Nagida Helsby-Clark

Email: n.helsbyclark@student.unsw.edu.au

Supervisors: Dennis Del Favero, Maximilian Ott, Andrew Yip

Nagida is a design researcher specialising in immersive experiences. She is a PhD candidate with UNSW Art and Design, supported through a scholarship with CSIRO’s Data61. Her research investigates embodied sensemaking for researchers interacting with ocean and wildfire visualisations in real-time, 3D environments. Here, she explores multisensory approaches to bring these visualisations to life. 

Nagida applies her research through UNSW iCinema’s ARC Laureate iFire project, where she worked as an Interaction Designer before commencing her PhD. iFire is an immersive environment able to visualise extreme wildfire behaviour. Nagida is working closely with wildfire researchers and firefighters to understand fire dynamics and translate this into her designs. She is also embedded in CSIRO’s Data61 Ocean Explorer project. Here, she is working with oceanographers to explore the aesthetic characteristics of ocean current models through haptics.

Nagida graduated from UNSW’s Master of Visualisation, Simulation and Immersive Design in 2021 with Excellence. She was the recipient of the UNSW Art and Design Dean’s List Award in 2020 and 2021. Nagida has a strong interest in narrative and visual storytelling, having studied a diploma in cinematography at AFTRS and journalism at UTS in her undergraduate years. Before training as a designer, Nagida worked and volunteered as a climate, LGBTQIA+ and workplace rights digital storyteller and community organiser. She draws on these values and skills in her design process, emphasising participatory and more-than-human methodologies to grapple with the climate crisis.

Nagida is a sessional academic teaching in the immersive design program at UNSW Art and Design.