DesignLab 10 years | Dear Future us...

Anke's perfect day in DesignLab is when she sees students working together, prototyping, exchanging ideas and more.

Barend states that we should find new ways to involve citizens in design, knowledge production, research and teaching, as there is so much knowledge in society, that cannot be created at our universities.

Cristina has done a lot as a researcher at DesignLab. She is particularly proud of the development of the Responsible Futuring approach, that she did together with the DesignLab team.

Desirée explains how the Transdisciplinary Master-Insert 'Shaping Responsible Futures' helped Green Hub Twente to further sustain changes within the UT.

DreamTeamers highlight the DesignLab Brew podcast, Batavierenrace, DesignLab Museum in the facility, Wall of Names, and how to keep the community at DesignLab rocking.

DreamTeamers prove that DesignLab is truly a student-driven space: Makers Night, Skill Booster, Tosti Talks, Lightbulb chats, Sustainability and a cardboard laser cutting project.

DreamTeamers highlight some of UTs showcases at Dutch Design Week: The Mini Design Ride, Lightbox (part of 'Connecting Worlds for a Better Future') and 'Design for Transition - What's on your menu?' (AKA 'The Cookery').

Former DreamTeam project coordinator Edo explains what was needed to realise the Neura Automata (AKA 'The EyeCatcher') at TechMed Centre: a gigantic art installation, unveiled by His Majesty King Willem-Alexander.

DreamTeam family members Emiel and Jorik describe what it was like to build an art installation, exhibited during the Amsterdam Light Festival. It was witnessed by a lot of Amsterdam citizens and tourists!

In the ChallengeLAB Twente project, creative makers and thinkers at ROC van Twente, Saxion, AKI ArtEZ and University of Twente work together to tackle societal challenges for the Twente Region.

Erik likes to contribute to the student's goals in the workshops at the DesignLab facility. He inspires students to teach others new skills in the workshops.

Ferenc illustrates that together we are looking at ways to make better use of the powers in society. Let's learn from each other, in the real world. He gives an example of the transformation in the village of Boekelo.

When Flavia worked as a project manager at DesignLab, she was involved in a hackathon, where opportunities for L'Oréal were generated and presented by students, researchers and citizens.

Funda talks about the Rising Water, Safer Shores board game, and the 'Civic and Citizen Science' project that was co-funded by the Province of Overijssel and part of Citizen Science Hub Twente.

In addition to being a DreamTeam coordinator Operations, Henrietta co-developed the SES tool, enabling multi-stakeholder dialogues. Part of RRI2SCALE.

Humera states that DesignLab is an important part of the University Innovation Fellows ecosystem. She also thinks that DesignLab has been made possible because University of Twente values interdisciplinary education.

'Connecting Worlds for a Better Future' started with a need for a UT narrative at DDW, and has become an interactive and accessible experience that inspires people to reflect on their potential impact and that of others, on possible futures.

Javier and Funda are both Research Fellows who collaborated with DesignLab, to further develop the Rising Water, Safer Shores board game. They co-designed this board game together with children in India and the Netherlands.

Job was there from the very beginning, when the DesignLab facility was built in the Gallery. 10 years later, he went back to DesignLab and reflected on his time here. What did he learn, that he can still apply today?

The Province and DesignLab have been partners within projects for quite some time. Horizon-2020 project RRI2SCALE and Transforming of policy are two examples, to increase societal impact of research and to give various actors a voice.

When you apply for a trajectory within DesignLab academy, Julieta might present to you some inspiring examples within the topics of smart cities and sustainability transitions. She was also part of the research team of Responsible Smart cities.

Klaasjan mentions educational innovation and the impact the Transdisciplinary Master-Insert 'Shaping Responsible Futuring' has on students and their stakeholders. The programme also received the Dutch Higher Education Award!

Kris highlights the Senior Maker Movement, an assignment from ActiZ. Elderly people were introduced to maker spaces and how these could help to improve their daily lives. It also gained insights into how elderly people perceive it.

Leticia's words show that it is noticable that students are making the DesignLab, which is similar to the UIF programme at Stanford d.school. These two are proud to be partners, also within the Faculty Innovation Fellows network.

Healthcare organisation Sensire had been a stakeholder for the Transdisciplinary Master-Insert 'Shaping Responsible Futures'. Lowie gained new ideas based on the different perspectives presented in 'Who cares in the future?'

The Responsible Futuring approach is used within the DesignLab Academy. It enables participants from different backgrounds to work together on complex challenges, to gain new insights and to look at the challenge in unexpected ways.

Magdalena spent time at DesignLab to get to know more about transdisciplinary innovation. During the UIF meet-up, one of the activities she organised was a walk-shop, where people relied on others and learned to reflect on how they feel about it.

Marcos co-designed a renewed, high fidelity prototype of the Design Your Life-toolkit, enabling young autistic adults to design, create and adapt their own supportive environment, promoting independence and autonomy in everyday life.

Mascha illustrates how the cleaning industry could act when it wants to embed technology in their business process: bring all the different parties involved, employees-managers-employers, and share insights on this point.

Mats tells us about students at the Transdisciplinary Master-Insert 'Shaping Responsible Futures', who go beyond learning skills and theories, and learn more about themselves and the world around them.

RRI2SCALE was the first European project DesignLab contributed to, together with the Province of Overijssel. The DreamTeam was also involved in this collaboration: the students developed the Scenario Exploration System-tool.

DesignLab supports Research Fellows who conduct new research that connects with our focus. Example: the creation of an interface that allows researchers and the public to interact with data from the MX3D bridge in Amsterdam.

Miriam is convinced that a combination of ingredients makes DesignLab whole. From small experiments with external organisations to partnerships with educational institutes worldwide. 

Research Fellows of the Robotics and Mechatronics (RaM) group were supported in further development of an automated monitoring system, that distinguishes wound types and monitors the healing process over time.

DreamTeam students prove commitment to meeting sustainability goals on a EU-level and SDG-level. They even received a Green Certificate from Green Hub Twente for making sustainable efforts during the UIF Meet up in 2024!

Two magic ingredients of DesignLab according to Peter-Paul: the freedom that academics received to start something new, and: students being the foundation of what we do. The PHTR-conference: one of many DesignLab projects he is proud of.

In addition to being a DreamTeam project coordinator, Ray was involved in the project 'Co-emerging Intelligence', in which UT and ArtEZ students explored how the future of health might look like.

Roy emphasises the importance of connecting academic and non-academic stakeholders and using each other's knowledge, skills and lived experiences to help make lives easier.

Thanks to INCENTIVE, four European expertise centres in the field of citizen science strengthen connections between science and society, which is essential to deal with the big challenges we are facing. But this is just one of many projects!

Together with the Province of Overijssel, Sami and his fellow DreamTeamers worked on a tool to simplify the difficult context of the energy vision for 2050. For this, they used the Responsible Futuring approach.

Citizen Science Hub Twente (CSHT) results from efforts within the INCENTIVE project. This expertise centre connects researchers with citizens to projects focused on health, climate and safety. The MEEDOEN platform is part of CSHT. 

Vanessa thinks that DesignLab went through a wonderful transition: It's not only researchers from UT that meet each other: we actually reach out to people from all over the world that join us, to work on the great challenges that we are facing today.

DesignLab's integrative way of working, pulling together research, education and innovation, helps address University of Twente's ambition of being a fourth generation university.

When Wiro worked as coordinator EnschedeLAB (now ChallengeLAB Twente), he experienced that a transdisciplinary way of working works on different educational levels.