Professional Doctorate (Design Innovation and Creative Practice)

In this subject, you will learn to tell the difference between what makes an idea great and what makes it viable. Whether you are building a start-up or leading innovation inside a corporation, not-for-profit or government institution, the core practices of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship are the same, and you will apply them to a real opportunity. You will generate and challenge ideas, then combine creative thinking with lean experimentation, cash-flow modelling and business model analysis to build and pressure-test a new venture. AI tools can accelerate the work by generating ideas, modelling scenarios, stress-testing assumptions, but the ingenuity, the ethical judgement and the decision to commit remain human. By the end, you will have a business model you can stand behind, and the reasoning to defend it.

Assessment Tasks: Business Concept Plan, Business Pitch – The Intrapreneur: Pitching Inside the Organisation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Today's decisions have to be made quickly, individually and in groups, with what often appears to be ambiguous or too much data. How does one select, observe and distil the most pertinent data sets to make decisions that will positively impact tomorrow's firms and communities? This subject engages students in the nuances of data collection, how to filter data and how to use it most effectively in decision-making. The subject develops the student's qualitative and quantitative research skills, and digital literacy.

Assessment Tasks: Decision Style Analysis, Case Study Presentation and Report, Reflective Analysis

Delivery mode: On campus, Online

This subject introduces you to global technology management issues. You will investigate technology strategy, commercialising- and integration of technology, the importance of ethics, responsibility, and sustainability (ERS) in technology, and how to manage emerging and disruptive technologies in firms. This subject emphasises emerging methodologies and practices used in developing and implanting technology, which you can apply to existing and new technologies. At the conclusion of this subject, you will have developed insight into the practice of technology management in organisations for optimum strategic-, and operational efficiency.

Assessment Tasks: Presentation, Reports

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject explores how the practice of design shapes and is shaped by the ecological, financial, and technological demands of modern business. As a designer, you will provide services for a variety of businesses, therefore it is critical to understand how a business operates.

This includes:

• How design contributes to the strategic and operational success of a business and the broader economic landscape.
• How design drives viable and sustainable business to meet customer demands.
• The essential functions required to establish a successful business.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Business Model Canvas, Business Plan

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Service Design is a human-centred approach to developing quality service interactions that can improve user experiences, meet business objectives and create impact. Students will identify and define an existing complex service problem or issue, which they will investigate using various design research methods. They will use advanced journey mapping and service blueprinting methods to analyse and apply their research findings. In doing so, they can develop innovative solutions at the intersection of users, businesses, and technology.

These could include digital or physical products, services, systems and processes. This subject will challenge students to expand their thinking and equip them with a human-centred mindset to work in adaptive work environments.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Journal, Video

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject addresses the meaning, practices and elements of social innovation from a global and local perspective, in the context of contemporary and future social culture, and social need for both the individual and community.

Students will identify what is a social issue or problem and critically analyse examples of social issues and innovative strategies or processes to address their social project issues or problems. They will synthesise information from scholarly literature, key media elements, and leading industry exemplars.

Students will develop a relevant project brief, employing a range of tools and innovation methodologies, such as:

• researching and understanding real social need and key stakeholders
• identifying where change needs to occur and how this provides the opportunity for innovation
• strategy and key stakeholder mapping, measuring impact and other key processes

Assessment Tasks: Journal, Report, Presentation, Video

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject develops conceptual and practical knowledge and skills in experience design for digital products and services. Students will use common experience design methods and tools to analyse user needs. Students will work through the design process to improve and refine the user experience in relation to the requirements of a specific client brief. Throughout this subject students will develop their knowledge and skillset to design usable and user-centred experiences.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Design Prototype, Journal

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject covers the scoping, planning, design and delivery of a multi-platform user experience design project. Students will be introduced to agile project management methodologies, iterative design and the use of scenario or story-based analysis. These processes will inform the design and development of projects for multi-platform outcomes. In addition, students will develop and extend their knowledge of usability testing and validation processes in order to resolve a comprehensive user experience plan across multiple digital platforms.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Presentation, Design Prototype, Video

Delivery Mode: Online

In Design Studio, students will research and develop alternative design strategies and solutions in response to a complex problem or need. Working individually, students will investigate various design processes, that will enable them to determine the direction and scope for their Design Studio project and outcome.

Students will develop and expand their knowledge and understanding of contextual issues, processes and technical tools that underpin design practice.

Working within their design discipline of choice, students define a project that allows for innovative and experimental responses to a developed brief. As a result, students will develop confidence in their abilities to take risks and tackle projects that range in scope and ambiguity.

