Associate Professor Michele Verdonck is an occupational therapist and researcher at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. She completed her PhD on environmental control systems and now investigates how automation and smart technologies can support people with physical disabilities in their homes. Michele’s work focuses on collaboration between technology experts, disability experts such as occupational therapists, and people with lived experience of disability. She aims to ensure technologies are designed and implemented in ways that are accessible, meaningful, and sustainable by bringing these perspectives together.