Dr Hardy is a senior lecturer in Indigenous Studies in the Indigenous Education and Research Centre.  She is also a Research Fellow at The Cairns Institute in the Creative Innovation; Cultural and Linguistic Transformation; and Indigenous Futures strands as well as a member of the Tropical Archaeology Research Lab at JCU.

Dianna's research focuses on the use co-design of technology to support people in communities in trans-cultural settings to solve problems. Through these projects she has demonstrated expertise in co-design, participatory design methods and user experience design with industry and applied research partners. She uses cultural interface theory to inform her research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to leverage her IT and co-design skills to assist community members in developing projects that improve social and emotional wellbeing.

Dianna is also an expert in the Design Thinking method used to fast-track problem solving with diverse groups with many different types of stakeholders. She is a frequently requested presenter on Design Thinking and was the prior Design Thinking strand coordinator in the discipline of Information Technology at JCU. Dianna serves as lead industry liasion for the annual IT@JCU Technology Design sprint, which brings more than 30-50 industry subject matter experts to  collaborate with upwards of 200 Information Technology students in the largest education-based Design Sprint in Australia.

Her current research areas include:

• Using co-design methods to facilitate group understanding and problem solving in diverse communities
• Facilitating access to and use of sovereign data for Indigenous people
• Improving information literacy training for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to support persistence in study at the tertiary level

Dr Hardy is highly engaged in the tech startup community and works closely with DevNQ and with Smart Precinct NQ.

Dianna is currently looking for research students (MPhil and PhD) who are interested in the following topics:

• Co-design of technology with community groups
• Design of augmented reality devices for social wellbeing
• GIS and 3D modelling development for historical and cultural sustainability

Teaching

• IA1011: Indigenous Australians (Level 1; CNS & TSV)
• IA2023: Indigenous Continuity: Agency, Adaptation and Resistance (Level 2; CNS & TSV)
• IA2030: Comparative Indigenous Studies (Level 2; CNS & TSV)
• IA5013: Indigenous Australians (Level 5; CNS & TSV)
• IA5029: Comparative Indigenous Studies (Level 5; CNS & TSV)

Research Disciplines

• Curriculum and pedagogy (3901)
• Human-centred computing (4608)
• Information systems (4609)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Information systems, technologies and services (2204)

Awards

• 2020 - Australian Award for University Teaching - Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning
• 2019 - College of Science & Engineering - Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning
• 2014 - School of Business, Law, Governance and Information Technology - Sessional Staff Teaching Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Zhu R, Hardy D and Myers T (2022) Community led co-design of a social networking platform with adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52. pp. 38-51
• Otto T and Hardy D (2016) Transforming artefacts into digital heritage: developing interactive databases for use by Aboriginal communities. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series, 10. pp. 117-132

Book Chapters

• Hardy D, Forest E, McIntosh Z, Myers T and Gertz J (2016) Moving beyond "just tell me what to code": inducting tertiary ICT students into research methods with aboriginal participants via games design. In: OzCHI '16 Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, pp. 557-561

Conference Papers

• Addanki k, Holdsworth J, Hardy D and Myers T (2022) A preliminary study using academagogy to uncover the problems that block adult online learner engagement. Proceedings of the ACE '22: Australasian Computing Education Conference. 14-18 February 2022, Virtual
• Addanki k, Holdsworth J, Hardy D and Myers T (2020) Academagogy for enhancing adult online learner engagement in higher education. Proceedings of the 2020 AIS SIGED International Conference on Information Systems Education and Research. 12-13 December 2020, Online Event
• Simon , Myers T, Hardy D and Mason R (2019) Variations on a theme: academic integrity and program code. Proceedings of the 21th Australasian Computing Education Conference. In: ACE2019: 21th Australasian Computing Education Conference, 29-31 January 2019, Sydney, NSW, Australia
• Zhu Z, Hardy D and Myers T (2019) Co-designing with adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: from ideation to implementation. Proceedings of the 31st Australian Conference on Human-Computer-Interaction. In: OZCHI'19: 31st Australian Conference on Human-Computer-Interaction, 3-5 December 2019, Perth, WA, Australia
• Hardy D, Myers T and Sankupellay M (2018) Cohorts and cultures: developing future design thinkers. Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Computing Education Conference. In: ACE2018: 20th Australasian Computing Education Conference, 30 January - 2 February 2018, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
• Kingsun M, Myers T and Hardy D (2018) C-DOM: a structured co-design framework methodology for ontology design and development. Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference. In: ACSW'18: Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference, 29 January - 2 February 2018, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
• Zhu R, Hardy D and Myers T (2018) Building applications that matter: co-designing with adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. In: HIS 2018: 7th International Conference of Health Information Science, 5-7 October 2018, Cairns, QLD, Australia
• Hardy D, Forest E, McIntosh Z, Gertz J and Myers T (2016) Co-creation of a digital game to support language revitalisation. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Cooperative Design, Visualization and Engineering. In: CDVE 2016: 13th International Conference on Cooperative Design, Visualization and Engineering, 24-27 October 2016, Sydney, NSW, Australia
• Jalil S, Hardy D, Myers T and Atkinson I (2014) But it doesn't go with the décor: domesticating a telemedicine diabetes intervention in the home. Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the Australian Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group. In: OzCHI 2014: Annual Conference of the Australian Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group, 2-5 December 2014, Sydney, NSW, Australia

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 23+ research outputs authored by Dr Dianna Hardy from 2006 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Enhancing adult learner engagement to online learning activities in higher education (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Calf Clan Culture: Rock art of the Khorat Plateau (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Indigenous Student Perceptions and Assumprions about Digital Technology Curriculum and Opportunities (Masters , Secondary Advisor)
• Exploration of Resilience of Indigenous Students in Remote Contexts (Masters , Secondary Advisor)
• No-bodies are still somebodies: Identifying characteristics of long-term missing persons within Australia (Masters , Primary Advisor)
• An investigation into the experiences of Indigenous students with information literacy training and seeking information from an academic library. (Masters , Primary Advisor)
• Designing physical interface for application of augmented reality in toddler toys (Masters , Primary Advisor)

Completed

• Co-designing with adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a participatory action research approach (2020, PhD , Primary Advisor)