Department of Industrial Design (ID) is one of the nine departments of TU/e, and has an internationally leading position because of its core commitment to research through design (RtD) and its strikingly original conceptual work.

ID's ambition is to be recognized as one of the top departments in the world that conduct exciting research in the intersection of Design, Technology and HCI.  In particular, the department considers Design with AI & Data to be important future directions. It aims to take the lead in re-defining Industrial Design in the age of AI & Data, and to inspire new generation of design engineers who can make use of AI/ML algorithms and Data as design materials. This builds on the department's reputation as a leader in the research on aesthetics of interaction (on how to design product service systems with aesthetic experience) --- to the research on aesthetics of artificial intelligence (how to design intelligent systems that can be experienced pleasantly). In addition, data will play a crucial role both in understanding groups of users in real time and real-world context, and in developing an in-depth and overtime understanding of a user in order to provide ultra-personalized service.

Research at the ID department is focused on two areas: Future Everyday and Systemic Change.

Future Everyday

'Future Everyday bridges the gap between emerging technologies and people's everyday life.'

The Future Everyday cluster is a highly ambitious community of design researchers, concerned with understanding, exploring, and shaping an everyday life of individuals/small groups that encompasses the new reality of living and working, in spaces that are becoming more responsive, continuous and experiential in the future with emerging technologies. Currently, we focus on designing with technologies such as internet of things, wearables/soft things, small/local data, machine learning --- and designing for aesthetics in an everyday life with all the nuances and subtleties that are inherently dynamic, ever-changing and shaped by personal and collective values, needs and desires. We seek to better understand how to create the right conditions --- over time and space --- to allow human-technology relationships to grow and adapt to future situations.

Systemic Change

'Systemic Change uses design and technology to study socio-technical systems at the level of a community, by designing interventions addressing societal challenges and analyzing their effect on the eco-system'.  The Systemic Change cluster focuses on designing innovations that have impact on systemic structures and groups of people, ultimately aiming to address large-scale issues such as urban health, future mobility and sustainability. Field data is used in novel iterative and circular research-through-design processes involving strategic alliances of stakeholders.

5 assistant professor vacancies

Artificial Intelligence plays an important role at the TU/e and both clusters of the ID department are aiming to intensify the use, integration and application of Artificial Intelligence in their interdisciplinary research and design activities.

For this reason Artificial Intelligence is the key word in the profiles we are looking for.

Current qualities of the FE group:

• Reputation in research through design, user engagement and digital craftsmanship
• Track-record in conferences (CHI, DIS, TEI, IUI, EICS) and top-ranked Design and HCI journals
• Ambitious research facilities for making, realizing and testing in the world's most sustainable education building Atlas
• Extensive experience in working together in interdisciplinary teams
• Innovative and productive collaboration between education and research

To further strengthen these competences, FE is looking for researchers with a strong affinity with (interaction) design capable of creating/prototyping systems at the cross-section of the physical and digital divide using emerging technologies relating to AI, ML and/or Smart Materials.

The Systemic Change cluster focuses on:

• co-creation of socio-technical systems operating in semi-open real-life ecosystems or field labs, with the aim to address clearly defined societal challenges and study the nature, drivers and opportunities for sustainable change induced by these systems on an ecosystem level.
• usage of emerging technology (e.g. sensors and actuators, visualization of data, application of AI methods or datamining crowd platforms) to envision, design and evaluate these systems and their longitudinal effects.

To enable these long-term studies SC develops the necessary methods, tools, platforms, spaces and field labs to support the co-creation and analyses of these socio-technological systems in cross-disciplinary stakeholder teams.

The 5 vacant positions are 

1. FE: Interactivity and AI (vacancy number EU.4145)

2. FE: Aesthetics of Intelligence (vacancy number EU.4146)

3. FE: Multimodal Interaction Design for User Experience (vacancy number EU.4147)

4. SC: Context-dependent Data Collection (vacancy number EU.4148)

5. SC: Designing for Systemic Change on Societal Challenges (vacancy number EU.4149)

For the content of each specific vacancy we refer to the separate job postings at the TU/e website.

Also when your background does not match seamles with one of the separate vacancies but you do recognize yourself in the general profile we are interested to get in touch with you so that we can explore the possibilities. 

What qualities do we need to expand our teams?



To strengthen the FE and SC groups we are looking for the following qualities and competences:

• Expertise in R&D methodology
• Relevant PhD-degree
• Interdisciplinary background or expertise in working in interdisciplinary teams
• Expertise in AI, ML, Interactive System Design, Tangible Interaction, UX Design or Multimodal Interaction
• Digital Craftsmanship (e.g. using AI and ML techniques to study and design for aesthetic qualities of human-system interaction; versatility in algorithms, ML paradigms and fluency in state-of-the-art ML technology for the purpose of sensing and information processing)
• Ability to use AI in expressive designs, as an interplay of materiality, interaction, and computation
• Ability to create bridges between research and education
• Designer skills and a feel for aesthetic qualities
• Track record in Design and HCI related conferences such as CHI, TEI, DIS, IUI, EICS or journals
• Willing to apply research in application areas such as Health, Home, Mobility, Vitality, Games & Play, Learning and Fabrication
• Proficiency in English (writing and speaking)
• Portfolio of projects that demonstrate some of the above

It is not necessary that you feature all the mentioned qualities and competences to qualify for one of the vacant positions.

With this general description we aim to draw the attention of potential, suitable (female) candidates whom we would like to invite to come in contact with our ambitious and fast-growing department so that we can investigate a possible, mutual match.

TU/e wants to attract talented female researchers because we believe that diverse workforce generates better problem-solving strategies and more creative ideas. It accelerates innovation and enables teams to better learning and growth. Recently TU/e has launched the Irène Curie Fellowship. This program is aimed at talented women who pursue an academic career at TU/e. This Fellowship facilitates women in their scientific career and consists of:

• Development track position of 5 years or senior position
• Substantial start-up package
• Develop your own research line
• Participate in curriculum of department
• Dedicated mentoring program
• Dual career opportunity for spouses

For more information about this program: https://www.tue.nl/en/working-at-tue/scientific-staff/irene-curie-fellowship/

For each individual position is a comprehensive job profile available.