Rate My Professor Pia Ednie-Brown

Pia Ednie-Brown is an architectural theorist, researcher, and creative practitioner serving as Honorary Professor in the School of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Newcastle, part of the College of Engineering, Science and Environment. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy from RMIT University and Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Western Australia. Her extensive career includes roles at RMIT University School of Architecture and Design as Lecturer (1997-1998), Telstra Home Team PhD Scholar (1997-2000), Senior Lecturer (2001-2009), HDR Coordinator (2013-2015), and Chair of the Practice Research Symposium (2016-2018), along with graduate positions at Buchan Group Architects (1995-1996) and Donaldson Warn Architects (1991-1992). At the University of Newcastle, she leads the cross-institutional Affective Environments Laboratory and her creative research practice, Onomatopoeia.

Her research explores mutual relationships between digital technologies, emergence, ethics, and innovation in architecture, spanning architectural design (40%) and architectural history, theory, and criticism (60%). Key specializations encompass architectural aesthetics, theory and philosophy, creative practice research, ethics and creative practice, innovation and architecture, and theories of emergence and creativity. She has participated in projects funded by the Australian Research Council, Office of Learning and Teaching, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada). Pia Ednie-Brown has supervised 19 creative practice PhD candidates to completion, developed and taught Creative Practice Research Strategies for six years at RMIT University, and chaired the Practice Research Symposia. Awards include the ACRG National Award for Excellence in Graduate Leadership (2018), RMIT Award for Excellence – Graduate Research Leadership (2018), RMIT University Research Supervision Excellence ECR Award (2013), Prix Ars Electronica (2005), and nomination for the RIBA President’s Award for Outstanding Thesis (2008). Notable publications are edited books Plastic Green: Designing for Environmental Transformation (2009), The Innovation Imperative: Architectures of Vitality (2013), and Supervising Practices for Postgraduate Research in Art, Architecture and Design (2012), plus articles including 'Six troubling things: Cultivating ethical know-how through creative practice research' (2020) and 'A Vital, Architectural Materialism; a house-person’s escape from the anthropocentric' (2018).