Doreen Donovan

Dr Doreen Donovan is a communication designer, researcher and design educator based in South Australia, currently the Program Director of the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours) program at Adelaide University. Her background as creative industry professional demonstrates international recognition through selection of her work in premier international juried design exhibitions such as the International Biennale of Graphic Design; Drawn: Singaplural at Singapore Design Week; and the To Death with a Smile exhibition at the Mexican Museum of Design—one of only three Australian entries selected from 30,000 submissions. Her career as design practitioner is augmented by twenty years as communication design academic and researcher, merging design, education and sustainability with the completion of a practice-based PhD, shortlisted for the 2019 AIAP Women in Design Award (AWDA) and exhibited in Florence, Italy. This prestigious award is endorsed by the International Council of Design—the leading international industry body for Communication Design. Donovan's research focuses on addressing real-world problems particularly in collaboration with young people and marginalized communities and outcomes include academic articles and creative artefacts. She is passionate about creative research and practice, particularly in the context of environmental and social sustainability. In her capacity as tertiary educator she has developed extensive experience in the management and curating of complex projects with multiple stakeholders in a range of contexts. Her teaching, co-ordination and supervision expertise extends to a diverse range of courses across a number of undergraduate and post-graduate programs in the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours), Bachelor of Graphic Communication Design, Bachelor of Design (Illustration & Animation), Graduate Diploma/Master of Design (Communication Design), Graduate Diploma/Master of Creative Practice. I am interested in practice-based research, co-design and participatory action research with a range of stakeholders including children, young people and rural communities. My focus is on Sustainability, Science Communications, Design for Health and Wellbeing.

[2026] Bryant, L., Cothren, A., Donovan, D., & Munro, K. (2026). Filming scientific entanglements in the Coorong: Epistemic emotions and sensations in regenerating the Coorong. Journal of Environmental Media. [2023] Donovan, D. (2023). It's all about the message: promoting sustainability through communication design. In D. Fischer (Ed.), Source details - Title: Teaching and learning sustainable consumption: a guidebook (pp. 216-219). UK: Routledge. [2025] Donovan, D., & Keulemans, G. (2025). Illustrating diversity in honours level student-led research. The Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Creative Arts (DDCA).