Rate My Professor Hernandez Ibinarriaga

Dr. Desiree Hernandez Ibinarriaga is a Senior Lecturer in Collaborative Design in the Department of Design, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at Monash University. An Indigenous Mexican woman with Chamula (Mayan), Nahua (Aztec), Euskaldunak (Basque), and Spanish heritage, she coordinates Indigenous Higher Degrees by Research at the Wominjeka Djeembana Research Lab. With over 16 years of professional experience in fields such as decolonising design, Indigenous design, design thinking, sustainability, social design, furniture, and interior design, her practice centers on fostering capacity building for Indigenous peoples and improving partnerships, collaboration, and communication between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities through design. She emphasizes relationality between people and place, privileging Indigenous knowledges to support biocultural diversity conservation, regeneration, collaborative resilience, cultural identity pride, and sustainability.

Dr. Hernandez Ibinarriaga earned her PhD in Design and Education from Deakin University in 2020, with a thesis on critical co-design methodology privileging Indigenous knowledges and biocultural diversity. She also holds a Master's in Design from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (2014) and a Bachelor's in Industrial Design from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (2007). Her research interests encompass design and co-design, design education, design theory, Indigenous methodologies, Indigenous design, and biocultural diversity. Notable publications include her book Decolonising and Indigenising Design: Theory, Methodologies, Storytelling, and Creative Practice (Routledge, 2025), which integrates Indigenous knowledge systems into contemporary practice across disciplines; the chapter 'INDIGENOUS DESIGN: A RELATIONAL PRACTICE BETWEEN PEOPLE AND PLACE' (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026); and the article 'Indigenising design: The Seven Grandfathers’ Teachings as a design methodology' (The Design Journal, 2022). She has created commissioned artworks such as 'Agave' (2022) and Tonantsintlalli (2022). Among her awards are the Dean’s Early Career Researcher of the Year Award (2025), Designers Australia Awards Use Category Award of Merit for 'Agave' (2023), Best Demo Award at the 10th International Conference on Communities & Technologies (2021), MADA Education Award (2021), and an honorific mention for her master's research (2014). She leads funded projects including Fire to Flourish (2025), Decolonising and Indigenising design (2024), and In Lak’ech (2022), contributing to transdisciplinary impacts in design, education, and beyond.