Dr Robert Crocker

With a doctorate in the history of early modern science and ideas, I teach the history and theory of architecture and design and research methods. My current research interests include 1. the history of furniture and the interior (1900-1950) and more broadly the relationship between design and its past; and 2. the history and theory of consumerism as it relates to technology, waste and sustainable design.

• The history and theory of modern design (especially interior and industrial design), and its relation to culture, economy and society.
• Sustainable design theory, consumer culture, design and technological innovation.
• Qualitative research methods for designers.

Design History Society.

BA (Hons) in Modern History (Adelaide) DPhil in Modern History (Oxford)

• My doctorate and research background was centered on the relationship between science, religion and philosophy in the seventeenth century. Most of my publications have been in this area, but I am currently focussing my research efforts in two areas:
• 1. The role of historical knowledge in the cultural construction and practice of design. I am working on two publications relating to the 'period style' interior in the 1920s and 1930s, the outcome of a research fellowship at the Winterthur Museum in late 2007.
• 2. Modern consumerism, identity and sustainability. I am interested in the history of DIY in the interior, and the development of the 'restless home'.

Please contact me for a full list of conference papers and non-refereed publications. The items listed below are peer reviewed articles, chapters or books only.

"A 'Sanative Contagion': Henry More on Faith-healing" in Margaret Pelling and Scott Mandelbrote (eds), The Practice of Reform in Medicine and Science, 1500-2000 (Ashgate, 2005)

Henry More, 1614-1687: A Biography of the Cambridge Platonist by Robert Crocker (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic publishers, 2003)

Religion, Reason and Nature in Early Modern Europe, edited by Robert Crocker (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001).Introduction, and "Henry More and the Preexistence of the Soul" in the above.

Designing Minds: Current Issues in Craft, Design and Industry. Proceedings of the Designing Minds Symposium, held at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, July 21-22, 2000. Edited by Robert Crocker (University of South Australia, Adelaide 2001). Introduction, and "An Italian Story: Design, craft and Manufacture", in the above.

Richard Ward: The Life of Henry More, Parts 1 and 2. Edited by Sarah Hutton, Cecil Courtney, Michelle Courtney, Robert Crocker, Rupert Hall, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 2000)

“The Role of Illuminism in the Thought of Henry More”, in G.A.J. Rogers et al (eds), The Cambridge Platonists in Philosophical Context (Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997), pp.129-144.