We are living in strange and uncertain times. The threat of the coronavirus pandemic is so great that we have been forced to rapidly and radically change our way of life.

In a matter of days, our faculty building has gone from being the epicentre of Delft Design to an eerily quiet place. On the fourth floor a small support staff is working to orchestrate a radical shift from an educational approach which thrives on human interaction and physical creations, to one that must now operate in the digital world. Meanwhile our students, teachers and researchers – the life and soul of our faculty - have been instructed to work from home and practice social distancing.

Many of you will have very real concerns about your ability to study, teach, research or support within these new constraints. Many of you will be worried about your own health or that of friends and family. And for those of you living far from home, the prospect of travel restrictions and closing borders must be--- Read more --- extremely unsettling. This does not come easily to any of us.

Despite the challenges that lie ahead, I believe that IDE can weather this storm. As Delft designers, you are creative and visionary. You understand technology and couple it with a human-centred design. You embrace complexity, but understand that products, services and systems come about through an iterative approach.

Use these skills. Use them to help friends, family or neighbours struggling with these uncertain times. Use them to help shape a new form of IDE education – as many of you already are. Use them to keep our IDE connections alive – there are many initiatives which are being developed, as well as a healthy dose of design stories from Delft and beyond to keep the designer in each of us inspired.

Ena Voûte

Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering