Dr Mick Abbott

Senior Lecturer
Design for Innovation
Director of the Masters in Design (MDes) programme

Mick Abbott's research applies design and design thinking as a tool for innovation in industry and society.

Current research includes:

1. ‘Food for Thought’ is an OERC funded study investigating innovation opportunities associated with commercial and household food-waste in New Zealand.
Given the importance of the food industry to New Zealand and the potential for energy saving, energy generation, and food-related waste minimisation, timely research is critical. Theoretical approaches remain underdeveloped, particularly in terms of the broader understanding of the linkages between food production, food-related waste and energy and wider bodies of knowledge on consumption behaviour and sustainable practice. There is an obvious lack of empirical research in New Zealand, underpinned by a lack of data. This study conducts a wide-ranging review of current knowledge and engages with key stakeholders in a critical discussion of the future direction and potential for research to foster innovation and to deliver sustainable outcomes for New Zealand in this space.

2. Investigating Food-Related Material Flows and Behaviours at Scott Base
Using a streamlined Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), we will model the annual whole of system impacts associated with food catering at Antarctica’s Scott Base and examine the role of behaviours in directing material flows associated with food waste. A key innovation will be the development of an integrated model equally considering material waste streams and people’s actions. From this holistic understanding of waste streams, a number of mitigation strategies for reducing environmental impacts will be proposed. A web-based scenario tool will then be developed to compare the relative benefits of the mitigation strategies with current environmental impacts.

3. University of Otago Food-Waste Innovation Research Group
This research group examines food-waste innovation issues and opportunities and is especially focused on applied research. Team members come from the University of Otago’s Departments of Food Science, Applied Sciences, Marketing and Sociology. Specific areas of examination include: household food waste decision making; drivers for behaviour change; food waste policy; utilization of food waste for energy; chemistry of waste utilization; food packaging and related issues; waste metrology; and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for food preservation technology and farming practice.

4. Wild Heart: the possibility of wilderness in Aotearoa New Zealand [Co-edited by Mick Abbott and Richard Reeve: publication date Nov 2011]
Images of pristine forests, mountain ranges, untameable rivers and empty expanses of coastline are the key attraction in how we promote Aotearoa New Zealand internationally: ‘100% Pure’ no less. Such wildness is at this nation’s psychological and physical core. This book searches for an understanding of ‘the wild’, of what makes wilderness such an important part of our psyche. Wild Heart looks forward, as exploring the ‘possibility’ of wilderness lies at its core. What could wilderness in Aotearoa New Zealand become, and, consequently, what might we its people also become? Contributors: Mick Abbott, Allison Ballance, Shaun Barnett, James Beattie, Mike Boyes, Tom Brooking, Stephen Espiner, Gerard Hindmarsh, Julian Kuzma, Robin McNeill, Cilla McQueen, Les Molloy, Harvey Perkins, Kerry Popplewell, Richard Reeve, Jacinta Ruru, Geoff Spearpoint, Brian Turner, Pip Wells, Jon West, Kerry Wray.

5. Increasing participation in New Zealand’s public conservation lands: design research with Department of Conservation (Canerbury and Otago Conservancies and Arthur’s Pass National Park)
What innovative products, services and environments could be developed to generate a greater connection with the conservation estate and the work of the Department of Conservation? We are currently developing a series of iApps, products and site-based interventions for trialling by the Department of Conservation between Oct-Dec 2011. This work is connected to the Centre for Research in National Identity’s Public Conservation Lands Research Project.

Current teaching

• Coordinator: DESN 201 – Design Methods
• Coordinator: DESI 313 – Environmental Design Theory
• Coordinator: DESI 323/DETE329 – Environmental Design Project
• Coordinator: DESI 480/490/495 – Research Project
• Contributing Lecturer: PYSE 327: Adventure Education: Masters of Entrepreneurship

Current postgraduate supervision

• Gavin O’Brien: ‘Straining History: Rural Innovation’. MCApSc (ongoing), co-supervisor.
• Machiko Niimi: ‘Design for Sustainable Behaviour’. MDes (ongoing), co-supervisor.
• Joshua Jeffery: ‘Can goal-driven sustainability strategies identify opportunities to significantly shape waste in large-scale social settings?’. MDes (ongoing), co-supervisor.
• Chris Fersterer: ‘How can new architectural forms create meaningful attachments to NZ's public conservation estate?’. MDes (ongoing), co-supervisor.
• Katy Miller: ‘Designing national park experiences’. MDes (ongoing), co-supervisor.
• Grant Baxter: ‘Can the new generation of mobile devices offer anything in NZ's public conservation estate’. MDes (ongoing), co-supervisor.