Design for transition - What's on Your Menu?

Societal question: How can we promote empathy and provide support for single parents while avoiding the perpetuation of stigmas and stereotypes?

Date: 22 October 2023

Loneliness is a common and complex feeling experienced by single parents living in the Twente region. We want to understand how single parents in this area view and deal with this emotion. Our goal is to pinpoint the underlying factors contributing to loneliness in this specific group by carefully studying their unique challenges and experiences. We aim to gain valuable insights that can be used to improve support systems and interventions, ultimately helping single parents in the Twente region ease their loneliness.

Involved researchers, students, and partners: Marta Krumina, Anouk Jansen, Daniel van Horn, Annemarte Visscher, Tibor Jakel, Kirty Bol, Noa Barneveld

Societal question: With an increasing use of technology for social interaction, how do we ensure that future touch expands and enhances our connectedness instead of replacing it with a inferior substitute?

Date: 23 October 2023

Technology has reached a level where we can touch and kiss each other online. This can be done via devices that can, for instance, squeeze and caress your skin. These devices are called social touch technology. They create exciting possibilities but designing these devices in a way that ensures people consent to touch is challenging. In real life, you can refuse a hug by stepping away. However, if you are wearing a hug jacket you need to have a way to accept and reject a hug sent from miles away. To address these dilemmas, we should involve the general public in the design process of the solutions.

Involved researchers, students, and partners: Angelika Mader, Marieke van Doorn, Dasha Kolesnyk

Societal question: How could we design AI systems for children that best serve their needs as part of a larger society?

Date: 24 October 2023

AI technology develops rapidly and consequently, proliferates into children's daily lives. However, the main discourses lack children's perspectives as the discussion and AI development are mainly led by the voices of adults. Learning from and with the growing generations is needed to enrich AI development, policy discussion, and the ethical and legal principles that are relevant to AI. The perspectives of children do not only differ from those of adults, they lead to inspirational approaches to AI. This is only possible by encouraging children to exercise their fundamental right to be heard.

Involved researchers, students, and partners: Michaela Honauer*, Karolina La Fors*, Birna van Riemsdijk, Vanessa Evers

Societal question: How can we create an environment that values, motivates and inspires people, regardless of their background, to actively participate in discussions about the future of our energy transition?

Date: 25 October 2023

Societal challenges are often complex and they require cross-disciplinary problem-solving teams. However, collaborating with diverse individuals is not always easy. The potential of diversity is often hindered by a sense of unease. Acknowledging and constructively communicating this feeling of can improve individual learning and collaborative problem-solving. Yet, this is a complex task within a group setting and it often remains unspoken. By understanding the origins of these experiences and their systemic effects, we can develop interventions to deal with the unease and untap learning and innovation potential.

Involved researchers, students, and partners: Youn Choi, Cristina Zaga, Robert-Jan de Haan, Macha van der Voort, Maarten Bonnema

Societal question: How can we integrate green roofs in our cities (including self-sustaining plants) for wildlife preservation and recreation?

Date: 26 October 2023

Cities are facing the challenges of becoming more grey and overcrowded. Home-builders and urban planners are trying to accommodate a rising population through the building of houses and roads, but often at the expense of green spaces. At a closer look, cities still have unused roof space. Blue-green roofs (BGR) could transform these spaces, using self-sustaining plants to retain some of the rural within the urban. This research is aimed at making BGRs affordable, environmentally beneficial, and recreational for citizens, through understanding the public's perception of green infrastructure.

Involved researchers, students, and partners: Leon Peters, Koen Vogel, Sil Dijkman, Peter Chemweno, Armagan Karahanoglu, Sean Vrielink

Societal question: How can we ensure that urban digital infrastructures do not perpetuate privilege and instead provide equitable benefits for all?

Date: 27 October 2023

As cities around the globe grow and adapt to the digital era, we have to better understand who gets to profit from digital changes. This requires debating urban digital infrastructures with those designing, those who are building, and maintaining them, and those who are using them. Processes that we call privilegisation are not sufficiently understood. These may well be the result of an unrecognized incorporation of values that favor some urban residents over others. Only by pinpointing them, we can design urban technologies that actively counter-perpetuate urban privilege.

Involved researchers, students, and partners: Javier Martinez, Karin Pfeffer, Ana Bustamante, Fenna Hoefsloot

Societal question: How can we benefit from the advantages of technology to deal with chronic diseases without creating digital dependence nor reducing human contact?

Date: 28 October 2023

Lifestyle factors such as a poor diet and lack of physical activity are leading to a rise in chronic diseases. While fewer people are dying from these diseases, more individuals are being impacted in their everyday lives. This highlights the need for healthcare to shift from clinical to home environments where personalized digital interventions can be implemented. By using advanced algorithms, these can be tailored to meet the unique needs of each patient, starting with those suffering from metabolic syndrome. The ultimate goal is to empower patients to make healthier lifestyle choices.

Involved researchers, students, and partners: Annemieke Witteveen, Emely de Vet, Ana Coiciu