Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Associate professor Leah Heiss is the Eva and Marc Besen International Research Chair in Design at Monash University; Chair of the Victorian Premier’s Design Awards; Co-chair of the Victorian Heart Institute New Technologies working group; and designer in Residence at the Australian National Fabrication Facility. Leah is a leader in human centred design and co-design for technologies, systems and services for healthcare. This includes the design of wearable and sensing technologies for acute care, ageing and hearing loss; and the co-design of models of care including for cancer, acquired brain injury, eating disorders, voluntary assisted dying and global health. She is currently working with the World Health Organisation, using design strategies to improve the uptake and implementation of WHO guidelines across countries and led the co-design consultation for the Statewide System for Integrated care of Mental Health and Addiction (Hamilton centre) with Turning Point.
In the last 10 years Leah has led the design and user experience for wearable health technologies and services for COVID monitoring in aged care, hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, loneliness, MRSA/sepsis and the design of smart mattress sensors for aged care. Leah’s design work has been recognised with six Australian Good Design Awards, including the 2018 Good Design Award of the Year; two Victorian Premier’s Design Awards; the CSIRO Design Innovation Award and in 2022 her ongoing contribution to design excellence and leadership was recognised with the Australian Women in Design Award. She has presented over 100 presentations and keynotes globally on the role of design in improving the lived experience of health technologies and systems. Her wearable technology designs have been exhibited to over 700,000 people across Australia, Europe and Asia and presented to the Victorian Royal Commission into Mental Health.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Design, PhD, DESIGNING EMOTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES: Collaborating across design, health and engineering to humanise wearable health technologies, RMIT University
1 Feb 2014 → 1 Dec 2018
Award Date: 1 Dec 2018
Design, Masters , Empathy and the Space Between: Investigating the role of digitally enhanced apparel in promoting remote empathetic connection., RMIT University
Award Date: 1 Dec 2006
Interior Design, Bachelor (Design - 1st Class Honours), Thesis project, RMIT University
20 Feb 1999 → 1 Oct 2002
Award Date: 1 Dec 2002
Research area keywords
- Wearable technology
- Wearables
- Co-Design
- Health and wellbeing
- Health innovation
- Participatory design
- Smart devices
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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NCHA Independent Living Lab Prototyping Project
Couper, R., Dodd, M., Gusheh, M., Maxwell, D., Heiss, L., Callaway, L., Chu, E., Coombs, G., Barclay, L. & Waghorn, K.
Monash University – Internal Faculty Contribution
1/03/24 → 1/09/25
Project: Research
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Australian Autoimmune Encephalitis Consortium Study - improving diagnosis, outcomes, and quality of care for patients with this devastating neurological illness.
Monif, M., Wesselingh, R., Butzkueven, H., Reddel, S. W., Malpas, C., Haartsen, J., Hardy, T. A., Gillis, D., Seneviratne, U., Blum, S., Nesbitt, C. S., Heiss, L., Macdonell, R., Mykytowycz, M., Sanfilippo, P., D'Souza, W. J., Kulkarni, J., Buzzard, K., O'Brien, T., Broadley, S., Taylor, B. V. M., MacIntyre, J., Barton, J., Swayne, A., Alpitsis, R., Harding, I., Butler, E., Ramanathan, S., Giles, A. & Gadi, M.
1/03/24 → 31/12/27
Project: Research
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CCIRI: Consumer and Community Involvement; Implementation Research for Impact (CCIRI)
Teede, H., Jones, A., Reeder, S., Dorin, A., Parsons, M. W., Hodgson, C., Cahill, A., Egerton-Warburton, D., Langridge, D., Doyle, K. E. & Heiss, L.
Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Monash Partners, Consumers Health Forum Inc, Maridulu Budyari Gumal Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research & Enterprise (SPHERE) (trading as Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise), Western Australian Health Translation Network
1/04/23 → 30/04/25
Project: Research
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Just Say No to the Just in Case Cannula: An Implementation Science Trial with Roadmap for National Roll Out
Egerton-Warburton, D., Cameron, P., Cullen, L. A., Teede, H., Rickard, C. M., Morphet, J., Fatovich, D. M., O'Reilly, G., Callander, E., Kuhn, L., Keijzers, G., Le, L., Enticott, J., Buntine, P., Tran, V., Heiss, L., Hullick, C., Blecher, G., Gourley, S., Lee, R., Hawkins, T., Chan, T., Melder, A., Saddington, E., Yang, S. & Mihalopoulos, C.
