Dr Emma Rowden

Emma’s main teaching focus is research methods, which she teaches across all levels of the school. While mainly teaching postgraduate students across design studios (the Research-led design specialisation) and through leading the research methods modules, Emma also teaches into the undergraduate programme through the 'Dissertation' module and various history and theory modules. Through her co-leadership of the Environment and Society stream of TDE’s Doctoral Training Programme, she also teaches research methods to MPhil/PhD students.
 

Co-Lead of the Environment and Society Doctoral Training Program
 

As well as being the Postgraduate Research Tutor and lead of the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded AD[A]PT program, awarding fully funded studentships for doctoral studies (for four cohorts starting Oct 2026, Oct 2027, Oct 2028 and Oct 2029), Emma is a supervisor with extensive supervisory and examination experience, and welcomes MPhil/PhD applications from a wide range of areas and disciplines sympathetic to her research interests and expertise. These subjects include: law and architecture, justice environments, environmental psychology, public architecture, the architectural profession, architecture and the arts, architectural briefing, architecture and human rights, as well as research projects involving archival research, oral history or empirical methods.

Emma’s research interests span the politics of design, the relationship between architecture, democracy and ‘the public’, and the role of public architecture and public-sector workplaces in the development of the architectural profession. Her research to date has focused on our understanding of the relationship between spatial design and perceptions of fairness; questioning how we can better facilitate access to justice through the design of our law courts. Emma's interdisciplinary research is driven by the desire to make architecture more inclusive; the discipline more accountable to the public; and, processes of procurement more reflective of the democratic principles of procedural fairness, social justice and due process. Her published work spans the scale from urban design to interior design and contributes scholarship to a variety of disciplines ranging from socio-legal studies, architectural history and urban design.
 

Building on over a decade of research into courthouse architecture and remote participation in courts, Emma’s findings have resulted in the development of several practical applications that have furthered the impact of her work. These include the highly praised information videos for litigants attending online hearings that have been awarded for their impact, as well as design guidelines for practitioners and designers. Through the Gateways to Justice design guidelines that were developed from her PhD findings, and further collaborations on guidance with other researchers since, Emma’s research has influenced the design of courthouses (see, for instance, the Coffs Harbour Courthouse, as discussed in Rowden and Jones, 2018).Emma has also been invited to give presentations or act as a research consultant to several peak bodies and government departments, including the NGO pressure groups The Howard League for Penal Reform and JUSTICE, as well as the Ministry of Justice (UK), the NSW Justice Department and the Australian Court Administrators Group.
 

Emma regularly attends the CA2RE+ conferences to support doctoral students, as well as giving many presentations at public conferences, symposia and events, several being invited presentations. Highlights include: Rowden, E. (2021). ‘Space, Thresholds and Interfaces’ Panel member. Criminal Justice Webinar: Access, Architecture, and Aspirations in a Post Covid-19 Future, Invited presentation at the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice, University of Cambridge, 26 Jan, 2021. Rowden, E. (2021). ‘Remote Hearings: Judges and Witnesses appearing onscreen’. Invited Presentation. Presented at the Singapore International Commercial Court Conference 2021. 12-13 Jan 2021 (12 Jan). Mulcahy, L. and Rowden, E. (2020). ‘The Missing Voice of Government Lawyers’, ACelebration of the life of Philip Lewis Symposium. Wolfson College, Oxford, 10 Mar 2020. Proceedings subsequently published in the Journal of the Legal Profession.
 

Conference Organisation

Emma has assisted in the organisation of several international academic conferences that explore the intersection between architecture and justice. These include the Architecture, Law and the Senses Symposium (3-4 September 2014, UTS, Sydney) and the Evidence of Bodies | Bodies of EvidenceSymposium (10 March 2013, UTS, Sydney), the Ninth Annual Jury Conference (The Mint, Sydney, 15 July 2011) and the Third Justice Environments Conference (World Square, Sydney, 20-22 May 2010). Emma was also on the organising committee for several Court of the Future Network Executive Research Court Tours, including the Montreal and New York City Court Architecture Tour (2013); the Spain, Luxembourg and Germany Court Architecture Tour (2011); the Victorian Court Architecture Tour in Melbourne (2009) and the International and European Courts Executive Research Tour (2008).

