four international conferencesAsa Jonasson: Asa.Jonasson@unisa.edu.au
Robert is Deputy Director of the China Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, a partnership with Tianjin University, where he is also a guest researcher. With an Oxford doctorate in early modern history of science and philosophy, Robert's research is cross-disciplinary, and for the last decade has focused largely on the social and environmental problems associated with consumption and waste. He has written and published widely on aspects of the circular economy, waste and consumption, and design for sustainability. His book, Somebody Else’s Problem: Consumerism, Design and Sustainability (Greenleaf 2016), won gold in the Axiom Best Business Books for 2017 (sustainability). Over the last five years he... Read more
About me
Robert is Deputy Director of the China Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, a partnership with Tianjin University, where he is also a guest researcher. With an Oxford doctorate in early modern history of science and philosophy, Robert's research is cross-disciplinary, and for the last decade has focused largely on the social and environmental problems associated with consumption and waste. He has written and published widely on aspects of the circular economy, waste and consumption, and design for sustainability. His book, Somebody Else’s Problem: Consumerism, Design and Sustainability (Greenleaf 2016), won gold in the Axiom Best Business Books for 2017 (sustainability). Over the last five years he has organised and convened four international conferences and three exhibitions on these themes, the latest being The Transparency Project: Everyday Products, Consumer Knowledge and Environmental Impacts (February 2020).
About me
Coordinator UniSA DESIS Lab, Desis Network for Social Innovation and Sustainability
Associate Editor of the Journal of Design Business and Society (Intellect, UK)
About me
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 17/02/2017 |
Awarded best book (gold) in the category, Sustainability/Non-Profit/Philanthropy, Axiom Best Books in Business Awards, 2017, : http://www.axiomawards.com/77/2017-winners |
About me
Doctor of Philosophy University of Oxford
Robert began his research career in the history of early modern European science, philosophy and religion at Oxford, where he gained his doctorate in 1987. Following seven years teaching modern history at Adelaide and Flinders Universities, he came to UniSA to teach the history and theory of design and research methods in 1996. He now has over twenty years experience teaching history and theory of design and design for sustainability, and was instrumental in establishing the 'theory' part of the school's design for sustainability program, alongside the Zero Waste SA Research Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour, where he was Acting Director, between 2014 and 2015. He currently serves as Deputy Director of the China Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, a research partnership with Tianjin University in China, where he is a visiting lecturer, and a guest researcher.
Robert is an active researcher and PhD supervisor. His research focuses on the role of consumption, waste and design in our present environmental crisis, and he has hosted 3 international conferences on this theme, including recently 'Unmaking Waste', in September, 2018, and The Transparency Project: Everyday Products, Consumer Knowledge and Environmental Projects. He has published eight books, including most recently, Subverting Consumerism: Reuse in an Accelerated World and Unmaking Waste in Production and Consumption: Towards the Circular Economy. His book, Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (Routledge / Greenleaf, UK), won gold in the annual Axiom Business Books awards for 2017. He has spoken at many public events, including Womadelaide Planet Talks (2015), the Ubud Writers' Festival (2017) and Be Waste Wise, a New York-based global platform for public engagement with waste and waste matters, where he is currently a moderator.
He is currently leading a collaborative URIPA research project on Implementing the Circular Economy in SA: Developing Partnerships and Identifying Targets, which is being part-funded by Green Industries SA.
Robert's research is focused on the problem of consumption and waste and the challenge to design presented by today's escalating environmental crisis. Robert is especially interested in the 'wicked problem' of overproduction for overconsumption presented by the growth economy, and the present failure of mainstream economics and government policy to deal effectively with this, or indeed with the escalation of 'excess' global consumption and waste over the last thirty years. He is currently involved in a number of collaborative research projects relating to this theme, ranging from studies of coffee drinking and waste to small scale local food production and consumption. He is presently developing a... Read more
Research
Excludes commercial-in-confidence projects.
2020-2021: CI, Collaborative (Partnering) URIPA Project: Implementing the Circular Economy in SA: Developing Partnerships and Identifying Targets (with Green Industries SA, Legatus Group and Good Design Australia)
2015-2018: Adelaide Living Labs Hub: Co-Creation Methodologies for Eco-Precincts (with Jane Andrew and Aaron Davis, PhD candidate)
Research
Research since 2008 is shown below. To see earlier years visit ORCID, ResearcherID or Scopus
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Recent Research Publications
Robert Crocker, Christopher Saint, Guanyi Chen and Yindong Tong (eds), Unmaking Waste in Production and Consumption: Towards the Circular Economy (Emerald, 2018)
Robert Crocker and Keri Chiveralls (eds), Subverting Consumerism: Reuse in an Accelerated World (Routledge, 2018).
Robert Crocker, Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (Greenleaf / Routledge, 2016). (awarded Gold, Sustainability and Non-Profit Category, Axiom Best Business Books of the Year, 2017).
Robert Crocker, 'The 'Good Corporation': The Uneasy Relationship between Reputation and Responsibility', in G. Muratovski (ed), Consumer Culture: Selected Essays (Intellect, UK, 2016), Chapter 8
Robert Crocker, 'Acceleration in Consumerism, Technology and Sustainability', in G. Muratovski (ed), Consumer Culture: Selected Essays (Intellect, UK, 2016): Chapter 9.
