Dr. Lenneke Kuijer is Assistant Professor in the Designing Quality in Interaction group in the Department of Industrial Design of TU/e. Lenneke obtained her bachelor, master and PhD degree at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of TU Delft. Her PhD research explored the implications of social practice theory for sustainable design by using a research through design process. Her empirical work focused on the topics of personal washing and keeping warm at home. In her previous post as a Research Associate in the Department of Geography of the University of Sheffield (UK) she worked in the DEMAND Centre (www.demand.ac.uk). Here, she studied relations between infrastructures and practices through a historic case study on space heating in social housing. In parallel, a part-time postdoc position in Interactive Media Design at TU Delft kept her linked to her ‘home discipline’ of design research. Her main interests lie in the areas of social practice theory, research through design, domestic energy demand and the relation between designing computational artefacts and changes in everyday life.

C.V.

Professional experience

• Research Associate (April 214 – February 2016), Department of Geography, University of Sheffield. Working on project ‘Adapting Infrastructures for a Lower Carbon Society’ as part of the 9 university, 40+ researcher, five year DEMAND Centre (www.demand.ac.uk) led by Elizabeth Shove and Gordon Walker. Activities include research design, participant recruitment, oral history interviews, policy document analysis and stakeholder interviews.

• Postdoctoral researcher (January 2015 – present), Department of Industrial Design, Delft University of Technology. Work on integrating theories of practice into design theory within context of Interactive Media Design chair of Prof. Elisa Giaccardi. Tasks include writing funding proposal and joint publications.

• PhD researcher (November 2008 – July 2013), Industrial Design department, Delft University of Technology. Thesis ‘Implications of Social Practice Theory for Sustainable Design’. Supervised by Prof. Daan van Eijk, TU Delft, dr. Annelise de Jong, Interactive Institute, Sweden, and Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Shove, Lancaster University, UK. Part of the EU FP7 Living Lab project.  Methods used in various user studies included diaries, experiments in practice (Kuijer and De Jong 2011), generative improv performances (Kuijer et al. 2013) and short and medium term - up to one month – prototype depoloyments.

• Teacher (January 2007 – August 2013), Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology. Involving supervising over 500 students, individually and in groups in 9 different undergraduate and master courses, including Mens & Product, Bachelor End Project, Observational Research, Context and Conceptualisation, DfI Research, Interactive Technology Design and ten Graduation Projects.

• Coordinator International Student Affairs (October 2006 ‐ October 2008), Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology. Involving: coordinating admissions of international master students, managing one employee and several student assistants, and developing and organising an introduction course for 300 master students that has since developed into an integral part of the IDE master programs.

Main qualifications

• PhD (Cum Laude) Industrial Design, Delft University of Technology, awarded February 2014 by Prof. Casper Boks, Prof. Elizabeth Shove, Prof. William Gaver, Prof. Peter-Paul Verbeek, Prof. Elisa Giaccardi, Prof. Daan van Eijk and Dr. Annelise de Jong (November 2008 – July 2013)
• Master Product Innovation Management, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, with appendix on Technology in Sustainable Development. Graduation project for charity organisation Goede Waar & Co, supervised by Kaj Morel and Dirk Snelders (September 2003 – August 2006).
• Bachelor Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands (September 1999 - June 2006)

"I draw on social practice theory to help interaction designers understand and work with the impact of new interactive technologies on everyday life"

Lenneke Kuijer is Assistant Professor in the Future Everyday research cluster. Kuijer is a leading expert in practices-oriented design, a field within design and human-computer interaction research that draws on social practice theories. She is a multidisciplinary researcher who contributes both in social science and design research communities. Her main interests lie in the areas of social practice theory, research through design, domestic energy demand and the relation between designing computational artefacts and changes in everyday life.

Lenneke Kuijer obtained her BSc, MSc and PhD degree from the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of TU Delft. Her PhD, granted with distinction in 2014, explored the implications of social practice theory for sustainable design. After her PhD, Kuijer spent two years as a postdoc in the DEMAND Research Centre at the University of Sheffield in the UK. Here, she studied relations between infrastructures and practices through a historic case study on space heating in social housing. In parallel, a part-time postdoc position in Interactive Media Design at TU Delft kept her linked to her ‘home discipline’ of design research. She joined Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) as Assistant Professor in 2016.

Squad: New futures- Connectivity in the home with energy, systems and sound

Examples of exemplary graduation projects I coached:
FBP: Joris Zandbergen: Equi: Balancing your households energy consumption
FMP: Sacha Prudon: Laundry-as-a-service: a more sustainable alternative to washing at home?
Jeanne Dejong: Lumio

Research focus, projects I like to coach
“My research focuses on energy demand in homes and the roles that the design of interactive/smart systems play in shaping it through shaping everyday life. I’m interested in developing alternatives for dominant, energy intensive forms of living through speculative design/design fiction and prototypes that are deployed in the real world. I work with various companies in a project around the future of summer comfort.”

Coaching style

“My coaching style varies per student. Some students thrive better with critical commentary, others with encouragement. I meet my students weekly, but also work to create a community between the various master students I supervise for extra support. I highly value in-depth grounding for designs and feel this is best developed through experimenting and making.”