Areli Avendano - PhD Student, PhD Sustainable Packaging

Areli graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico with a Bachelor degree in Industrial Design in 2002, having also completed a Graduate Diploma in Design & Technology in Packaging Materials at the Mexican Institute of Packaging. With practical experience as a product designer in small design studios in Mexico City, she was granted a scholarship from the Mexican Government to pursue a Masters of Design at RMIT, through which she developed a Sustainable Packaging System for Organic Produce retailed in supermarkets. This led to her commencing her PhD in Sustainable Packaging at the Centre for Design.

Areli has developed a passion in design processes and their engagement with sustainability, especially in the nexus between social and environmental performance, and business drivers. Her PhD research investigates the role of product designers in the effective development of sustainable packaging systems, with an emphasis on the early stages of the product development process.

In addition to effectively combining economic and environmental requirements, a sustainable packaging system is also required to meet social values; therefore theacknowledgment of consumer’s perceptions and attitudes towards packaging is a key aspect of the research. The anticipated outcome is the refinement of a framework for use in the product-packaging development process, with practical applications to assess performance and robustness.