The Design for Health Motivation research group is comprised of researchers who start from a human-centred design perspective to end with a design that motivates people to care for their health. This group is part of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering's eHealthLab.


The research routes we take to arrive at motivational health design vary, but common threads that run through our journeys include:

  • Research on design methods for reaching and engaging specific groups of people, such as chronically ill children, young families, or people in a low socio-economic position. Methods are used like cocreation, value-based design, participatory research, quantitative and qualitative observational studies. 
  • Research on design means to increase health motivation. These means encompass gamification, reward structures, crafting process, storytelling, personalisation strategies, motivational AI, meaningful ‘small’ data design. 
  • Research on design for sustainable health engagement and ownership, such as connecting health journeys of hospital and home, (blended) eHealth stimulating self-care over time, stimulating confident healthcare attitudes.


Results of the projects consists of research and prototypes to be embedded in healthcare. Outcome variables of include health literacy, health prevention , health engagement, healthy behaviour, therapy adherence and reduced negative health experiences. All researchers work in projects that are related to the complex health demands making a transdisciplinary approach necessary. The health-related stakeholders of these projects typically consists of design researchers/professionals, health researchers/providers and user/ societal organizations.

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We believe that motivating people through contextualized technology, fostering self-exploration, and enabling people to configure their own paths to health and well-being, is the foundation of our mission. Our commitment is to use research through design approach that empower people, prevent health issues, and support them to design their lives for greater autonomy, ownership, and independence in their health and wellbeing.

- Design for Health Motivation research group

Our Team

PhD Candidate

Noa van den Brink

Noa is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering exploring how we can co-design smart digital technology to support the healthy lifestyle of young families in vulnerable situations.

Postdoctoral Researcher

David de Buisonjé

David is a postdoc on the Enduring Rewards project. He will extend his PhD research by investigating how to capitalize on (financial) reward processes to help achieve sustainable health behavior change.

PhD Candidate

Jasper Faber

Jasper has a background in Industrial Design and he is currently working on a research project aimed at understanding the unique needs and challenges faced by individuals with low socioeconomic position (SEP) when accessing and using eHealth interventions.

PhD Candidate

Sara Hondmann

Sara is a PhD candidate at Leiden University’s Health, Medical, and Neuropsychology Department. Sara is part of the Enduring Rewards project and its cooperation between the TU Delft, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), and Leiden University.

PhD Candidate

Timothy Houtman

Timothy is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. His research focuses on promoting long-term healthy lifestyles among adolescents through the use of human-centered design to understand physical activity drivers and barriers.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dajung Kim

Dajung is a postdoc who's research focuses on investigating the role of design in the development of AI-powered systems for health and well-being.

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Wei Liu

Wei is a postdoc working on the Enduring Rewards project. His work is mainly focused on the theoretical model underlying health behavior maintenance.

PhD Candidate

Samantha Orozco

Samantha is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering and the rehabilitation department from Erasmus MC. 

Postdoctoral Researcher

Niko Vegt

Niko is a postdoc at Industrial Design Engineering and at Social & Behavioral Sciences at Erasmus University Rotterdam.