perform high-risk tasks. These users are burdened with significant responsibilities, and increased stress.

    The design of safety-critical controllers is usually driven by risk-mitigation and usability principles as demanded by regulatory requirements and quality standards. However, product development often overlooks the day-to-day experience of the human tasked with critical duties, including their emotions, attitudes, and motivations. Your project will develop evidence to support new ways of accommodating these ill-defined factors into a robust design process.

    This is an exciting opportunity to work with industry partner BiVACOR Pty. Ltd., researchers across several institutes, and to contextualise your research in the development of Total Artificial Heart (TAH) devices. Patients who use TAH products are faced with critical product interactions every day. The scholarship is part of ARC LP LP200100336 “Design Guidelines for Safety-critical Controllers in High-risk Environments”.

    This position is located at our picturesque St Lucia campus, renowned as one of Australia’s most attractive university campuses, and located just 7km from Brisbane’s city centre. Bounded by the Brisbane River on three sides, and with outstanding public transport connections, our 114-hectare site provides a perfect work environment – you can enjoy the best of both worlds: a vibrant campus with the tradition of an established university.

    Research Experience and expectations

    Research experience and expectations include, but are not limited to:

    • Conducting qualitative data collection and analysis
    • Conducting content analysis on secondary data sets
    • Conducting interviews with patients, caregivers and medical practitioners.

    Scholarship value

    As a scholarship recipient, you'll receive:

    • living stipend of $28,854 per annum tax free (2022 rate), indexed annually
    • tuition fees covered
    • single Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC)

For Media assistance please contact The Office of Marketing and Communications, (07) 3365 1120

Links

ORCID: 0000-0002-6520-4173

Scopus ID: 55875920700

Google Scholar ID: yCRxBBYAAAAJ

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