Dr Katrina Sandbach is a Senior Lecturer in Design (Visual Communication) in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University. Katrina’s research draws from her experience as a designer and design educator, using visual and digital methods to study place, identity, and community, emphasizing practice-led approaches and non-traditional outcomes. She is interested in the social, cultural, and economic impacts of creative industries, and is driven by her concerns about the support given to current and future creative practitioners through education, policy, and community-based initiatives. As an award-winning educator, Katrina’s curriculum design and teaching approach centres on community engagement and strengths-based learning approaches that balance student well-being and outcomes with work readiness, ensuring that students graduate as skillful, resilient, and sought-after designers. She is the convenor of Burrow, a work-integrated learning studio that connects emerging designers with organisations that require creative insight. Since 2016 she has supervised more than 800 students. She has developed, managed, and delivered 100+ real-world design projects of varying scope and complexity, working with a range of partners spanning the education, arts and culture, tech innovation, health, and local government sectors.