Chris has over 25 years experience as a designer and educator in the UK and in Australia. As a practicing designer and illustrator he has worked professionally in editorial publishing and in freelance practice, specialising in mixed-media and digital work for print, web and moving image. Chris moved to Australia in 2008 with his family and began teaching at UniSA on the Bachelor of Communication Design program. He specialises in the socio-cultural and ecological impacts of design and teaches theory and practice in undergraduate and post-graduate studies. Chris's approach to practice and research is distinctly interdisciplinary and employs methodologies, processes, theories and technologies from a range of contexts. Chris holds a Ph.D in... Read more
About me
Chris has over 25 years experience as a designer and educator in the UK and in Australia. As a practicing designer and illustrator he has worked professionally in editorial publishing and in freelance practice, specialising in mixed-media and digital work for print, web and moving image. Chris moved to Australia in 2008 with his family and began teaching at UniSA on the Bachelor of Communication Design program. He specialises in the socio-cultural and ecological impacts of design and teaches theory and practice in undergraduate and post-graduate studies. Chris's approach to practice and research is distinctly interdisciplinary and employs methodologies, processes, theories and technologies from a range of contexts. Chris holds a Ph.D in Design Studies from the University of South Australia where his current research investigates the design potential and interconnectedness of social narratives, ecological identity and the phenomenon of environmental perception.
About me
Doctor of Philosophy University of South Australia
Master of Arts University of the West of England Bristol
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Bath College of Higher Education
Chris's PhD thesis is titled Embodied Narratives for human-nature relation: A potential field for design. It explores fundamental conficts between cultures of modernity, contemporary environmental communications and our urgent need for long-term, pro-environmental design strategy. Chris's research is distinctly interdisciplinary, drawing from narrative theory, social-psychology, identity theory, linguistics, neuroscience and phenomenological philosophy to inform strategies for pro-environmental communication design. It explores the critical effects of multimodal, place-based communications as a catalyst for ontological changes in self-concept, arguing that cultural communications for long-term sustainable societies must seek to engage and... Read more
Research
Excludes commercial-in-confidence projects.
Co-curator and organiser: Futures of Waste: Photographic Perspectives, 8/09/16 – 8/10/16. The large-format photographs in this exhibition express the ‘silent’ global problem at all scales, and across many different locations. From micro-plastics ingested by plankton, brightly coloured plastic fragments eaten by seabirds, to the waste mountains created near every town and city across our region, the wastes seen here symbolise our linear ‘make, use and trash’ economy. Featuring the work of national and international photographers the exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue of photographs and essays. The event was co-presented by The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre and Green Industries SA.
Research
Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID or Scopus
Open access indicates that an output is open access.
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2024 |
Open access
|
| 2022 |
Open access
2
2
48
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2015 |
Open access
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2015 |
Open access
|
Co-organiser and communications manager: Unmaking Waste 2015: Transforming production and consumption in time and place, 22/05/15 – 24/05/15. This international conference ran in association with Zero Waste SA and attaracted over 100 presenters and keynote speakers to explore the consequences of and solutions to the accelerated waste-making of modern societies. The conference was accompanied by workshops and an exhibition of design works in the SASA gallery. A 700+ page proceedings of the conference was published soon afterwards, ISBN 978-0-9943360-7-1.
Research
Chris's PhD thesis is titled Embodied Narratives for human-nature relation: A potential field for design. It explores fundamental conficts between cultures of modernity, contemporary environmental communications and our urgent need for long-term, pro-environmental design strategy. Chris's research is distinctly interdisciplinary, drawing from narrative theory, social-psychology, identity theory, linguistics, neuroscience and phenomenological philosophy to inform strategies for pro-environmental communication design. It explores the critical effects of multimodal, place-based communications as a catalyst for ontological changes in self-concept, arguing that cultural communications for long-term sustainable societies must seek to engage and express humanity as a socio-ecological phenomenon in which 'self' and 'environment' exist co-creatively. A qualitative case-study was conducted for this research which involved collaboration with the Australian Conservation Foundation and an Aboriginal cultural heritage project in North Western Australia.
Exhibitions, conferences and publications:
2016: Futures of Waste: Photographic perspectives, September – 7 October 2016, Kerry Packer Civic Gallery, UniSA, Adelaide.
2015: Thornton, C., “Not Just ‘Stuff’: Design, Animism and Materiality”. Proceedings for Unmaking Waste 2015: Transforming Production and Consumption in Time and Space, International Conference 21st – 24th May 2015, University of South Australia, Adelaide, ISBN 978-0-9943360-7-1
2015: Chiveralls K., Robert Crocker and Chris Thornton, “Ripe Near Me: Collaborative technologies and their potential for transforming the dynamics of production and consumption”. Paper presented at ‘On Sustainability 2015’, Eleventh International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, Copenhagen, 21st – 23rd January, 2015.
2015: Thornton, C. and Robert Crocker, “Consuming Nature: Fast and slow constructions of the natural world”. Paper presented at ‘On Sustainability 2015’: the Eleventh International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, Copenhagen, 21st – 23rd January, 2015.
2013: Thornton, C., “Reconfguring Our Sense of Self ”. Transition Free Press, Totnes, UK, Winter Issue, 2013: 15
2013: Thornton, C. “Communicating Sustainability: The role of narrative identity, values and social action”. Poster submission for NCCARF Climate Adaptation Conference, Sydney, 25th – 27th June, 2013.
External engagement & recognition
| Organisation | Country |
|---|---|
| Monash University | AUSTRALIA |
| University of Groningen | NETHERLANDS |
| University of South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
External engagement & recognition
| Engagement/recognition | Year |
|---|---|
Glenthorne National Park - Glenthorne Partnership MemberGovernment of South Australia |
2018 |
Collaborating researcher, The Songlines Project case study report (NGO report paper)Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) |
2014 |
Collaborating researcher, The Songlines Project case study report (NGO report paper)Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) |
2013 |
Teaching & student supervision
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
| Thesis title | Student status |
|---|---|
| The globalization of Islamic architecture: Study case in Aceh, Erzurum, and Swabi gender, space, culture, and architecture in the Islamic world | Current |
