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Staff profiles

Personal details

Name
Professor Marcus Foth
Position(s)
Professor
Creative Industries Faculty,
School of Design Office,
Interactive and Visual Design
Discipline *
Design Practice and Management, Information Systems, Communication and Media Studies
Phone
+61 7 3138 8772
Email
Location
View location details (QUT staff and student access only)
Identifiers and profiles
ORCID iD Twitter LinkedIn
Qualifications

PhD (Queensland University of Technology), MA (Queensland University of Technology), BCompSc(Hons) , BMultimedia (Griffith University), JP(Qual.) Qld

Professional memberships
and associations
Keywords

Urban Informatics, Smart Cities, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Sustainability, Urban Computing, Ubiquitous Computing, Community Engagement, Design, Blockchain

* Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008

Biography

Marcus Foth is Professor of Urban Informatics in the QUT Design Lab, Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology. He is also an Honorary Professor in the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Professor Foth’s research brings together people, place, and technology. His transdisciplinary work is at the international forefront of human-computer interaction research and development with a focus on smart cities, community engagement, media architecture, internet studies, ubiquitous computing, and sustainability.

Professor Foth founded the Urban Informatics Research Lab in 2006 and the QUT Design Lab in 2016. Ahead of their time and before the term “smart cities” became popular, the lab pioneered a new field of study and practice: Urban informatics examines people creating, applying and using information and communication technology and data in cities and urban environments.

Professor Foth has received over $6 million in national competitive grants and industry funding. He received a Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award 2013, and was inducted by the planning, design and development site Planetizen to the world’s top 25 leading thinkers and innovators in the field of urban planning and technology.

In 2015, in collaboration with the Open Data Institute Queensland, Professor Foth brought the international Open and Agile Smart Cities (OASC) network to Australia with the goal of implementing open standards and creating an open smart city market based on the needs of cities and communities.

In 2017, the Australian Computer Society (ACS) made Professor Foth a fellow for “a sustained and distinguished contribution to the field of computer science. Foth is the international thought leader who coined the term urban informatics – now adopted by universities and industry worldwide. Foth’s work makes clear how academic research can successfully respond to societal challenges.”

In 2017, Professor Foth has also been appointed to the Built Environment Task Force of the Smart Cities Council Australia / New Zealand and the Infrastructure Innovation Task Force of the Queensland Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning.

Professor Foth has authored and co-authored over 200 publications in journals, edited books, and conference proceedings. He is the editor of the Handbook of Research on Urban Informatics (IGI 2009), co-author of Action Research and New Media (Hampton Press 2009), co-editor of From Social Butterfly to Engaged Citizen (MIT Press 2011), Eat, Cook, Grow: Mixing Human-Computer Interactions with Human-Food Interactions (MIT Press 2014), Citizen’s Right to the Digital City (Springer, 2015), and Digital Participation through Social Living Labs (Chandos, 2018).

Professor Foth chaired or co-chaired the Oxford Internet Institute’s Summer Doctoral Programme 2009, OZCHI 2009, the 5th International Conference on Communities and Technologies (C&T) 2011, FoodCHI 2014, and the ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) conference 2016.

Professor Foth is an ACM Distinguished Speaker and has been giving invited keynote talks and presentations at leading research institutions, including Aalto University Helsinki, Aarhus University, Harvard University, IT University of Copenhagen, KAIST, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, MIT, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Tsinghua University, University of Oulu, University of Oxford.

This information has been contributed by Professor Marcus Foth.

Teaching

Research Training and Supervision of Research Students

vrolik.de/research-students

This information has been contributed by Professor Marcus Foth.

Experience

Member of Editorial and Advisory Boards

Conference Chair

Committee Positions

Jury and Assessment Duties

Review Experience
Journals

Conferences

Workshops

 

This information has been contributed by Professor Marcus Foth.

Publications


For more publications by this staff member, visit QUT ePrints, the University's research repository.

