Recent developments in eHealth enable a shift in responsibility for one’s own health. In prevention of excess weight, health informatics is becoming an interesting alternative to support people in managing their eating behaviour amid the complexity of their daily activities. Designers of e-health apps require knowledge on what information is relevant for self-management of eating behaviour and what strategies are needed to enable active involvement in one’s health. However, due to the limitation of existing food intake measurements, nutritional researchers and dietitians currently rely on poor knowledge to describe and explain people’s eating behaviour. This project aims to firstly, increase the quality of the existing knowledge base in eating behaviour by innovating on user-centred strategies for the collection and analysis of contextualised data on food intake and secondly, develop requirements for health informatics systems to support people’s active engagement on food management.

The ideal candidate has a doctoral degree in industrial design or a related discipline, with expertise on user-centred design, research through design, and real world research for the implementation of iterative design research activities involving users, food experts, and designers. The candidate is able to develop theoretical frameworks, conceptualise interactive technologies for daily use and conduct qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Affinity with working with older adults (and families) is required to closely involve the target group in the design process. Interest and experience in research topics regarding prevention of overweight, experience sampling, health informatics, and self-management are desired. This could also be a full-time position including 0.2 FTE of education activities.

Fixed-term contract: 2 years.

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, a discount for health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged. An International Children’s Centre offers childcare and an international primary school. Dual Career Services offers support to accompanying partners. Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.

For more information about this position, please contact Natalia Romero Herrera, phone: +31 (0)15-2785507, e-mail: n.a.romero@tudelft.nl. To apply, please send a detailed CV along with a letter of application by 15 January 2018 to A. Klumpers-Nieuwpoort, afdelingID-personeelszaken-IO@tudelft.nl.
When applying for this position, please refer to vacancy number AT/IO-0750.

Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology (the TU Delft) is a multifaceted institution offering education and carrying out research in the technical sciences at an internationally recognized level. Education, research and design are strongly oriented towards applicability. The TU Delft develops technologies for future generations, focusing on sustainability, safety and economic vitality. At the TU Delft you will work in an environment where technical sciences and society converge. The TU Delft comprises eight faculties, unique laboratories, research institutes and schools.

http://www.tudelft.nl

Industrial Design Engineering

The Department of Industrial Design is world leading in various design research domains, including human-centred design, design for experience, design methods and techniques, and product ergonomics and useability, and has been very successful in obtaining external research funding in recent years. The departmental and educational strategy will be to remain a powerful hub integrating research and teaching, acknowledging the increasingly necessary contribution of research to the development of industrial design engineering as an adaptable and versatile profession.

Research and education in ID is clustered in research groups focusing on subjects such as prototyping in design thinking, future interactions, and social design. The department houses the ID-StudioLab, a unique interdisciplinary design research community that includes staff from all research groups and facilitates design-driven research and education. You will be working at StudioLab, a vibrant environment of shared spaces that physically brings together academic staff, post-docs, PhD and master students working on different design and research projects.