Dr Willhemina Wahlin is a multidisciplinary practitioner and researcher with work spanning communication design, journalism and higher education. She is the Creative Director for the New York-based non-profit organisation, PROOF: Media for Social Justice and an Adjunct Lecturer with Charles Sturt University. Willhemina has almost 15 years experience in exhibition and publication design. She has extensive knowledge of design methods, including Design Thinking, Human-Centred Design and Co-Design, and has implemented these as an experienced and engaging facilitator in a range of educational and community stakeholder contexts. She has written features, columns and articles for magazines, newspapers and digital publications in Japan, the United States and Australia, and has been an editor, assistant editor and proof-reader for books, magazines and academic journals. Willhemina’s current research takes a designerly approach to Local Government strategic planning and evaluation. Partnering with an Australian local government, the study draws on methods of Human-Centred Design, Co-Design and Public Policy Design to enhance the community engagement processes in the creation of a Cultural Strategic Plan and evaluation strategy.She has also led a team of researchers to develop the Creative Citizen Project. Its aim is to enhance both the political knowledge and creative problem-solving skills of young regional Australians by combining Design Thinking, Civics and Citizenship education and creative storytelling skills. Project partners include The Whitlam Institute, Swinburne University of Technology and PROOF: Media for Social Justice. Willhemina has designed multiple exhibitions that have been shown in the Holocaust Museum Houston, the Washington Institute of Peace, the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, and locations internationally. She is a member of SEGD’s Academic Task Force and a member of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council’s Cultural Steering Group.

In this role, I have taught design methods (Design Thinking, Human Centred Design), design practice (typography and publishing, brand and identity, web design, campaign design, design for social innovation, strategic design, digital imaging, design history and visual communication theory.

As the Acting Associate Head of School, I worked closely with the Head of School to manage the academic workloads of the school and provided staff with learning and teaching support. As part of the school's leadership team, we worked on strategies and policies for the school, including the workload policy, strategic planning for reviews and course development, as well as building partnerships with community, government and industry partners.

As PROOF's Creative Director, I am responsible for the visual identity of the organisation, from branding to blogs, the website to exhibition designs. I also design annual reports, books and other promotional material. I work closely with the curator to manage projects that often involve people working in multiple regions across the world. Always educational and always challenging, this role has taught me more about design than any other. See proof.org for more details.

I was part of the research team working on the project, "A Fair Day's Wage: Detecting Wage Theft with Data". You can find out more here: https://government.unimelb.edu.au/research/regulation-and-design/Home/detecting-wage-theft-with-data

Braenchild Media specialises in working with non-profit organisations, creating brand and identity, annual reports, strategy documents, presentations and websites. Clients include the Norwegian Human Rights Fund, I Defend Rights and Entrellis.

I worked for Japan Inc as an Assistant Editor and feature writer for a number of years. My articles focused primarily on climate change and energy security issues, but also covered women in the workplace and business. I also worked as an editor and assistant editor for the magazine.