Rate My Professor Mark Richardson

Dr Mark Richardson serves as Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Department of Design at Monash University’s Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture. With a PhD in Design from Monash University awarded in 2014, his doctoral thesis, "FAB Velo: an 'open design' for accessible, diverse and sustainable personal transport," explored hands-on practices to advance ecologically and socially sustainable mobility systems. He also holds a Bachelor of Design in Industrial Design from RMIT University, obtained in 1994. Before joining academia, Richardson was a senior designer at Ford Motor Company, where he contributed to high-profile projects such as the R7 show car, Territory, European Mondeo, and Asia Pacific Fiesta, spanning conceptual design to global manufacturing.

Richardson’s research specializations encompass Industrial Design, Design for Social Innovation, 3D printing, Distributed Production, Open Design, Sustainable Design, and Upcycling. He investigates pathways to transition from conventional design and production methods toward more sustainable, resilient, and accessible systems of creating, making, sharing, and learning. His notable publications include the book Urban Mobility Design (Elsevier, 2019), co-authored contributions to Proceedings of DRS 2020: Synergy on integrating virtual reality into industrial design (2020), and the article "Maker Culture and Possibilities for Attached Consumption" in Arena (2017). Key projects under his leadership include the Warracknabeal Creative Circuit (2020-2022), transforming a historic courthouse into an arts hub and makerspace in regional Victoria; Co-Make Melbourne (2019-2020); and initiatives on upcycling waste PVC for roof tiles and component reuse for sustainable manufacturing. Richardson has earned recognition through awards like the 2015 Victorian Architecture Award for Small Project Architecture (shared with Matthew Bird) and Good Design Australia Selection in Architectural Design. His work has garnered media attention from ABC Radio, The Wimmera Mail-Times, and state government outlets. Currently accepting PhD students, he aligns his efforts with UN Sustainable Development Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.