I am an interdisciplinary design researcher specialising in labour, technology and industries in transition. I am currently an Associate Professor & Program Director of Design Studies, at the School of Design (Design Studies unit), University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
My research investigates what happens to skill, labour processes and technical knowledge when industries are in transition, particularly in relation to creative industries, 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 the future of work.
Writing
Over the past 15 years, I have gently pushed the discipline of design history to take more seriously the skills and experiences of craftspeople, tradespeople (and factory production in general, as part of understanding design). Key works in this vein include my two monographs Hot Metal: Material Culture and Tangible Labour (Manchester UP, 2016) and Industrial Craft in Australia (Palgrave, 2021). This historical work often focuses on Australia between the 1970s and the 1990s, examining how design, craft, vocational education and the creative industries were shaped by neoliberal economic restructuring and other policy shifts at the state and federal level.
In more recent research, I am co-editor, of two book collections: Designing through Planetary Breakdown: Locating Material Knowledge and Practical Skill (Routledge 2025) and Working through Planetary Breakdown: Labour, Skill and the Changing Climate (Routledge 2026), both co-edited with Dr Chantel Carr. The latter 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).
Public History
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 deeply 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 am involved in 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.
I have initiated two oral history projects that are collected by the National Library: the Reshaping Australian Manufacturing Oral History Project (2017-2019) – as part of a UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, and Makers, Manufacturers & Designers (2021-2023) as part of my ARC DECRA.
Other projects: Repair and Hi Vis
I am currently working on a delightful, energising (and dare I say – fun!) 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.
NB: This is not an official UTS page.
Jesse Adams Stein 