Dr Natasha Dwyer is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media at Victoria University. She coordinates the postgraduate digital media program and the undergraduate digital media specialisation.

Natasha is a user experience (UX) design researcher exploring the dynamics of digital trust, an area she worked in as Research Fellow at British Telecom. Of particular interest is the use of social and learning analytics to inform design. As a registered scrum master, Natasha adapts lean methodologies for use in the curriculum.

For 10 years, alongside her position at VU, she worked as an interactive designer for the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). Her role was to facilitate public access to ACMI’s collections. Projects she designed included the Memory Grid, a touch-screen interface that provided video-on-demand services to ACMI’s visitors. The MAP (memory and place) project invited visitors to submit films about locations in Victoria to an interactive map.

Areas of expertise

  • Creative industries & innovation
  • Cross-platform media
  • Digital media
  • Privacy
  • Trust

Contact details

(03) 9919 4754

Recent publications

Book chapters & journal articles

O'Mara, B., Harrison, M., Harley, K., & Dwyer, N. (In press). Making video games more inclusive for people living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND): a scoping review. doi:10.2196/preprints.58828 (25% contribution, 14 pages)

Dwyer N., Harrison M., O’Mara B. and Harley, K., 2024. Inclusive gaming through AI: a perspective for identifying opportunities and obstacles through co-design with people living with MND. Front. Comput. Sci. 6:1379559. doi: 10.3389/fcomp.2024.1379559

Dwyer, N., Darbyshire, T., Marsh, S., Watt, A., Dempster, N., & Brown, D. 2023. ‘Design Thinking in Post-Pandemic Times: Methodologies to Understand Trustworthiness’. In Researching the ‘New Normal’ Social World, Routledge Press

Dwyer, N., Miller-Bakewell, H., Darbyshire, T., Basu, A., & Marsh, S. 2021. ‘The ethical implications of using digital traces: Studying explainability and trust during a pandemic’. In Qualitative and Digital Research in Times of Crisis: Methods, Reflexivity, and Ethics (pp. 129-142), Bristol University Press

O'Mara, B., Dwyer, N., & Harrison, M. 2021. ‘Making videogames more inclusive for people living with MND: protocol for a scoping review’. Games for Change Asia-Pacific Journal, 1(1), 127-147. Retrieved from https://g4capac.org/journal/

Conference papers

Dwyer N., Aronson G., Gronow K., Cook Almenara W., Ibaida A., Raikundalia G., Dodd, S., Watt, A. 2023, ‘Large Language Models as an Enabler in Higher Education Environments: A Case Study’, Chatbot Research and Design. 7th International Workshop, CONVERSATIONS 2023, Oslo, Norway, Nov, 2023

Harrison, M., O’Mara, B., Dwyer, N., & Harley, K. (2023, November, 17-18). Changing the game for people living with MND [Conference presentation]. MND Australia Research Symposium, Newcastle, Australia. https://www.mndaustralia.org.au/research/2023-mnd-research-symposium (25% contribution)

O'Mara, B., Harrison, M., Harley, K. & Dwyer, N. 2022, ‘Changing the game for people living with MND’. [presentation] In, International Symposium on ALS/MND Allied Professionals Forum, San Diego. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IpU469sEVk

Dwyer, N., Miller-Bakewll, H., Darbyshire, T., Basu, A., & Marsh, S. 2022, ‘Assessment, Trust, Transparency and Chatbots’. [presentation] In Data-informed Stories, Transformational Journeys: Indiana University’s 3rd Annual Learning Analytics Summit. virtual: Indiana University Centre for Student Success. Retrieved from https://lasummit.indiana.edu/past/la_summit_2021.html

Darbyshire, T., Basu, A., Marsh, S., Dwyer, N., & Miller-Bakewell, H. 2019, ‘Empowering People with Informed Consent’. In Z. Engin, J. Crowcroft, & S. Verhulst (Eds.), Data for Policy. London: Data for Policy. Retrieved from https://dataforpolicy.org/data-for-policy-2019/

Consultancy reports

Dwyer, N (2011), Research Report: Communicating, technology and the Family: an Australian Perspective, Working Paper, British Telecom, Ipswich, U.K.

Dwyer, N (2008), Research Report: Towards Trust-Enabling Technology, Traces of Trust, Working Paper, British Telecom, Ipswich, U.K.

Dwyer, N (2006), Research Report: Trust and the Young Digital User: The Significance of the Trustee’s Intention, Motivation and the Gift Exchange Process, Working Paper, British Telecom, Ipswich, U.K.

Invited lectures/panel

Keynote, ‘Is this Thing Working? A Look at Trust Environments from the Person’s Perspective’, International Conference on Self-Adaptive and Self-Organising Systems

Public lecture, ‘When Trust is in the Foreground for Users’, Hannover Medical School, Germany, Moderator: Urs-Vito Albrecht, 1 June 2015

Invited member, British Telecom’s ‘Culture, Communication and Change’ Panel. Design Council London, U.K, July 2011

Invited Policy Network Fellow, University of Cambridge, Centre for Science and Policy  (http://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/network/natasha-dwyer/)

Videos

Commissioned by IGI Global to produce a series of videos entitled ‘The Design of Digital Health’ (in progress).

Thesis

Dwyer, N 2011, Traces of digital trust: an interactive design perspective(Doctoral dissertation, Victoria University) (*a full written dissertation that includes discussion of two creative projects that I made during the time of my candidature).

Dwyer, N 2003, The Potential of Metaphor in Designing Art-based Interactives. RMIT University.

Research grants

  • Google Computer Science for High Schools scheme (6 person team), $8000
  • Victoria University, Teaching and Learning Fund 2015, (co-lead investigator), $19,000
  • Australian Broadcasting Commission (in conjunction with Bronwyn Purvis) 2009, $10,000
  • Australia Council 2003 (in conjunction with Phillip Crawford, Matthew Priestly), $50,000
  • British Telecom Consultancy 2013, $15,000

Industry experience

Interactive Designer, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, 2000 - 2010

Research Fellow, British Telecom, 2006 - 2008

Interactive Designer, Big hART (not-for-profit arts organisation), 2003 and 2009 - 2010

Freelance Designer, Australian Film Institute, Melbourne Film Office, Multimedia Victoria, 1999