Increasingly, Design Thinking has influence beyond the confines of traditional design disciplines and expands its’ role in connecting domains and integrating resources. This study focusses on the changing role of design researchers involved in interdisciplinary research projects, following a Research-through-Design (RtD) approach. The research context for this study is a project on designing and evaluating digital solutions in the context of dementia. Based on process research methods this study provides a holistic view on dynamics between actors from different domains and an understanding on the role of design researchers within the complexity of the larger system of an interdisciplinary RtD-collaboration. Findings on organizational-, process- and product level emphasize on three changing roles for design researchers in interdisciplinary RtD: 1) A mediator role, 2) a sensemaking role, and 3) a role in improving processes by applying research artefacts.
from the article: The ever-increasing specialization of scientific research, combined with the complex challenges that health in society is facing calls for more interdisciplinary design research. However, healthcare and creative researchers come from different worlds that do not automatically align and intensive collaboration between different disciplines is often not without obstacles. We analyzed ten projects that are in the process of interdisciplinary research on solutions for living with dementia, obesity or loneliness. The question we address is: Which strategies do health and creative professionals use to work together in design research? We found that an array of strategies is used to foster collaboration as recommended in literature. However, the strategies to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in research recommended in literature do not easily fit the unpredictability of design research projects and the complexity that comes from doing research in health practice.
Making design work in the field of dementia requires interdisciplinary research. However, obstacles are likely to occur when healthcare and creative researchers work together. Analyzing the startup phase of ten interdisciplinary projects in the field of dementia, overweight and loneliness we found seven strategies to overcome these barriers: use boundary brokers, combine theory, combine research approaches, organize for collaboration, joint activities, separate activities, and use artefacts. As many dementia research projects involve exploring new products and technologies, particularly the use of artefacts might be an interesting strategy to foster the collaboration of healthcare and creative research disciplines.
The pace of technology advancements continues to accelerate, and impacts the nature of systems solutions along with significant effects on involved stakeholders and society. Design and engineering practices with tools and perspectives, need therefore to evolve in accordance to the developments that complex, sociotechnical innovation challenges pose. There is a need for engineers and designers that can utilize fitting methods and tools to fulfill the role of a changemaker. Recognized successful practices include interdisciplinary methods that allow for effective and better contextualized participatory design approaches. However, preliminary research identified challenges in understanding what makes a specific method effective and successfully contextualized in practice, and what key competences are needed for involved designers and engineers to understand and adopt these interdisciplinary methods. In this proposal, case study research is proposed with practitioners to gain insight into what are the key enabling factors for effective interdisciplinary participatory design methods and tools in the specific context of sociotechnical innovation. The involved companies are operating at the intersection between design, technology and societal impact, employing experts who can be considered changemakers, since they are in the lead of creative processes that bring together diverse groups of stakeholders in the process of sociotechnical innovation. A methodology will be developed to capture best practices and understand what makes the deployed methods effective. This methodology and a set of design guidelines for effective interdisciplinary participatory design will be delivered. In turn this will serve as a starting point for a larger design science research project, in which an educational toolkit for effective participatory design for socio-technical innovation will be designed.
In greenhouse horticulture harvesting is a major bottleneck. Using robots for automatic reaping can reduce human workload and increase efficiency. Currently, ‘rigid body’ robotic grippers are used for automated reaping of tomatoes, sweet peppers, etc. However, this kind of robotic grasping and manipulation technique cannot be used for harvesting soft fruit and vegetables as it will cause damage to the crop. Thus, a ‘soft gripper’ needs to be developed. Nature is a source of inspiration for temporary adhesion systems, as many species, e.g., frogs and snails, are able to grip a stem or leave, even upside down, with firm adhesion without leaving any damage. Furthermore, larger animals have paws that are made of highly deformable and soft material with adjustable grip size and place holders. Since many animals solved similar problems of adhesion, friction, contact surface and pinch force, we will use biomimetics for the design and realization of the soft gripper. With this interdisciplinary field of research we aim to model and develop functionality by mimicking biological forms and processes and translating them to the synthesis of materials, synthetic systems or machines. Preliminary interviews with tech companies showed that also in other fields such as manufacturing and medical instruments, adjustable soft and smart grippers will be a huge opportunity in automation, allowing the handling of fragile objects.
Evaluating player game experiences through biometric measurementsThe BD4CG (Biometric Design for Casual Games project) worked in a highly interdisciplinary context with several international partners. The aim of our project was to popularize the biometric method, which is a neuro-scientific approach to evaluating the player experience. We specifically aimed at the casual games sector, where casual games can be defined as video or web-based games with simple and accessible game mechanics, non threatening themes and generally short play sessions. Popular examples of casual games are Angry Birds and FarmVille. We focussed on this sector because it is growing fast, but its methodologies have not grown with it yet. Especially the biometrics method has so far been almost exclusively used domain by the very large game developers (such as Valve and EA). The insights and scientific output of this project have been enthusiastically embraced by the international academic arena. The aim of the grant was to focus on game producers in the casual sector, and we have done so but we also established further contacts with the game sector in general. Thirty-one outputs were generated, in the form of presentations, workshops, and accepted papers in prominent academic and industry journals in the field of game studies and game user research. Partners: University of Antwerpen, RANJ, Forward Games, Double Jungle, Realgames, Dreams of Danu, Codemasters, Dezzel, Truimph Studios, Golabi Studios