Working alongside with inter-disciplinary peers, students will be encouraged to push their personal boundaries to develop new perspectives and ways of thinking for design solutions.

Assessment Tasks: Journal, presentation, artefact development, report

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Open Studio provides students the opportunity to pursue a significant project in a collaborative or professional environment. Students will develop skills in professional practice, team work and critical thinking that will enhance their prospects of gaining meaningful employment and build their career for the future.

By reflecting on current industry practice and future needs, students broaden their learning while studying in a ‘real world’ context as they work towards a design outcome or solution for their final project.

There are two project options available to students:

Option 1: Industry Brief

Students respond to criteria set within the context of an Industry Project. Research methodologies appropriate to professional design practice and the documentation of personal creative investigation will be applied. In addition, students will investigate and examine commercial opportunities through collaborative work practice.  Students draw upon the philosophical, practical, methodological, theoretical and technical tools they have gathered over the duration of their studies to successfully complete their project. The project is proposed as inter-disciplinary and draws on both specialised and common industry practices.

Option 2: Industry placement

This project offers students the opportunity to undertake a design industry placement in their chosen discipline. A workplace environment can enable long-term industry relationships to be established as students learn from people who may become employers, colleagues or mentors in the future. Students will undertake a series of industry-led tasks that are relevant to their design discipline in order to understand the fundamental concepts of working in or managing a professional design team. With emphasis on the operation of the environment, students enhance their communication skills and ability to work collaboratively in a professional context.

The subject is delivered from a cross specialisation perspective and draws on both specialised and common industry practices.

Pre-requisite: DSGN6032 Design Studio

Assessment Tasks: e-journal, report, presentation, interview

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online, Intensive

The subject explores design leadership in driving success and innovation, regardless of the type of organisation you work in. It offers a comprehensive exploration of leadership in organisations, focusing on how design can drive innovation and change by navigating the complexity of our “faster future”. It provides an understanding of the role of design leaders in organisations, which skills and competences they might have to drive design-led innovation at the organizational strategic level. Students will learn and apply methodologies like systems thinking, strategic design, agile management, visual thinking and business modelling to navigate the complexity of organizational transformations.

Students will examine the concepts, principles, skills and capabilities required to lead design teams and design agendas to influence organisational wide transformation. Students will evaluate different leadership styles, reflect on their own style, and apply strategies used to influence positive and sustainable change. This will enhance their leadership capabilities and prepare for future leadership roles. Students develop critical skills in design leadership, teamworking, sustainable and creative change. The course culminates in a final Design Leadership Project, where students apply learned concepts to real-world challenges.

Assessment Tasks: Report, presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

The Advanced Design Studio is a practice-based subject that provides the environment for students to develop a major design outcome. The project is based upon the platform of research work, preliminary concepts and proposal that have emerged throughout the Research and Innovation subject.  

Students will apply their knowledge of design practice and processes considering socio-cultural, ethical, technical, sustainable and economic issues to inform a responsible design outcome.  

An important aspect will be developing and iterating concepts to deliver a design prototype or outcome for evaluation and testing. This includes analysing the functional and aesthetic qualities for the design outcome that successfully addresses the students’ proposed brief.  

Design outcomes may encompass a digital or physical artefact, service design, spatial design, communication design or systems design in the students’ preferred design discipline.  

Pre-requisite: DSGN6029 Research and Innovation

Assessment Tasks: Final brief, report, presentation, artefact development

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

User Research introduces students to the tools and methodologies required for both user research and user experience research. Students will use various research methods such as surveys, interviews and observations to provide insights to user needs, behaviours and attitudes.

As part of their research students will define research objectives, recruit participants, create research protocols, analyse data, and report on their findings. This includes the use of personas and usability testing for greater insights and understanding of user needs and attitudes.

Students will consolidate and present their research findings to inform the future development of a UX design project.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Presentation, Research Plan

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

In this subject, you will have the opportunity to engage with a diverse range of educational technologies with a view to examining the relevance and application of such technologies within their professional context. More broadly, students will engage with theoretical frameworks surrounding technologies in education, refining their skills to critique and analyse the ethical and pedagogical principles related to the integration of technology in diverse and inclusive learning communities. You will have the opportunity to consider specific technologies that are relevant for their professional setting and to create a safe and equitable learning environment that fosters digital empathy and the well-being of learners and teachers.

