Dr. Roger Kemp
Details
College: School of Architecture & Urban Design
Department: School of AUD
Campus: City Campus Australia
roger.kemp@rmit.edu.au
ORCID: 0000-0001-6675-740X
Open to
- Masters Research or PhD student supervision
About
I am Associate Dean of Interior Design at RMIT University, where I contribute to the strategic development of design education, research and industry engagement. My background in commercial and hospitality design informs my interest in how interiors operate as spatial, cultural and social contributors to the contemporary city. I am interested in the ways interior environments shape public life, support interaction and respond to changing urban conditions.
I bring experience in design education leadership. I served as Program Director of the Bachelor of Interior Design (Honours) from 2013 to 2017, Higher Degrees by Research Coordinator from 2018 to 2019, and established and led RMIT’s Master of Interior Design from 2019 to 2022. Across roles, I have developed curricula, supported emerging designers and researchers, and strengthened connections between academic practice, industry and the design community. I have led workshops at institutions including Konkuk University in Seoul, LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore and RMIT Vietnam. From 2014 to 2018, I was Executive Director of the Interior Design/Interior Architecture Educators Association, and I continue to advise the Design Institute of Australia on educational matters.
My interdisciplinary design research practice, Making Distance, undertaken in collaboration with Anthony Fryatt, examines the relationship between space, materiality and experience. The work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at ACMI; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Brighton University; Form Gallery, Perth; the State of Design Festival, Melbourne; Bus Projects; Forty-five Downstairs; Pinup Gallery; Federation Square; Channel 31; and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.
Research fields
- 330108 Interior design
- 330306 Design practice and methods
Supervisor projects
- Zero division: Vietnamese way of space
- 25 May 2026
- Found In-between
- 22 Jan 2025
- Situational Perspective on Urban Interiority: An Investigation of Public Spaces
- 9 Feb 2024
- Fashion Scavenging: Resurrecting wasted fashion through luxury garment practice
- 21 Feb 2023
- Performing Interior: wearable sensation
- 16 Dec 2022
- Travelling Ten Thousand Miles: Accumulated Experience and Situated Design Judgement in a Small Hong Kong Interior Design Practice
- 3 Mar 2022
- The Transformation of a Practice in Hong Kong Cinema from Visual Narrative to an Action-Narrative Approach
- 25 Mar 2021
- Knowing Space: Inhabitation as Spatial Practice
- 21 Apr 2020
- Moving Experiences: Video Observations of Ho Chi Minh City
- 27 Mar 2019
- Participatory Dialogues with Temporary Publics: A Performance Design Approach to Participation in Urban Environments
- 19 Dec 2018
- Space in Transition: Mediating Light, Surface and Movement Through Time
- 26 Mar 2018
Teaching interests
PhD supervisor
Partnered Interior Design Studio leader
Research Strategies Lecturer
Portfolio Lecturer
Leadership and engagement roles:
- Associate Dean, Interior Design, RMIT (2022 - )
- Program Manager, Master of Interior Design, RMIT (2019-2022)
- Higher Degrees Research Coordinator, RMIT School of Architecture and Urban Design (2018-2020)
- Coordinator Creative Practice Research Strategies, RMIT School of Architecture and Urban Design (2018-2019)
- Deputy Dean Industrial Design + Interior Design (Acting), RMIT (2017)
- Program Manager, Bachelor of Interior Design, RMIT (2013-2017)
Research interests
My research interests include:
- Scenographic environments including set design for film and television.
- Design of public, commercial and civic Interiors.
- Material and making led design practices.
- Drawing and visual representation.
- Design curriculum and pedagogy,
