Alec Tzannes. (Photography by Patrick Cummins)The University of New South Wales’ Alec Tzannes will look at the shortcomings and the contributions that award accolades make to the development of the profession.

Professor Tzannes, who is the Dean of UNSW’s Faculty of the Built Environment, will be one of the plenary speakers at the ConnectED 2010 conference, which is hosted by UNSW’s College of Fine Arts (COFA) and Faculties of Engineering and the Built Environment.

The event, which begins today (Monday, June 28), brings together designers and educators in engineering, architecture and design from around the world.

"There is design taught in art schools, as well as by architects and engineers, to name just a few,” says Graham Forsyth, co-ordinator of the conference and Associate Dean of COFA.

"We all teach design, but there are different models and different contexts. We need to learn from each other and focus on how to teach across a range of perspectives."

Other plenary speakers include:

- Professor Larry Leifer, Stanford University — Dancing with Ambiguity: design thinking in theory and practice

- Thomas Meier, Zurich University of the Arts — From Swiss design to design thinking

- adjunct professor Kevin Murray, RMIT University — Do you want ethics with that? New platforms for designing trust

ConnectED 2010 — the second international conference on design education will run until July 1, 2010 and will be held at the NSW Kensington campus.