Abby Mellick Lopes

Associate Professor Abby Mellick Lopes is a design studies scholar engaged in interdisciplinary, design-led social research and the Director of Postgraduate Design Studies at UTS. Abby’s research advances the critical role of design in addressing the impacts of climate change and promoting the transition to more sustainable cultures and economies. Abby works in applied research contexts with a range of industry and government partners. Her current research includes a multi-institutional initiative, Cooling the Commons, which explores the capacity of communities to respond to urban heat and the role of the built environment in creating socially just and liveable futures in Western Sydney and other hot cities. She is a Chief Investigator on the ARC Linkage project Living with Urban Heat: Becoming Climate-Ready in Social Housing (2022-2025). Her research also explores innovative waste economies in the context of economic transitions; she is a Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery project led by Western Sydney titled Investigating Innovative Waste Economies: redrawing the circular economy (2021-2024).