Assessment Tasks: Reflection, Blog

Delivery Mode: Online

Design Thinking is an approach to innovation that involves identifying ‘problems’ or issues in a particular context, empathising with those who have a stake in these problems/issues and designing a range of possible solutions that are then prototyped, tested and refined in practice. In this subject, you will explore the concepts and processes of design thinking, including the origins of Design Thinking and its use across a range of disciplines and contexts. Following these general processes, you will then engage in a design thinking process to identify and address an issue within your own professional context. Through this Design Thinking process, you will engage in reflection, analysis and development of your professional skills, knowledge and judgement, and ultimately arrive at an advanced understanding of your roles as both an innovator and a leader in your professional context.

Assessment Tasks: Report, prototyping project

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online, Intensive

Digital health competency is an essential part of employability in the health and well-being sector in the current world and one that is mandatory for Australian health professionals.

Develop your knowledge in this area by exploring the current and emerging information communication technologies (ICTs) in use within the Australian health sector, including national eHealth records, telehealth, telemedicine, mHealth, mobile apps, wearable technologies, internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and others. The strategic use of technologies and methods to protect the privacy and security of citizens (e.g., permission blockchain), along with respective legal frameworks (i.e., policies and law), will also be examined.

Learn how to identify basic applications of health informatics in the public health context, focusing on health surveillance methods in prevalence (e.g., disease surveillance, mapping, contact tracing). The relevance of specific data sets and how these are synthesised using ICT tools and techniques will also be considered. Current methods will be evaluated, with an applied focus on how social media and digital tools are being used in public health surveillance.

Lastly, you will consider how digital technology applies to your chosen profession (e.g., doctor, nurse, paramedic, allied health). You will also reflect on how technology augments public and population health skills, and how health care ethics need to be coordinated across different health care professions. 

Pre-requisite: PUBH6000 Behavioral, social and cultural factors in public health 

Assessment Tasks: Report, Digital Presentation , Progress Documentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, online 

As digital health technologies continue to evolve in the public health sector, it is essential for Australian health and allied health professionals to develop the capability to analyse, manage, and improve digital health and information management to meet patient and organisational needs.

In this subject, you will develop skills to conceptually map health information workflows across a range of healthcare settings, gaining insight into how data moves between systems, professionals, and patients. You will learn about the policies, principles and guidelines that govern digital health management, and how they are applied across a range of professional contexts and organisations.

Through critical analysis of case studies and real-world systems, you will learn to identify and evaluate gaps in digital healthcare delivery and health information workflows. Building on this, you will apply evidence-based approaches to recommend practical solutions that improve digital health management, with consideration of system design, clinical safety, usability, and human factors.

A strong emphasis is placed on stakeholder roles, collaboration and communication, enabling you to understand how clinicians, patients, organisations and communities interact within digital health ecosystems. The explores key technologies including e-health solutions, electronic medical records (EMRs), clinical decision support systems, and patient-facing digital platforms. You will analyse how these tools support health service delivery and examine the role of various stakeholders in facilitating effective, participatory, and patient-centred digital health practices.

Finally, you will evaluate digital health management practices across Australian and global contexts, comparing approaches and identifying strategies that support contextually appropriate and sustainable implementation in your own professional setting.

Co-requisite: DHI401 Digital  Health and Informatics

Assessment tasks: Report, Presentation

This subject provides an applied exploration of digital health data dashboards that use artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. It focuses on how these tools are used to predict disease trends and support preventive strategies in public health.

You will work within a global context, engaging with a range of international and country-level dashboards. Through weekly learning activities—primarily hands-on exploration of these dashboards—you will develop an understanding of how public health data is collected, analysed, and translated into population-level health initiatives. For example, you will work with resources such as the WHO SCORE dashboard, as well as other disease prediction and forecasting tools. These platforms demonstrate how data is used to inform prevention strategies and guide public health policy. You will also explore emerging data sources, including those derived from social media, and examine how these are used to generate insights across areas such as clinical decision-making, aged care, nursing, and broader population health.

The subject also highlights the importance of inclusive data practices, including the participation and representation of Indigenous communities and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations in health data systems. In addition, you will be introduced to translational bioinformatics—an interdisciplinary approach that integrates data from life sciences and biotechnology (such as sensors and wearable devices). You will learn how this data is collected, managed, and analysed to develop new predictive tools and health interventions.

By the end of the subject, through ongoing applied activities such as exploring dashboards, generating data, and presenting insights, you will gain a strong appreciation of how automated digital health informatics systems support real-time public health decision-making within your professional context.

Co-requisite: DHI401 Digital Health and Informatics

Assessment tasks: Recorded Demonstration, Report, Presentation

Students will demonstrate micro-skills, attending and communication process skills, verbal and non-verbal communication, nuanced listening and reflecting skills, and the use and abuse of questions.

