Dr. Rosie Hornbuckle
Research Assistant
Post-Doctoral Researcher: Trash-to-Cash
Rosie is a researcher and educator focusing on the interesting place where Design, Materials and Sustainability overlap. Much of her early career was spent at Rematerialise, a collection of sustainable materials based at Kingston University. Here Rosie completed her collaborative PhD entitled “Design and The Materials Cycle: An investigation into secondary material use in design practice”. This involved working with reprocessors, manufacturers and designers to understand the barriers to utilizing waste materials in high-end volume production. A key outcome of this research was the understanding that effective communication and collaboration must be central to sustainable solutions. Rosie has taught at undergraduate and post-graduate levels covering a variety of topics relating to sustainable design theory and practice, as well as design research methods.
Research Interests
Rosie’s current work is concerned with how materials information is communicated and translated between designers, suppliers and technologists, to support materials development within a circular economy. Central to her work is the idea of “Materials Translators”, people who can communicate material benefits or needs using appropriate language (visual, verbal, tactile…) for non-specialist audiences. It is this expertise in particular that Rosie brings to her role on the Trash-to-Cash project at TED, which demands open, collaborative information exchange between partners from different industries and knowledge areas. Rosie believes that effective communication will be one of the significant factors in achieving circular economies.
Current Research Projects
- Trash-to-cash
Key Expertise
Design Materials Sustainability Research Education Communication
Most Recent Published Work
- Materials Translators: observations from a study of sustainable materials information provision and design behaviour in London, UK
- Sustainable Innovation 2013: Collaboration, Co-creation and new business models (conference proceedings)
- Design & The Materials Cycle: an investigation into secondary material use in design practice
- PhD Thesis: Kingston University 2010
- A-Z of Sustainable Materials: Activating learning in sustainable design: using a hands-on materials workshop to engage students
- The Higher Education Academy: Art Design Media Subject Centre June 2010 (online)http://www.adm.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/case-studies/a-z-of-sustainable-materials-activating-learning-in-sustainable-design-using-a-hands-on-materials-workshop-to-engage-students/
- Are We The Tool? Nordes 2009 Engaging Artefacts: Nordic Design Research Conference, “Utilising waste plastic in Design Practice”
- Essay in Plastics: Looking at The Future and Learning from The Past (2009) by Brenda Keneghan & Louise Egan (eds)
Websites: www.rosiehornbuckle.com
Twitter: @rosiehornbuckle
