Dr KJ Hepworth (they/them) is a highly experienced visualisation designer and scholar. They are a leading expert in ethical visualisation with expertise in critical data studies, data sovereignty, and disability justice. Their strengths are in cross-disciplinary collaboration, community engagement, and communicating complex ideas accessibly. They are a Senior Research Fellow in UniSA Creative, and a member of the Interactive Centre for Virtual Environments (IVE).
Broadly, Dr Hepworth's work shows how power weaves between data, knowledge traditions, technology, and visual cultures. Known for public speaking and zines, their expansive academic and creative production spans graphic recording, illustration, information design, installations,... Read more
About me
Dr KJ Hepworth (they/them) is a highly experienced visualisation designer and scholar. They are a leading expert in ethical visualisation with expertise in critical data studies, data sovereignty, and disability justice. Their strengths are in cross-disciplinary collaboration, community engagement, and communicating complex ideas accessibly. They are a Senior Research Fellow in UniSA Creative, and a member of the Interactive Centre for Virtual Environments (IVE).
Broadly, Dr Hepworth's work shows how power weaves between data, knowledge traditions, technology, and visual cultures. Known for public speaking and zines, their expansive academic and creative production spans graphic recording, illustration, information design, installations, poetry, strategic visualisation, and augmentative communication tools.
Structurally, Dr Hepworth's work opens up relational, somatic, and tactile experiences that transmute the tension between inherited creative and destructive experiences of power. Disability, gender, hearing and sexuality marginalisations inform how their work centres access, engagement, and reciprocity. Central themes in their work are co-creating emancipatory visions of the future, and designing accessible tools to step toward them.
In practise, Dr Hepworth's extensive collaborations identify harms and risks to people from data and systems, and propose beneficial alternatives. Previous partnerships include working with climatologists, physicists, and statisticians to design ethical big data processes; agricultural scientists and geographers to ethically visualise the science of developing drought tolerant crops; and with computer scientists and digital humanists to develop ways to reduce harm in visualisations of treacherous, sensitive historical data.
About me
Doctor of Philosophy Swinburne University of Technology
Graduate Diploma in Graphic Design RMIT University
Bachelor of Arts (International Studies) The University of Adelaide
2024-present | Senior Research Fellow (UniSA Creative), University of South Australia
2021-2024 | Senior Lecturer (Communication Design), University of South Australia
2019-2021 | Associate Professor of Visual Journalism, Research Director, Visualizing Science Project (Reynolds School of Journalism), University of Nevada, Reno
2013-2019 | Assistant Professor of Visual Journalism (Reynolds School of Journalism), University of Nevada, Reno
Dr Hepworth's current research focusses on disabled data sovereignty, or how ethical visualisation methodologies can support community-directed disability justice futures.
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, ResearcherID or Scopus
Open access indicates that an output is open access.
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2022 |
Open access
|
| 2021 |
Open access
6
6
|
| 2020 |
Open access
3
|
| 2019 |
Open access
9
8
30
|
| 2018 |
Open access
19
8
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2020 |
Open access
3
|
| 2018 |
Open access
4
2
|
| 2018 |
Open access
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2022 |
Open access
|
| 2022 |
Open access
5
5
3
|
| 2021 |
Open access
6
6
|
| 2021 |
Open access
2
2
|
| 2020 |
Open access
5
2
|
| 2019 |
Open access
9
8
30
|
| 2018 |
Open access
6
|
| 2018 |
Open access
19
8
|
| 2018 |
Open access
5
9
|
| 2017 |
Open access
|
| 2017 |
Open access
3
2
|
| 2016 |
Open access
10
8
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2017 |
2
2
|
| 2016 |
|
| 2009 |
Open access
|
Research
Dr Hepworth's current research focusses on disabled data sovereignty, or how ethical visualisation methodologies can support community-directed disability justice futures.
