News

To wrap up the first quarter of the 2021/2022 academic year, students from the SPD MSc programme presented their design roadmaps to GrowY’s venture team. It was an excellent opportunity for our students to gain real-world experience and for GrowY to see what the future might holds for them and their vertical farming venture.

A design researcher and a doctor sit together for a coffee in a hospital café. They discuss and draw on a napkin what a joined education programme for designers and medical students could look like. What if doctors understood design for healthcare, and designers the healthcare world?

How can design research improve our health, and is it better to design for prevention or for the cure? We kick off our triptych on Design & Health with Delft Design Professor Maaike Kleinsmann. Ianus and co-host Marc talk with her about working with healthcare professionals as a design researcher, what all this new remote-sensing health-tech for consumers means for personal health challenges and the issue of health data and privacy. And dealing with Strava-men in tight lycra suits.

Maximum functions, minimum amount of materials. That needs to be part of the sustainable future of design. What technologies might be helpful for both the design and production process? We talk with Delft Design researcher Jun Wu about possible technological solutions using 3D printing for what he calls generative design: using algorithms to print the most sustainable product possible. Also in this episode: how to create more problems with your solutions, growing bridges with metal or tree vines and bicycles.

The 10th Relating Systems Thinking & Design Symposium was a big success. It took place at IDE between 2-6 November, under the theme “Playing with Tensions”. The TU Delft team, led by Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer, welcomed ∓80 people to the faculty for the event – with an additional ∓280 attending virtually. The programme shone a light on 119 new contributions to systemic design, which included a keynote by Elisa Giaccardi.

IDE alumnus and graduate of the SPD MSc programme, Jouri Schoemaker, is making waves in the worlds of groceries and sustainability. Jouri, who graduated from IDE in 2019, is the founder and CEO of Pieter Pot – a sustainability-focused grocery delivery start-up. It was just announced that Pieter Pot has received €9 million in funding to expand its service across Europe. This is a fantastic example of how design thinking and an entrepreneurial attitude can come together to elevate circular economies and get people talking about sustainability.

The 2021 virtual edition of ThingsCon’s Boutiques of Salons takes place tomorrow (10 December) from 17:30 – 20:00 CET. There will be talks by IDE Professor Elisa Giaccardi and alumni Simone Rebaudengo. This year’s event will also include the student IoT Talent Awards and a digital exhibition – both of which will feature three IDE graduation projects.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, TU Delft’s Open Days had to go digital. Luckily, the IDE team was able to shift gears to pull together a packed digital agenda for prospective IDE students on Saturday 20 November!

On Thursday 18 November, the IPD master’s students behind the WeScope project received some fantastic news – their device had won a BraunPrize 2021. The WeScope is an open source, low-cost digital microscope designed to help train medical students in Sub-Saharan Africa. Keep reading to find out more about their project and how you can help them win the “public vote” award.

We are back with season 3 of the Delft Design podcast Out of the Blue! This season we’re tackling healthcare, mobility and sustainability – with three episodes dedicated to each topic. Producer Marc joins Ianus as this season’s co-host. In episode #20, they chat with Flora Poppelaars (sustainability consultant, circular economy expert, and Delft design PhD graduate) about the stages of circularity, why smartphones are the perfect case study, and heavy metal covers of infectious Disney songs.

Due to the latest COVID-19 restrictions, TU Delft’s Open Campus Days have had to go digital. Luckily, the IDE team has been able to shift gears and we now have a packed digital agenda for prospective IDE students on Saturday 20 November! To find out what we have planned...

Together with the students from the Connected Creativity minor, a buzzing network event was hosted at the ID KAFEE on 2 November. Enthusiasts of creativity in innovation from various research institutes, governments, and organisations came together and were challenged to Connect to Create! Various initiatives organised by Katrina Heijne, Willemijn Brouwer, Han van der Meer, Milene Gonçalves, and the Connected Creativity students were shared during the event.

With his Plastic Scanner, Jerry de Vos has designed a handheld device that can tell you quickly what kind of plastic something is made of. Knowing this is crucial for better reuse and recycling of the growing worldwide plastic waste.

