Ian William McArthur

Associate Professor Ian William McArthur is a faculty member in the School of Arts, Design & Architecture at the University of New South Wales. He is a hybrid practitioner working across experimental interdisciplinary practice, transcultural collaboration, sound art, experimental radio, metadesign, and education change.

Dr. McArthur completed his doctoral thesis "Activating A Framework For Transcultural Interdisciplinary Collaboration In Design Education: Sino Australian Field Studies" in 2015. His academic journey includes serving as Program Director of Graphic Design at La Salle DHU (Donghua University, Shanghai) from 2001-2003 where he initiated The Collabor8 Project to foster creative collaboration between China and Australia.

His research focuses on transcultural design collaboration with particular emphasis on China-Australia partnerships. Key research areas include metadesign, participatory design methods using large urban screens as diagnostic tools for urban planning, and the development of culturally adaptive pedagogies. He is currently working on an Australian Research Council DECRA project titled 'metaPLACE,' which examines screen-based urban media installations in Chongqing, China to investigate how participatory urban media can build engagement between citizens and city stakeholders.

Dr. McArthur established mad.lab, an urban research platform in Chongqing, South West China, in collaboration with industry partners Priestman Architects and Cqubed. The platform focuses on developing education, research, and industry projects to incubate new site-specific concepts for urban futures. His work intersects with research investigating participatory design methods using large urban screens as diagnostic tools for urban planning with Australia and China based researchers.

As a creative producer and sound artist, he utilizes granular and generative synthesis, mobile technologies, and open source platforms in exhibitions and telematic, non-idiomatic improvised performances. These works are manifested in regular broadcasts with collaborator Annie Morrad on New York's experimental radio channel Wave Farm WGXC 90.7 FM, and as heard on BBC Radio 6. He has also produced experimental sonifications for responsive interactive media environments used in public art installations and exhibitions in Australia and China.

His research is acknowledged internationally through presentations at numerous conferences and symposiums including the Media Architecture Biennale (Sydney 2016 where he served as Doctoral Consortium Chair), AGIdeas Design for Business (2015), The Journal of Design Business & Society, ISEA2013 (Panel Chair), Hybrid Cities 2 and 3 at the University of Athens (2013/2015), and many others across the Asia-Pacific region.