1/02/23 → 31/01/29
Project: Research
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Improving support for culturally and linguistically diverse carers during transition of older adults from hospital to community
Allen, J., Hutchinson, A., Livingston, P. M., Lobchuk, M., Antoniades, J., Brand, G., Crawford, K., Heiss, L., Hewitt, A., Hill, K., Lalor, A., Ling, D., Rawson, H. & Thomacos, N.
3/10/22 → 31/07/27
Project: Research
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Sleeptite REMi Dashboard
Heiss, L., Page, R., Thiessen, M., Mcgee, T., Morfuni, R., van den Dungen, C., Tucker, A., Sriram, S. & Bhaskaran, M., 2024Research output: Non-textual form › Design / Architecture › Research
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Sleeptite REMi Smart Bedding System for Aged Care
Heiss, L., Page, R., Thiessen, M., Mcgee, T., Morfuni, R., van den Dungen, C., Tucker, A., Sriram, S. & Bhaskaran, M., 2024Research output: Non-textual form › Design / Architecture › Research
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Building impact: Embedding design PhD researchers in industry contexts
Heiss, L., Mcgee, T., Page, R., Aung, N. & Flynn, D., 2023, The 7th International Conference for Design Education Researchers. Jones, D., Borekci, N., Clemente, V., Corazzo, J., Lotz, N., Merete Nielsen, L. & Noel, L-A. (eds.). Design Research Society, p. 1-16 16 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Co-designing mental health futures: A case study on a residential eating disorders facility
Mcgee, T., Heiss, L., Thiessen, M., Coombs, G., Potter, E., Hamilton, O. & O'Kane, C., 2023, Proceedings of IASDR 2023: Life-changing Design. De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F. & Spallazzo, D. (eds.). London UK: Design Research Society, 10 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Generative prototypes to promote participation in the collaborative design of wearable health technologies
Page, R. & Heiss, L., 2023, In: Design Journal. 26, 1, p. 121-141 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
1 Citation (Scopus)
Prizes
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2015 Good Design Award - Gold Winner: Product Design Medical and Scientific - The IHearYou 'Self-Fit' Hearing System
Heiss, Leah (Recipient), 2015
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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2015 Good Design Awards - Best in Class: Social Impact - IHearYou System
Heiss, Leah (Recipient), 2015
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
File -
2018 CSIRO Design Innovation Award - Facett
Blamey, Peter J (Recipient), Heiss, Leah (Recipient) & Kaufman, Yaniv (Recipient), 2018
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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2018 Good Design Award - Best in Class: Product Design - Medical and Scientific - Facett
Blamey, Peter J (Recipient), Heiss, Leah (Recipient) & Kaufman, Yaniv (Recipient), 2018
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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2018 Good Design Award - Best in Class: Social Impact - Facett
Blamey, Peter J (Recipient), Heiss, Leah (Recipient) & Kaufman, Yaniv (Recipient), 2018
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs Conference 2024
Katrin Oliver (Speaker), Shalini Arunogiri (Organiser), Dan Lubman (Organiser), Ali Cheetham (Organiser), Leah Heiss (Organiser), Troy Mcgee (Organiser) & Amy Killen (Organiser)
30 Oct 2024Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
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Victorian Premier's Design Awards (Event)
Leah Heiss (Member)
2023 → …Activity: Industry, Government and Philanthropy Engagement and Partnerships › Membership of an advisory panel/policy group/ board
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'Facett' - Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences
Leah Heiss (Contributor)
18 Mar 2022Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Acquisition
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Business of Design Week - Product and Technology talk
Leah Heiss (Contributor)
7 Dec 2018Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public lecture/debate/seminar
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'Facett' - Museum of Victoria
Leah Heiss (Contributor)
2018 → …Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Acquisition
Press/Media
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ABC RADIO NATIONAL: 'Smart watch? Smarter everything'
25/03/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Profile/Interview
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GREEN MAGAZINE: 'The Powerhouse announces two new exhibitions'
26/09/20
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Article/Feature
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FINANCIAL TIMES: 'Wearables speak up for the deaf and lonely'
9/05/20
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Article/Feature
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2SER: 'Spectra: The Art and Consequence of Collaboration'
20/07/19
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Article/Feature