Dr Willhemina Wahlin is a Lecturer in Design within the School of Information and Communication Studies, Faculty of Arts and Education, at Charles Sturt University, Port Macquarie. Her research focuses on design for social change, spanning the areas of exhibition design, design thinking, human-centred design, Co-Design and public policy, and design as a vehicle for inspiring civic activity. 

Her current research, The Social is the Thing: Taking a Designerly Approach to Local Government Strategic Planning and Evaluation, focuses on the development of a framework that combines public policy, co-design and community engagement principles to help build the capacity of both local government staff and stakeholder groups. The aim of this research is to enhance community engagement for the entire life of a local government strategic plan.

Since 2019, Willhemina has also been leading a research team to develop a multidisciplinary program aimed at encouraging young regional Australians to develop critical creativity. This program, The Creative Citizen Project, has seen the development of a flexible model that combines Design Thinking with civics and citizenship education and storytelling skills that span photography, design and journalism.

Willhemina is the Creative Director for PROOF: Media for Social Justice, a New York-based non-profit organization that utilises visual storytelling for human rights and peacebuilding. With PROOF, Willhemina has designed multiple travelling exhibitions that have focused on issues such as genocide prevention, gender violence, child soldiers and criminal justice. These have been shown in locations across the USA, Europe, Asia and Australia, including the United States Institute for Peace, The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, The Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne, and Yale, Columbia and Dayton universities. She has also worked closely with PROOF and academics from the University of Dayton's Human Rights Centre's Moral Courage Project. Since 2016, MCP projects have included 'Ferguson Voices: Disrupting the Frame', 'America the Borderland' and the upcoming, 'Poison and Power: The Fight for Water'.

She is a member of the Society of Experiential Design's (SEGD) Academic Task Force (2020-2021), and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council's Cultural Steering Group.