Awards

Awards and recognition

Type
Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
Reference year
2018
Details
Appointed Peer-to-Peer Economy and Short-term Letting Industry Reference Group Member by the Queensland Department of Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games. The purpose of the group is to discuss whether the state and local governments should intervene in P2P short-term letting in Queensland. This includes the positive and negative impacts of intervention at the local or state levels, as well as whether governments should play a role in fostering the development of the P2P sector.
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2017
Details
Inducted as ACM Distinguished Speaker: The Distinguished Speakers Program is an outreach program of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) that brings distinguished speakers from academia, industry, and government together to give presentations to ACM chapters, members, and the greater IT community in a variety of venues and formats.
Type
Fellowships
Reference year
2017
Details
The Australian Computer Society (ACS) made me a fellow for "a sustained and distinguished contribution to the field of computer science. Foth is the international thought leader who coined the term urban informatics - now adopted by universities and industry worldwide. Foth's work makes clear how academic research can successfully respond to societal challenges."
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2017
Details
Nominated by the Smart Cities Council Australia / New Zealand, I was shortlisted and won the Gold Disruptor Award in the ICT Researcher of the Year category of the ACS Digital Disruptors Awards 2017. The awards honour the efforts of Australia¿s ICT professionals, recognising the teams and individuals at the forefront of digital disruption.
Type
Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
Reference year
2017
Details
Appointed Infrastructure Innovation Task Force Member. The State Infrastructure Plan (SIP) is an infrastructure strategy and program that underpins economic growth, supports jobs and creates long-term prosperity for all Queenslanders. The Infrastructure Innovation Taskforce relates to the SIP implementation action 14: to establish a joint industry-government infrastructure innovation taskforce.
Type
Advisor/Consultant for Industry
Reference year
2017
Details
Appointed to the Built Environment Task Force for Smart Cities by the Smart Cities Council Australia New Zealand (SSCANZ). The Built Environment Task Force provides a forum to advance smart cities dialogue and action in city building processes, and better understand the opportunities at the intersection of technology, intelligent design, and the built and social environments. This in turn will build greater opportunities for the successful procurement and deployment of smart cities solutions that are critical to achieving sustainable city outcomes.
Type
Advisor/Consultant for Industry
Reference year
2017
Details
Appointed advisory board member by BlueChilli CityConnect smart city startup accelerator and incubator
Type
Visiting Professorships/Fellowships
Reference year
2016
Details
Appointed Honorary Professor in the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University, Denmark
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2013
Details
Marcus has received a Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award 2013 which recognises him as one of the state's best young scientists, combining world-class research with a passionate commitment to communicating science.
Type
Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
Reference year
2011
Details
Foth was inducted by the planning, design and development site Planetizen to the world's top 25 leading thinkers and innovators in the field of urban planning and technology.

Research projects

Grants and projects (Category 1: Australian Competitive Grants only)

Title
Fostering digital participation through Living Labs in regional and rural Australian communities
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
LP130100469
Start year
2014
Keywords
digital citizenship; rural & regional; digital literacy
Title
Eat, Cook, Grow: Ubiquitous Technology for Sustainable Food Culture in the City
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
LP100100232
Start year
2010
Keywords
Human Computer Interaction; Urban Informatics; Ubiquitous Computing; Mobile Social Interaction
Title
Remembering the Past, Imagining the Future: Embedding Narrative and New Media in Urban Planning
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
LP0882274
Start year
2008
Keywords
Community Engagement; Community Informatics; New Media; Urban Planning
Title
Swarms in Urban Villages: New Media Design to Augment Social Networks of Residents in Inner-City Developments
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
LP0776341
Start year
2008
Keywords
Social Networking Systems; New Media; Human Computer Interaction; Community Informatics; Interaction Design; Urban Neighbourhoods
Title
Opportunities of Media and Communication Technology to Support Social Networks of Urban Residents in Mexico, South Africa, UK and Australia
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
LX0776580
Start year
2007
Keywords
Media Studies; Communication Studies; New Media; Community Informatics; Urban Renewel; Community Networks
Title
New Media in the Urban Village: Mapping Communicative Ecologies and Socio-Economic Innovation in Emerging Inner-City Residential Developments
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
DP0663854
Start year
2006
Keywords
New Media; Urban Renewal; Social Networks; Inner City Neighbourhoods; Community Informatics; Social Capital

Supervision

Current supervisions

  • Humanising the Smart City: Co-Creation Redefined in Pursuit of Systemic Change
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Associate Professor Markus Rittenbruch, Dr Ronald Schroeter
  • Stand-up Before Start-Up: New Ways to Foster the Social and Spatial Precursors to Innovation
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Professor Greg Hearn
  • Responding to Gentrification: Novel Approaches from Informal Structures in South Africa and Australia
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Associate Professor Markus Rittenbruch
  • Radical Placemaking Toolkit:Adapting Ethnographic Action Research for Placemaking by Oppressed Groups
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Dr Glenda Caldwell
  • Enabling People-Plant Engagement in Office Buildings Through Technologically Mediated Environments
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Dr Yasuhiro Santo
  • Bridges that Don't Bridge: A New Design Methodology Inspired by Baudelaire's Flâneur
    PhD, Associate Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Dr Mirko Guaralda, Associate Professor Markus Rittenbruch
  • Policy responses to social changes in urban environments
    PhD, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Professor Greg Hearn
  • Intermediation as Practice: Joining the dots between community, culture and commerce
    Professional Doctorate, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Professor Greg Hearn
  • Designing vs Planning: Reconciling Institutional Action Frames and Design Methodologies
    MPhil, Principal Supervisor
    Other supervisors: Dr Mirko Guaralda

Completed supervisions (Doctorate)