Swinburne Design & Media Night Supported by AAS

2th January 2015 saw the first industry specific networking event organised by Swinburne Alumni Singapore Chapter (SASC) and supported by Australian Alumni Singapore (AAS).

The Design and Media Night celebrated the arrival of delegates from Swinburne University of Technology’s School of Design under the New Colombo Plan. The students were in Singapore for a study tour that was lead by Professor Emily J. Wright, a 20-year veteran in the design industry.

The evening kicked off with a welcome message by SASC chairman Mr. Michael Yap who personally thank the support of attendees and members from various alumni chapters such as Queensland University of Technology (QUT), University of Queensland (UQ), University of South Australia (UniSA), National University of Singapore (NUS), University of Melbourne, University of NewCastle etc. and representatives from Singapore Polytechnic, AustCham and Austrade.

Mr. Michael Yap was followed by Tracy Harris, Trade Commissioner of Austrade who gave a general introduction of the New Colombo Plan and efforts by the Australian Government to build closer rapport between both countries.

After an uplifting speech by Tracy Harris, AAS’s representative – Mr Melvin Gwee took the opportunity to encourage attendees to join AAS as part of the efforts to increase membership to the targeted 5000 members this year.

Melvin was followed by Professor Emily J. Wright with an insightful presentation on the state of design education at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. She focused on partnerships through the Design Factory which is an ongoing network with participation from several universities in the world such as Aalto University (Helsinki) and Tong Ji University (Shanghai).This topic opened up discussions on possible collaborations with local partners in Singapore. The presentation concluded with an engaging Q&A session with discussions on Design Thinking and its effectiveness.

The evening ended with beer and plenty of chat. SASC is delighted with the turn out and real mix of new and familiar faces as well as great feedback from those who attended.