Books that inspire, provoke, and empower a new generation of futures‑makers.
At the UTS Transdisciplinary School (TD School), we believe tomorrow is built by the people who dare to think differently today.
Our work brings together diverse perspectives — across disciplines, industries, cultures and lived experiences — to tackle complex challenges that don’t fit neatly into any one box.
This collection highlights the books that inspire our teaching, shape our research, and fuel the curiosity of our community.
Our books
As our book collection grows, so does the impact of the ideas within it. We hope these works expand your worldview, challenge your assumptions, and spark the imagination needed to surf the next wave of societal change and help continue to build and keep evolving the power of transdisciplinarity.
Understanding Design
Kees Dorst
Understanding Design opens up the inner logic of design practice, showing how designers make sense of complexity and create meaningful change in the world. Blending theory, reflection and real‑world examples, it reveals how design becomes a powerful way of thinking—one that bridges disciplines, reframes challenges and uncovers new possibilities.
Frame Innovation: Create New Thinking by Design
Kees Dorst
Design Expertise explores how expert designers navigate complexity, frame challenges and generate innovative solutions, offering valuable insights for tackling interconnected problems in an increasingly complex world.
Human Factors in Augmented Reality Environments by Tony Huang
Human Factors in Augmented Reality Environments explores how people think, feel and behave when digital and physical worlds merge—revealing why human centred design is essential for AR to truly enhance our lives.
Bioenergy Crops for Ecosystem Health and Sustainability
Author - Alex Baumber
This incredible book reimagines agriculture’s role in regenerative futures. Blending ecology, policy, community insight and systems thinking, it shows how bioenergy crops can restore landscapes, strengthen economies and produce cleaner energy—demonstrating the power of working across disciplines and with nature for lasting impact.
Reinventing Strategic Innovation
Kees Dorst
Reinventing Strategic Innovation explores how organisations can tackle complexity through design, systems thinking and collaboration, creating more adaptive and innovative responses to emerging challenges. (co-authored by Rodger Watson, Barbara Doran and other contributors)
Deep Change
Kees Dorst
Deep Change explores how organisations and communities can create lasting transformation by challenging assumptions, reframing complex problems and working across disciplines to unlock new possibilities for meaningful change.
Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat: A Handbook of Methods
Martin Tomitsch
Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat. explores how design methods can help people tackle complex challenges through creativity, experimentation and collaboration. Encouraging an iterative approach to problem-solving, the book shows how learning through making, testing and refining can unlock innovative ideas and drive meaningful change.
Computer Supported Collaboration
Tony Huang
Computer‑Supported Collaboration explores how digital technologies can strengthen teamwork, creativity and collective problem‑solving, helping people work more effectively across disciplines, organisations and distances.
Making Smarter Cities
Martin Tomitsch
Making Cities Smarter explores how user experience design can make smart city technologies more intuitive, inclusive and human-centred. Focusing on the relationship between citizens and digital systems, the book offers practical insights for designing smarter urban experiences that better serve communities.
Designing Tomorrow
Martin Tomitsch
Designing Tomorrow explores how design and strategic foresight can help people navigate uncertainty and create better futures. Combining human-centred thinking with practical innovation tools, the book shows how organisations and communities can proactively shape resilient, sustainable and meaningful change.
Creative Practice and Embodied Narratives: Transdisciplinary Inquiry through the Body, Story, and System
Barbara Doran
Creative Practice and Embodied Narratives explores how creativity, storytelling and lived experience can deepen understanding of complex challenges. Drawing on art, design and embodied inquiry, the book highlights diverse ways of knowing and shows how creative practice can inspire more meaningful, connected and transformative change.
Handbook of Human Centric Visualisation
Author - Tony Huang
This engaging book explores how design, data, psychology and technology can make complex information more meaningful and actionable. By championing human-centred visualisation and the integration of diverse perspectives, it reflects the heart of TDS - bringing disciplines together to create insight and positive change.
Creative Reboot: Catalysing Creative Intelligence
Barbara Doran
Creative Reboot explores how creativity can be developed as a practical capability for navigating complexity and change. Drawing on design, systems thinking and embodied practice, the book shows how curiosity, reflection and experimentation can unlock new ways of thinking, collaborating and creating positive futures.
Creativity +
Paulina LaRocca
Creativity+ explores how creativity can be developed as a practical capability for tackling complex challenges and driving innovation. Combining practical tools, new ways of thinking and real-world insights, the book shows how experimentation, confidence and diverse perspectives can unlock more creative and impactful outcomes.
The Holey Bible
Paulina LaRocca
The Holey Bible explores how challenging assumptions and embracing new perspectives can unlock creativity and innovation. Through practical tools and thought-provoking insights, the book shows how curiosity, experimentation and reframing problems can help individuals and teams discover imaginative solutions to complex challenges.
Reframing Entrepreneurship Education: Teaching Change Agents in Different Disciplines
Gunhild Marie Roald
This book explores how entrepreneurial learning can help people navigate complexity, collaborate across disciplines and drive positive change. Through practical frameworks and real-world examples, the book shows how curiosity, reflection and creative problem-solving can build the capabilities needed for innovation & impact.
Design Expertise
Kees Dorst
Design Expertise explores how expert designers navigate complexity, frame challenges and generate innovative solutions, offering valuable insights for tackling interconnected problems in an increasingly complex world.
Meet Our Authors
These authors, from the TD School, invite us to stretch our thinking, embrace ambiguity, collaborate deeply and create solutions that matter — for Australia and for the world.
Alex Baumber
Alex is a sustainability researcher focused on regenerative futures, environmental innovation and systems change. Drawing on expertise across policy, economics and community engagement, he explores how people and nature can work together to create more resilient and sustainable futures.
Tony Huang
Tony is a researcher specialising in human-centred technology, data visualisation and collaborative innovation. His work brings together design, psychology and emerging technologies to help people better understand information, work together effectively and make sense of complexity.
Kees Dorst
Kees is a transdisciplinary innovation researcher specialising in design thinking, complex problem-solving and systems innovation. His work helps organisations, governments and communities reframe challenges, navigate complexity and create meaningful change.
Martin Tomitsch
Martin is a design and innovation researcher specialising in futures thinking, human-centred design and emerging technologies. His work helps organisations and communities navigate uncertainty, imagine preferred futures and create meaningful change through design.
Barbara Doran
Barbara is a transdisciplinary innovation researcher specialising in creativity, collaborative problem-solving and systems change. Her work explores how people and organisations can unlock creative potential, navigate complexity and build the capabilities needed to create positive futures.
Paulina Larocca
Paulina is a creativity and innovation researcher specialising in creative intelligence, learning and human-centred change. Her work helps people and organisations unlock new ways of thinking, challenge assumptions and build the confidence to turn ideas into meaningful action.
Gunhild Marie Roald
Gunhild is an education researcher specialising in entrepreneurial learning, leadership development and building collaborative capabilities for complex working environments. (Gunhild is an honorary adjunct at the Transdisciplinary school).
Your Next Event
Our authors invite us to stretch our thinking, embrace ambiguity, collaborate deeply and create solutions that matter — for Australia and for the world. Need some expert insights, perhaps someone to lead a discussion, or perhaps you want to elevate your next event?