Dr Michael Dunbar (AKA ‘Miek’) is an interaction design practitioner, researcher and educator. He is focused on designing and building digital information tools for social change and the collaborative and entrepreneurial design practices that support impact.

Through over fifteen years of experience as an interaction designer in public, private and independent enterprise settings, Michael has developed a practice that is focused on bringing about new digital tools and platforms through a combination of Interaction Design, Design Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Agile, front-end-software development, data visualisation and Communication Design. Highlights of his professional career include the creation of .id Housing Monitor, used by local governments around Australia to monitor and address housing affordability; a touchscreen interactive for OOM Creative and the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Rarau Mai Living City, on permanent exhibit; and The Scale, an interactive visualisation for exploring climate inequality between nations for NotJustCelsius, created in collaboration with Regine Abos (RMIT) and the Interactive Media Foundation.

In his latest research, Michael has partnered with Regen Melbourne in an ongoing project to develop the Greater Melbourne City Portrait, a digital platform for measuring Melbourne’s progress towards a safe and just social and ecological future.