Patricia Flanagan

Dr. Patricia Flanagan is a Lecturer at the University of New South Wales in the School of Art and Design, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture. She serves as co-director of the Interactive Media Lab and Lead Researcher for Wearables at the Creative Robotics Lab. Previously, she established the Wearables Lab at the Academy of Visual Art at Hong Kong Baptist University in 2009. Her international exhibition portfolio includes prestigious venues such as the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, and Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien Berlin, and she represented Oceania at the Tournai Contemporary Textiles Biennial in Belgium.

Dr. Flanagan holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Art from the University of Newcastle Australia, a Master of Fine Arts in Public Art and New Artistic Strategies (1st class) from Bauhaus University Weimar Germany, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of Newcastle Australia, and an Associate Diploma in Arts (Fashion Production, Custom Clothing) with honors from TAFE NSW.

Her research investigates hybrid practices emerging at the intersection of digital technologies and traditional art and design practices. Specializing in new materials, wearables, and generative design, her work includes critical and speculative wearables, site-specific sculptural installations, social sculpture, and performance installations. Her practice combines hand-crafted art and design practices with digital technologies through a systems thinking approach. Current research projects include Landrelations (National Tour), Brigalow Belt Arts Project, Femufacture, The Peripatetic Institute for Praxiology and Anthropology, The Haptic InterFace Project, and Research Creativity – Praxis.

Dr. Flanagan's recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on the intersection of craft, technology, and embodied experience. Her work explores how digital technologies can be integrated with traditional craft practices, particularly in the realm of wearables and interactive installations. She investigates how these hybrid practices can create new forms of expression, environmental awareness, and cross-cultural understanding.

Among her notable awards and fellowships are the Powerhouse, Sydney Museum of Applied Arts and Science Visiting Research Fellowship, Centre for Mobilities Research at Lancaster University Visiting Fellowship, Max Fabre Foundation Award for Environmental Awareness, and selection to represent Oceania at the 7th International Contemporary Textile Triennale in Tournai, Belgium.

Dr. Flanagan actively supervises research students in areas including Art and Design, Textiles, Wearables, Tangible Embodied HCI, Future Materials, Generative Design, and Environmental Humanities. She is on the steering committee for the World Craft Council affiliated Knowledge House of Craft and is the founding member of TTIGOC (Tracing the Intangible Gestures of Craft), a collaboration with Chinese ethnic minority master craftspeople and researchers at GYPEC Guiyang, China. Her current PhD students include Syna Chen, Jingwen Yuan, and Jaiying Qian, all working on innovative projects at the intersection of craft, technology, and human experience.