Conference Presentations

Emma has made over 20 presentations at public conferences, symposia and events, with many of them being invited presentations. Highlights include:

• Rowden, E. (2021). ‘Space, Thresholds and Interfaces’ Panel member. Criminal Justice Webinar: Access, Architecture, and Aspirations in a Post Covid-19 Future, Invited presentation at the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice, University of Cambridge, 26 Jan, 2021.
• Rowden, E. (2021). ‘Remote Hearings: Judges and Witnesses appearing onscreen’. Invited Presentation. Presented at the Singapore International Commercial Court Conference 2021. 12-13 Jan 2021 (12 Jan).
• Mulcahy, L. and Rowden, E. (2020). ‘The Missing Voice of Government Lawyers’, ACelebration of the life of Philip Lewis Symposium. Wolfson College, Oxford, 10 Mar 2020. Proceedings subsequently published in the Journal of the Legal Profession.
• Mulcahy, L. and Rowden, E. (2020). ‘Virtual Justice’. Wolfson College Lecture Series 2019-2020, Wolfson College, Oxford, 5 Mar 2020.
• Stein, J.A. & Rowden, E. (2017). ‘Talking spatial memory: Workers, inmates and institutional buildings’. Presented at the Oral History Australia Conference, Sydney: 13–16 Sep 2017 (16 Sep 2017).
• Rowden, E. (2017). ‘Experiencing Court: accessing the voice of lay users’. Invited presentation at the Space of Justice Symposium, La Trobe University, Melbourne: 5–7 Jul 2017 (7 Jul 2017).
• Mulcahy, L. & Rowden, E. (2016). ‘Unicorns and Urinals: why do modern courts look the way they do?’ Invited presentation at the Architectures of Law: Courts, Space and Legal Legitimacy Symposium, University of Cambridge, Cambridge: 7 Jul 2016.
• Mulcahy, L. & Rowden, E. (2015). ‘Unicorns and Urinals: Foucauldian methodology and the apparently unimportant minutiae of the Court Design Guides’. Invited presentation at the Sources and Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice Conference, The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, London: 19 Oct 2015.
• Mulcahy, L. & Rowden, E. (2015). ‘Unicorns and Urinals: why do modern courts look the way they do?’ Invited presentation at The Digital Panoptican Workshop: The History of Crime and the Courts in Three Dimensions, University of Sussex, Brighton: 20 Oct 2015.
• Rowden, E. (2013). ‘A relic of barbarism: attempts to remove the dock from the criminal trial in New South Wales’. Presented at the Evidence of Bodies | Bodies of Evidence Symposium. The Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney: 10 Apr 2013.
• Rowden, E. (2012). ‘The Gateways to Justice Project: operational and design guidelines to help improve video-mediated communications for justice participants’. Invited presentation at the Videoconferencing in Courts Symposium, Institut des Hautes Études sur la Justice, École de Droit de la Sorbonne, Paris: 28 Jun 2012.
• Farbstein, J., Bocchiaro, I. I. I. J., Willard, J. & Rowden, E. (2012). ‘Video Technology and the Transformation of Tomorrow’s Courthouse’. Presented at the Academy of Architecture for Justice, The American Institute of Architects Fall Conference Community Dialogue: Architecture for Justice and Renewal. Toronto Hilton, Ontario, Toronto: 11-13 Oct 2012 (12 Oct 2012).
• Rowden, E. (2009). ‘Virtual Courts: Here, There and Everywhere’. Presented at the Architecture and Justice Conference. Lincoln University, Lincoln: 25–27 Nov 2009 (26 Nov 2009).

Invited Research Projects

• 2018 Courts Services Victoria - Project: Developing a Co-Design Policy Vision for the Design of Courthouses: understanding the needs of court users Role: Lead Investigator (research team included five academics across two institutions).
• 2017 NSW Department of Justice - Project: Framework, foundations and design exemplars for AVL suites in juvenile and adult custody settings. Role: Chief Investigator (Lead Investigator: Dr Rohan Lulham, UTS, collaborating with seven other academics across two institutions).
• 2017 NSW Department of Justice - Project: Initial Environmental Standards for AVL Justice. Role: Chief Investigator (Lead Investigator: Dr Rohan Lulham, UTS, collaborating with seven other academics across two institutions).

Presentations to Peak Bodies and Government Departments and Agencies

Emma has also been invited to give presentations or act as a research consultant to several peak bodies and government departments, including the NGO pressure groups The Howard League for Penal Reform and JUSTICE, as well as the Ministry of Justice (UK), the NSW Justice Department and the Australian Court Administrators Group.

Emma has experience in architectural practice, predominantly working for the studio of Diane Jones at PTW Architects (Sydney, Australia). Here she worked mainly on projects in the following sectors: heritage, justice environments, hospitals, age-in-place developments and international competitions (including the finalists round of the Barangaroo development).

Press, publicity and reviews

• Alexia Attwood (2013) 'Higher quality court videolinks will improve justice outcomes: study', The Conversation, http://theconversation.com/higher-quality-court-videolinks-will-improve-justice-outcomes-study-15453