Rate My Professor Cara Wrigley

Professor Cara Wrigley is Professor of Design in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning within the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology at the University of Queensland. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy from Queensland University of Technology. Previously, she held the Jericho Chair of Design Innovation at the University of Sydney, leading an interdisciplinary research group sponsored by the Royal Australian Air Force. There, she established and directed the Defence by Design Group, conducting applied research projects in the military domain that contributed to the theoretical development of military design thinking, now taught and applied throughout the Australian Defence Force. She also founded the Design Innovation Research Group, focusing on design-led research into people, emotions, strategy, and business. Wrigley has extensive experience in curriculum development, including creating and delivering a Massive Open Online Course on Design Innovation in 2018, rolling out a university-wide Design Major in 2018, and launching the Master of Design Innovation and Strategic Design program in 2019, as detailed in Design Thinking Pedagogy: Facilitating Innovation and Impact in Tertiary Education (2023, with Genevieve Mosely).

Her research specializations encompass design innovation, design thinking, emotional design, interdisciplinary design education, and applications in health, medicine, defence, and business models. Wrigley has authored or edited seven books, including Research Handbook on Design Thinking (2023, edited with Karla Straker), Creativity in Military Complexity: Design, Disruptors and Defence Forces (2025, with Murray Simons), Design Innovation and Integration (2021, with Karla Straker and Erez Nusem), Design Innovation for Health and Medicine (2020, with Karla Straker and Erez Nusem), and Affected: Emotionally Engaging Customers in the Digital Age (2018, with Karla Straker). She has published more than 100 refereed journal articles in journals such as Design Studies, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Review of Education, and Design for Health. As Editor-in-Chief of Design Studies, Elsevier's leading design research journal, she shapes academic discourse. Wrigley has secured over $60 million in competitive grants, including from the Australian Research Council, Medical Research Future Fund, and industry partners like BiVACOR and Brisbane Airport Corporation. She has delivered invited keynotes at conferences including the European Mechanical Circulatory Support Summit (2019, Vienna) and the American Society of Artificial Internal Organs 65th Annual Conference (2019, San Francisco), and serves as an Australian Research Council reviewer. She has received Australian Good Design Awards.