Robert Crocker, 'Unmaking Waste' in Jonathan Chapman (ed), The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Product Design (Routledge, 2017).
Recent Conferences and Exhibitions
Co-Convenor, The Transparency Project Seminar: Everyday Products, Consumer Knowledge and Environmental Impacts, City West Campus, University of South Australia, February 2020
Convenor, Unmaking Waste conference and exhibition, City West Campus,University of South Australia, September 2018
Convenor, Futures of Waste exhibition and seminar, City West, September 2016
Convenor, Unmaking Waste conference and exhibition, City West, September 2015
Information on these events is available here
Research
Robert's research is focused on the problem of consumption and waste and the challenge to design presented by today's escalating environmental crisis. Robert is especially interested in the 'wicked problem' of overproduction for overconsumption presented by the growth economy, and the present failure of mainstream economics and government policy to deal effectively with this, or indeed with the escalation of 'excess' global consumption and waste over the last thirty years. He is currently involved in a number of collaborative research projects relating to this theme, ranging from studies of coffee drinking and waste to small scale local food production and consumption. He is presently developing a photography exhibition and book project with Gini Lee (University of Melbourne) and Cecilia Loschiavo (University of Sao Paulo) on 'landscapes of waste', and a co-edited book project deriving from the Unmaking Waste conference (2018), The World is Already Full (Intellect 2020) alongside a second, expanded edition of his book, Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (Routledge 2016), which is to be reissued in a Greenleaf series on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 12). He is actively engaged with the problem of sustainable consumption and the waste crisis, and is frequently asked to talk on some aspect of his research.
Robert is an active advocate for sustainable consumption and waste reduction, and has been asked to speak at many events over the last few years, including at Womadelaide 2015-2016, Be Waste Wise (2017-2020), where he is a regular moderator. Public interest in his book, Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design (2016), led him to speak at seven community events in Australia during 2017, and the Ubud writers and readers festival (2017), where he was a panel member on the waste crisis. This book won gold in the Axiom Best Business Books list for 2017, and second prize in the annual publication award list from the International Solid Waste Association in the same year.
Robert has developed and convened four international conferences and three exhibitions over the last five years on the theme of consumption, waste and design for sustainability. Keynotes and events within these conferences, and the three exhibitions, were all open to the public and garnered interest from a wide range of local, national and community groups, ranging from the UNCRD's Forum held in Adelaide during 2016 (for The Futures of Waste photographic exhibition, which was moved to the Convention Centre to be displayed during this important international forum) to a range of local environmental and community organisations. A website dedicated to these events, with more information on their content, can be found at http://www.unmakingwaste.org
External engagement & recognition
| Organisation | Country |
|---|---|
| Central Queensland University | AUSTRALIA |
| Tianjin University | CHINA |
| University of South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
External engagement & recognition
| Engagement/recognition | Year |
|---|---|
Associate EditorJournal of Design Business and Society, Intellect |
2018 |
3rd in publication awardsInternational Solid Waste Association |
2017 |
Associate EditorJournal of Design Business and Society, Intellect |
2017 |
Deputy DirectorChina-Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development |
2017 |
Gold in the sustainability categoryAxiom Best Business Books |
2017 |
Coordinator UniSA DESIS Lab, DESIS Network for Social Innovation and Sustainability (2012-2018). http://www.desis-network.org/
The history and theory of modern design broadly understood in terms of cultural and environmental change, especially industrial design, and its changing relation to culture, technology, economy and society. Qualitative research methods in design history and theory, in industrial design, and more broadly in the environmental humanities. Although now employed part-time in a research only capacity (0.6), I regularly give guest lectures on sustainable design, consumption and waste, and teach at the Tianjin summer school.
Teaching & student supervision
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
| Thesis title | Student status |
|---|---|
| Aceh’s urban history: through the lens of early modern mapping | Current |
| Construction & demolition waste mapping protocol: a novel methodology towards measuring and optimising the construction and demolition waste carbon footprint | Current |
| Investigation towards effects of adaption of waste and resource management practices in community organisations at work home and in other settings | Current |
| A strategic waste management framework and tool for the development of zero waste cities | Completed |
| Co-creation in the built environment: an exploration of end-user engagement in the urban living laboratory | Completed |
| Creating change: a case study of transformation, from ‘making greener things’ towards ‘design for transitions’ | Completed |
| Desire for less: communicating sustainable consumption through creative artefacts by and for children | Completed |
| Developing a co-design model through the production of education materials in the health environment | Completed |
| 'Dresses are annoying. I like to design them myself': A post-phenomenological exploration of everyday artefacts | Completed |
| Embodied narratives for human-nature relation: a potential field for design | Completed |
| In pursuit of the marvellous: exploring the role of memory in the surrealism of Czech emigre Dusan Marek (1926-1993) | Completed |
| Nintendo, Japan and longing: videogames embodying and communicating cultural desires | Completed |
| Such endless pleasure: the illustrated private press books of Christine Margaret MacGregor | Completed |
| Visual and cultural mutations of the miraculous image : the role of religious pareidolia in shrine formation | Completed |
