Dr. Erik Bohemia

Fachbereich 4 - Design

Dr. Erik Bohemia

Short biography

I have worked in academia researching Design Innovation for over two decades. I am actively shaping the Design Research agenda through co-chairing key international design research conferences and through editorial roles at key design journals. I have a strong international research profile, which has been recognised by both national and international peers. I have worked in Australia, Norway and the UK, with visiting appointments at a variety of international design schools, such as the Technical University of Delft (Netherlands), the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), Shandong University of Arts and Design (China), Shandong University of Science and Technology (China) and Polytechnic University of Milan (Italy). I led to completion an Arts Humanities Research Council funded project exploring how new digital technologies are affecting and changing knowledge translation in New Product Development and innovation.

Founded the Academy for Design Innovation Management Network (ADIM), an international network for developing and supporting the interests of the design innovation research community. Close to 1000 members have been supporting ADIM’s events.

My ongoing research is in the broad area of ‘Materialities of Designing’. I am interested in Design innovation as a cultural practice and its material effects on individuals and society. As designer moves more into areas such as: Service Design, Design for Public Policy, Strategic Design, Design for Social Change; the design-driven innovation of meaning practices, facilitated by co-design methods, will become ever more prominent. This is also the case for the more established areas of design such as the Sustainable Design as adoption of many potential solutions to tackle sustainability issues are dependent on “modifying” the end-users’ “value systems”, which raise significant ethical issues which will need to be debated, explored and negotiated.

Selected Full Peer Reviewed Publications

  • Neubauer, R., Bohemia, E., & Harman, K. (2020). Rethinking Design: From the Methodology of Innovation to the Object of Design. Design Issues, 36(2), 18–27. doi:10.1162/desi_a_00587
  • Rodriguez Ferradas, M. I., Bohemia, E., & Canik, Y. (2020). Startups’ open innovation journeys with large companies. UCJC Business and Society Review. https://journals.ucjc.edu/ubr/article/view/4099
  • Fan, Y., Zhang, Y., Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L. M., & Xia, X. (2020). Innovation and Creativity in Design and Engineering Education. In L. Buck, E. Bohemia, & H. Grierson (Eds.), DS 104: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE2020: The Value of Design & Engineering Education in a Knowledge Age. Glasgow, Scotland: The Design Society. doi:10.35199/EPDE.2020.26
  • Lofthouse, V., Bohemia, E., & Kuzmina, K. (2018). Pedagogy for visually supported acquisition of cross-disciplinary innovation skills and knowledge. In S. Griffith, K. Carruthers, & M. Biemel (Eds.), Visual tools for developing student capacity for cross-disciplinary collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship capacity (pp. 143–175). Champaign, IL: Common Ground Research Networks.
  • Canik, Y., Fain, N., Bohemia, E., Telalbasic, I., & Tewes, V. (2018). Integrating Individual Knowledge into Innovation Processes of R&D Alliances. In D. Marjanović, M. Štorga, S. Škec, N. Bojčetić, & N. Pavković (Eds.), DS 92: Proceedings of the DESIGN 2018 15th International Design Conference (pp. 1805–1814). Croatia: Design Society.
  • Zhang, Y., Bohemia, E., & McCardle, J. (2018). Insights on How Metacognition Influences Knowledge Application in Product Design Education. In D. Marjanović, M. Štorga, S. Škec, N. Bojčetić, & N. Pavković (Eds.), DS 92: Proceedings of the DESIGN 2018 15th International Design Conference (pp. 2541–2552). Dubrovnik, Croatia: Design Society.
  • Ghassan, A., & Bohemia, E. (2015). The Global Studio: Incorporating Peer-Learning into the Design Curriculum. FORMakademisk, 8(1), 1–11. doi:10.7577/formakademisk.1406
  • Ghassan, A., & Bohemia, E. (2015). Amplifying Learners' Voices through the Global Studio. In M. Tovey (Ed.), Design Pedagogy: developments in Art and Design Education (pp. 215–236). Gower Farnham.
  • Bohemia, E. (2014). Designing with and for others. Archives of Design Research, 27(4), 5–15. doi:10.15187/adr.2014.11.112.4.5
  • Bohemia, E., & Davison, G. (2012). Authentic Learning: The gift project. Design and Technology Education: an International Journal, 17(2), 49–61.
  • Bohemia, E., & Ghassan, A. (2012). Globally Networked Collaborative Learning in Industrial Design. American Journal of Distance Education, 26(2), 110–125. doi:10.1080/08923647.2012.663678
  • Bohemia, E., Harman, K., & McDowell, L. (2009). Intersections: The utility of an ‘Assessment for Learning’ discourse for Design educators. Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education, 8(2), 123–134. doi:10.1386/adch.8.2.123/1
  • Bohemia, E., & Harman, K. (2008). Globalization and Product Design Education: The Global Studio. Design Management Journal, 3(2), 53–68. doi:10.1111/j.1948-7177.2008.tb00014.x
  • Lauche, K., Bohemia, E., Connor, C., & Badke-Schaub, P. (2008). Distributed Collaboration in Design Education: Practising Designer and Clients Roles. Journal of Design Research, 7(3), 238–258. doi:10.1504/JDR.2008.024193
  • Harman, K., & Bohemia, E. (2007). Structure and Play: Rethinking Regulation in the Higher Education Sector. Industry and Higher Education, 21(5), 367–374. doi:10.5367/000000007782311803
  • Bohemia, E., & Harman, K. (2006). Boundary Crossing: Negotiating Learning Outcomes in Industry Based Student Projects. In W. Aung & C. Crosthwaite & R. V. Espinosa & J. Moscinski & S.-H. Ou & L. M. Sánchez Ruiz (Eds.), Innovations 2006: World Innovations in Engineering Education and Research (pp. 179–192). Arlington, VA: Begell House Publishing.
  • Bohemia, E. (2002). Designer as integrator: reality or rhetoric? The Design Journal, 5(2), 23–34. doi:10.2752/146069202790718549
  • Bohemia, E. (2000). Suitability of industrial designers to manage a product development group: Australian perspective. Design Management Journal: Academic Review, 1(1), 40–54. doi:10.1111/j.1948-7177.2000.tb00004.x

Qualifications/Education

2003 – Completed PhD, titled ‘Lean manufacturing and its impact on the role of Industrial Designers in Australia’, with the Faculty of Built Environment at the University of New South Wales, Australia
1994 – Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Industrial Design at the RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), Australia, gained First Class Honours.
1993 – Completed a four year full-time Bachelor of Arts (Industrial Design) degree at the University of Newcastle, Australia