From 18-20 November 2021, the fourth edition of Highlight Delft will take place across Delft, including the TU Delft campus. There will be 16 installations in which art and technology influence one another in order to experiment and discuss unexplored perspectives for our technological future. This year, two IDE researchers and one IDE graduate will have their work on display at the event. So don’t miss out on the following installations: IDE researcher Frederik Ueberschär with his Landshapes project, IDE Assistant Professor Doris Aschenbrenner and German musician Bruno Kramm with their Pandemic Robot Orchestra, and IDE graduate Tim van Dortmont with his Growing Light project. To find out more about their projects and how to get tickets to Highlight Delft, keep reading.

ENERGE is an Interreg NWE funded project aimed at “ENergising Education to Reduce Green-gas Emissions” in secondary schools. The project aims to equip schools with the tools they need to engage in low-cost energy-efficient practices. On 16 November (12.00 - 12.45), ENERGE will host an online session with its partner schools to get further insights on Greengage. Want to learn more about ENERGE and its preliminary insights? Register here for free or keep reading to find out more.

The UBUNTU Eduscope, developed by one of IDE’s Advanced Embodiment Design (AED) teams, has been shortlisted for the Global Grad Show in Dubai. The UBUNTU Eduscope is an affordable, locally producible digital microscope for education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The concept of Eduscope is part of the NWO INSPiRED project.

In 2018, Times Higher Education labelled TU Delft as a “technology challengers”, alongside 34 other institutions. Of the 35 institutions that were given this title and that were also ranked in the arts and humanities subject rankings, 22 have improved their scores - including TU Delft. TU Delft, which is 21st in the world for engineering and 59th for computer science, has found a spot in the top 50 for the arts and humanities this year and is now in joint 42nd position. In an article written by Times Higher Education, IDE dean Ena Voûte was asked to weigh in on this exciting news.

A modular chair made of blocks in which CO2 has been stored and that can be converted into other pieces of furniture. With his special design - Unito - Riel Bessai, who recently graduated from the Faculty of Industrial Design, wants, above all, to tell a story. “With my chair I am making the global CO2 problem tangible and I hope to encourage people to view our consumer society from a different perspective.”

With TU Delft Education Day (4 November) fast approaching, it seems particularly fitting to shine a spotlight on Stefan Persaud - IDE’s Lecturer of the Year 2021. Nominated by the ID Study Association, Stefan is now in the running (alongside lecturers from the other TU Delft faculties) to become the TU Delft Lecturer of the Year 2021. To find out more about Stefan, his nomination, his approach as a Design Educator, and more...

Inspirerende onderwijsverhalen gaan vaak over de impact die een docent heeft gehad op een leerling. Maar studenten kunnen op hun beurt ook de kijk van docenten op hun vak en zichzelf veranderen.

It’s time to introduce you to the 2021/2022 OKIO board! In case you didn’t know - the OKIO (statutory Board of Studies) of IDE advises the Board of Education (OD/ BoE), and (indirectly) the dean of the faculty, regarding the quality of education. By doing so, the OKIO represents the faculty’s teaching staff and students. The board is made up of five staff members and five students.

Associate Professor Elif Ozcan Vieira will be stepping into the role of diversity & inclusion officer at IDE. As the faculty’s first D&I officer, we’ve asked her to tell us more about the position and why she is doing it.

Designing smart objects for everyday life demands a new approach: no longer focused on a single object and a single user, but on an ecological system of countless objects and users. This approach is central in the new Delft Design Lab for Expressive Intelligence and the recently published book Designing Smart Objects in Everyday Life.

Patients failing to take their medication in the prescribed manner is a widespread problem across society. But a combination of social barriers, discrimination and difficulty with written language mean that the Deaf community has a greater struggle. This medication non-adherence can be dangerous for patients, prolong sickness and strained healthcare systems. Ph.D. researcher Prangnat Chininthorn wanted to find ways to improve this and help Deaf people better manage their own health.

On Monday, 11 October the Minister of Culture, Science and Education Ingrid van Engelshoven visited the Green Intensive Care Room at Convergence Square. During her extensive tour of the facility, IDE Associate Professor JC Diehl, alongside Prof. Diederik Gommers, and Dr. Nicole Hunfeld from Erasmus MC, presented their work and findings to her. They explained that (on average) seven bags of waste per patient, per day were being produced at the Intensive Care Unit.