Assessment Tasks: Demonstration, Journal, Report

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online, Intensive

Is generative AI a panacea for solving real-world problems? The BAN403 subject explores the full lifecycle of generative AI technologies. You will engage with novel tools and techniques to design and implement an AI-driven solution. The module content will help you define a problem and set goals for implementing a solution. You will then engage with technology to solve the problem, exploring topics such as data collection and processing, model selection and training, deployment, evaluation, and ethical and financial considerations. Each topic is structured to build understanding of the technologies and practical expertise in developing effectively and responsibly in an AI-enabled world.

Pre-requisites: BANASD604 Artificial Intelligence and its responsible use in Business

Assessment Tasks: Report, Presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject introduces the basics of deep learning and how to build neural networks. Students are presented with different methods and applications to different AI sub-areas such as natural language processing, speech recognition, and computer vision. The subject begins with the introduction of simple neural networks such as multi-layer perceptron, and to more complicated concepts such as recurrent neural networks, convolutional networks, and long short-term networks.

Pre-requisite: MFA501 Mathematical Foundations

Assessment Tasks: Report, Presentation, Source Code

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Have you ever considered how a streaming service recommends which shows to watch? When you take this subject, you will learn about essential techniques such as descriptive statistics, distributions, machine learning, and recommendation systems. The activities will allow you to apply these statistical techniques to different datasets using various tools to perform analysis and reporting. Your ability to communicate these data-informed insights effectively will be practiced throughout the subject.

Assessment Tasks: Presentation, Test

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject provides an in-depth understanding of distributed application and systems development by training learners to aggregate resources of networked computers to construct highly versatile and scalable services. The topics cover how to implement thread pools that leverage lightweight concurrency primitives, harness concepts of distributed algorithms and discuss the role of overlays in content dissemination. Case studies of distributed systems are also covered in detail. Finally, learners design efficient data representation formats for communication between distributed components.

Pre-requisite: CCF501 Cloud Computing Fundamental

Assessment Tasks: Online Test, Report, Source Code

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject will introduce you to database fundamentals. You will learn about creating, storing, and managing data in an organisational context. You will explore relational database design and modelling techniques. Including how to resolve data anomalies and the process of data management. Key topic areas covered in this subject are normalisation, SQL and emerging trends in database technology.

Assessment Tasks: Modelling Report, Database implementation, Report

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

This subject is designed to provide a graduate-level student an in-depth understanding of the methodologies, technologies, and algorithms currently used in machine learning. Students will be introduced to the theory behind a range of machine learning tools and practice applying the tools to different applications. It explores topics such as classification, linear models, supervised and unsupervised learning in conjunction with applied and theoretical machine learning concepts. Students complete practical activities using machine learning algorithms and methods.

Pre-requisite: MFA501 Mathematical Foundations of AI

Assessment Tasks: Notebook with mark-up, presentation, model selection

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Want to deliver valuable business analysis outcomes that positively address business and societal requirements? Acquire foundational knowledge and competencies for undertaking business analysis and for progressing towards industry certification from the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). Develop your ability to deliver business analysis outcomes, learning about life cycles of business analysis such as identifying business requirements, interpreting analytics solutions, and collaborating with experts and non-expert stakeholders.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Exam, Presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Examine how to manage data in business to deliver valuable analytics outcomes. Learn how to manage the volume, variety, velocity, veracity, and value of data by developing knowledge of data storage and processing infrastructure platforms for analysing data. Develop skills communicating with expert and non-expert stakeholders ensuring appropriate analytical technology is used to convert data into valuable insights and analytics outcomes. You will analyse contemporary trends for managing the scale of data generated, stored, and processed, and for future proofing data analytics strategies and outcomes.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online

Learn the art of storytelling: using data to develop insights that inform business decision making. Develop data representation and visualisation skills based on four theoretical pillars of effective stories: people, place, purpose and plot. You will be introduced to different strategies and techniques for using data and analytics to inform and persuade stakeholders and facilitate decision making. In evaluating different visualisation platforms and their benefits, you will gain experience using industry leading analysis tools.

Assessment Tasks: Report, Presentation

Delivery Mode: On Campus, Online, Intensive

The subjects focus on substantial writing for thesis and analysis for the thesis project. Students will be expected to demonstrate high-level skills in independent research and/or analysis and in written expression as well as a degree of original input into the thesis project. Students are required to keep a research journal and regular submission of written work is expected to allow for the refinement of the student's development of ideas and writing style through critical feedback from the supervisor. The student is required to complete 160 credit points of thesis writing.

THE601, THE602, THE603, THE604, THE605, THE606, THE607 THE 608 THE609 THE610 THE611 THE612 THE613 THE614 THE615, THE616 are all 10 credit points each.