jesse adams stein

I am an Associate Professor and Program Director of Design Studies, at UTS School of Design, Sydney. My research investigates what happens to skill, labour processes and technical knowledge when industries are in transition, with a focus on industrial craft, local manufacturing and vocational trades. I work across both historical and contemporary contexts, bringing historical depth to live policy challenges, including energy transitions, skills shortages, repair economies and workplace health and safety.

Over the past 15 years, my work has pushed the discipline of design history to take more seriously the skills and experiences of craftspeople, tradespeople (and industrial production in general, as part of understanding design). Key works in this vein include my two monographs, Hot Metal (2016) and Industrial Craft in Australia (2021). This work has focused on Australia between the 1970s and the 1990s, examining how craft, trades training and manufacturing were shaped by neoliberal economic restructuring.

More recently, I am is co-editor (with geographer Dr Chantel Carr) of two book collections: Designing through Planetary Breakdown (2025) and Working through Planetary Breakdown (2026). These interdisciplinary collections bring design into closer orbit with social scientific debates around work, skill and the changing climate. These two publications were the outcome of our pioneering interdisciplinary symposium on skill, climate change the the future of work, All Hands on Deck (2023, UTS).

I have initiated two oral history projects collected by the National Library of Australia, and I was the recipient of an UTS Chancellor’s Research Fellowship (2016), and an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (2021).

In 2024 I was named one of “Ten humanities EMCRs shaping the future” by the Australian Academy of the Humanities. In that same year I was Director of History Now 2024, a public history seminar series. I am involved in the Australian history sector, as a member of the General Council of the History Council of NSW, and a member of the Australian Centre for Public History.

In addition, I work with historical and design collections across Australia, including as an oral historian, and through various collaborations and partnerships with Museums Victoria, the Powerhouse, the National Library of Australia, the State Library of NSW and Transport for NSW.

My current projects focus on workers involved in Australian renewable energy transitions. I am also working on a research project on the politics and history of ‘hi vis’ workwear in Australia, with Dr Elizabeth Humphrys and Dr Bettina Frankham. The Hi-Vis Project is formally partnered with the Powerhouse and Transport for NSW. (See also: Projects: Hi-Vis)

In 2019 I initiated the UTS Design Studies collaborative project, Repair-Design (with A/Prof Alexandra Crosby).

I am a regular commentator on the ‘right to repair’, skilled trades, vocational training and industry policy reform in Australia.