Building human-centred design capability within the public sector
BizLab Academy taught human centred design principles and techniques to policy, program and service delivery providers across the Australian Public Service (APS). Engaged by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science in 2018, I co-facilitated several 3-day training courses to a diverse range of public servants in Canberra.
I have delivered a range of other capability building workshops and keynote presentations to public sector audiences, as listed below.
Working collaboratively with co-facilitators from BizLab, I supported participants to become more citizen-centred and to learn and apply methods and tools in problem definition, user interviews, thematic analysis, insight generation, prototyping and pitching ideas. I also provided advice and activities that helped to improve the course design and facilitation methods.
Participants reported feeling informed, inspired and empowered by the training. All who responded to the feedback survey strongly agreed that ‘the trainer was knowledgeable about the topic’ and ‘the trainer was well prepared’. The training has helped to embed co-design and human centred design skills in agencies across the APS, supporting the drive towards a more innovative, collaborative and transparent public service.
Further experience building public design capability
I have also delivered the following presentations and workshops:
‘Sharing power and engaging different perspectives’, a deep dive for senior executives in the Australian Public Service (2023).
‘Collaborating to transform the justice system’ webinar for NZ Ministry of Justice leadership series (2023).
‘Systemic design practice for participatory policymaking’ at the National University of Singapore’s Workshop on Participatory Policy Design (2020) and for Mental Health Reform Victoria (2021)
‘Design for Public Sector Innovation’ for the Asia Productivity Organisation and Development Academy of the Philippines (2018)
‘Enabling more people-centred policy practice’ keynote presentation for Policy by Design (Auckland Council, 2018)
‘Co-Design for Policy Innovation’ public seminar for School of Social and Political Sciences at The University of Melbourne (2018)
‘Co-Design for Public Sector Innovation’ workshop for APS staff in Canberra (2018)
‘Co-Design and Public Policy’ for Social Design Sydney event, ‘Is co-design a silver bullet?’ (2018)
‘Exploring “Islands of Experimentation”: An Introduction to Public Sector Innovation Labs’ for TACSI and the Office for the Public Sector - informing the development of the South Australian Public Sector Innovation Lab (2017)
‘Exploring examples of policy design to address complex social challenges’, co-facilitated workshop with Chris Vanstone from TACSI for Explore Design, Australian Department of Employment (2017)
Contact me for further details of my experience designing and delivering training and mentoring for public, non-profit and private sector clients.