Widely recognised for visualisation across the sciences and the humanities, Dr Hepworth has given public talks about their work globally, including at MOMA in New York, U.S.A. Their work has been supported by US organisations NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
External engagement & recognition
| Organisation | Country |
|---|---|
| University of Nevada Reno | UNITED STATES |
| University of Nevada, Las Vegas | UNITED STATES |
| University of Nevada, Reno | UNITED STATES |
External engagement & recognition
| Engagement/recognition | Year |
|---|---|
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER): Forecasting Impacts to Reduce Exposure to Smoke (FIRES) - Modeling wildfire smoke transport in the western U.S.National Science Foundation (U.S.A.) |
2025 |
Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP): PlantSynBio: Optimized CAM Engineering for Improving Water-use Efficiency in PlantsNational Science Foundation, Directorate for Biological Sciences (U.S.A.) |
2025 |
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER): Forecasting Impacts to Reduce Exposure to Smoke (FIRES) - Modeling wildfire smoke transport in the western U.S.National Science Foundation (U.S.A.) |
2024 |
Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP): PlantSynBio: Optimized CAM Engineering for Improving Water-use Efficiency in PlantsNational Science Foundation, Directorate for Biological Sciences (U.S.A.) |
2024 |
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER): Forecasting Impacts to Reduce Exposure to Smoke (FIRES) - Modeling wildfire smoke transport in the western U.S.National Science Foundation (U.S.A.) |
2023 |
Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP): PlantSynBio: Optimized CAM Engineering for Improving Water-use Efficiency in PlantsNational Science Foundation, Directorate for Biological Sciences (U.S.A.) |
2023 |
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER): Forecasting Impacts to Reduce Exposure to Smoke (FIRES) - Modeling wildfire smoke transport in the western U.S.National Science Foundation (U.S.A.) |
2022 |
Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP): PlantSynBio: Optimized CAM Engineering for Improving Water-use Efficiency in PlantsNational Science Foundation, Directorate for Biological Sciences (U.S.A.) |
2022 |
Editorial Board MemberHyphen |
2021 |
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER): Forecasting Impacts to Reduce Exposure to Smoke (FIRES) - Modeling wildfire smoke transport in the western U.S.National Science Foundation (U.S.A.) |
2021 |
Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP): PlantSynBio: Optimized CAM Engineering for Improving Water-use Efficiency in PlantsNational Science Foundation, Directorate for Biological Sciences (U.S.A.) |
2021 |
ReviewerAIGA Design Educators Conference |
2021 |
ReviewerDigital Humanities Summer Institute DHSI) Conference |
2021 |
ReviewerJournal of Design History |
2021 |
Digital Humanities Advancement Grant: Ethical Visualization in the Age of Big Data: Contemporary Cultural Implications of Pre- Twentieth-Century French TextsNational Endowment for the Humanities, Office for Digital Humanities (U.S.A.) |
2020 |
Editorial Board MemberHyphen |
2020 |
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER): Forecasting Impacts to Reduce Exposure to Smoke (FIRES) - Modeling wildfire smoke transport in the western U.S.National Science Foundation (U.S.A.) |
2020 |
ReviewerDigital Humanities Summer Institute DHSI) Conference |
2020 |
ReviewerAIGA Design Educators Conference |
2020 |
ReviewerJournal of Design History |
2020 |
Digital Humanities Advancement Grant: Ethical Visualization in the Age of Big Data: Contemporary Cultural Implications of Pre- Twentieth-Century French TextsNational Endowment for the Humanities, Office for Digital Humanities (U.S.A.) |
2019 |
Editorial Board MemberHyphen |
2019 |
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER): Forecasting Impacts to Reduce Exposure to Smoke (FIRES) - Modeling wildfire smoke transport in the western U.S.National Science Foundation (U.S.A.) |
2019 |
Invited LectureInfovizFHP Lecture Series, FHPotsdam, Germany |
2019 |
Invited LectureALUO who Lecture Series, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia |
2019 |
Invited SpeakerRoyal Society of Arts, London UK |
2019 |
Invited SpeakerMyData Global Conference, Helsinki, Finland |
2019 |
Invited SpeakerInformation Design Seminar Series, Mallardalen University, Eskilstuna, Sweden |
2019 |
Keynote SpeakerDHDownunder Summer Institute, University of Newcastle |
2019 |
ReviewerElectronic Book Review |
2019 |
ReviewerJournal of Design History |
2019 |
ReviewerDigital Humanities Summer Institute DHSI) Conference |
2019 |
ReviewerAIGA Design Educators Conference |
2019 |
Award of ExcellenceUniversity of Nevada Cooperative Extension |
2018 |
ReviewerAIGA Design Educators Conference |
2018 |
ReviewerJournal of Design History |
2018 |
Visiting ProfessorshipUniversity Study Abroad Consortium (USAC) |
2018 |
Invited SpeakerOnline News Association Conference, Washington DC |
2017 |
Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium, Higher Education Curriculum Development Grant: Computational Skills for Big Data: Analysis, Statistics, and VisualizationNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.A.) |
2017 |
ReviewerDialectic |
2017 |
ReviewerAIGA Design Educators Conference |
2017 |
ReviewerJournal of Design History |
2017 |
Senior Scholar Mentor AwardAlumni Association of the University of Nevada, Reno |
2017 |
Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium, Higher Education Curriculum Development Grant: Computational Skills for Big Data: Analysis, Statistics, and VisualizationNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.A.) |
2016 |
Panel MemberLo and Behold post-screening discussion panel, Reno U.S.A. |
2016 |
Creative Works Showcase AwardVisual Communication Division of the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication |
2015 |
FellowshipBauer Fellow |
2013 |
Dr Hepworth supervises Masters and PhD students with an interest in visualisation, ethical practise, and social justice. They are currently available for supervision.
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
| Thesis title | Student status |
|---|---|
| Using Virtual Reality to deliver health care services to people with neurodevelopmental disorders | Current |
