DrPaulina Larocca

Paulina’s research sits at the intersection of creativity, systems thinking, and relational ethics. She is particularly interested in the role of creative practice in navigating complexity, uncertainty, and transformation. Her work is grounded in practice-led and post-qualitative methodologies and often takes the form of non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) such as immersive installations, performative writing, speculative pedagogy, and sound-based storytelling.

Her current initiatives include:

The Creative Lab — co-developed with Barbara Doran, this transdisciplinary research initiative explores how embodied, intuitive, and more-than-human forms of knowing can catalyse systemic change. Working across art, health, and traditional wisdoms, the Lab creates experimental learning environments and participatory artefacts that support creative inquiry as a transformational process. It also serves as an incubator for practice-led research and NTRO development.

The Hive — also co-developed with Barbara Doran, The Hive is a peer-led, NTRO-based mentoring and publishing platform for emerging creative researchers working at the disciplinary edges. The Hive operates as both process and output: a living research method that fosters co-creation, reflexivity, and embodied scholarship, culminating in a digital publication that documents creative research experiments and builds a community of shared inquiry.

Pollinating Hope — a knowledge transfer podcast co-developed with 2SER and the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE), exploring how creativity, resilience, and ethical storytelling can be mobilised as tools for cultural and systems transformation. The podcast functions as an audio-based NTRO, blending lived experience, research insight, and public pedagogy to extend creative inquiry beyond the academy.

Love Lasts Longer Than Life — a public storytelling and arts-based research project on Voluntary Assisted Dying, co-recipient of a Wicking Trust grant. This project uses alternative methodologies—performance, creative writing, and participatory storytelling—to explore care, grief, and end-of-life ethics. It offers a multisensory, community-facing model for engaging the public in compassionate dialogue through creative practice.

Paulina’s research is informed by Indigenous knowledge systems, somatic and phenomenological methodologies, and post-qualitative inquiry. She is committed to expanding how research is conceptualised, practiced, and valued—particularly within the creative arts, transdisciplinary education, and design-led innovation fields.