Caroline Hummels

Caroline Hummels is professor Design and Theory for Transformative Qualities at the department of Industrial Design at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Her activities concentrate on designing and researching transforming practices. With her team and external stakeholders, including the Provence of North-Brabant, Philips Design, RISE, Rijkswaterstaat, Enpuls and ZET, she leverages emerging technologies through which they jointly change practices to navigate transforming societies towards sustainable futures. Doing so, she focuses on being-in-the-world theories, embodied and aesthetics interactions, imagination, data-enabled design and participatory sensemaking. She researches and questiones transforming practices and societies through theoretical lenses, including design-philosophy correspondence, in which philosophy informs design practice and design practice is used to philosophise, in order to tackle imminent societal challenges.

Caroline is founder and member of the steering committee of the Tangible Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI) Conference, editorial board member of the International Journal of Design, member of the Dutch Design Week sounding board, and ambassador of CLIKCNL for the Key Enabling Methodologies related to ‘Participation and co-creation’. Moreover, she has given a large number of keynote speeches, invited lectures and workshops at conferences, international universities and for industry and governmental institutes worldwide.

Doing science for society leads to the question: what kind of society do we envision and want to support through science? We have to take an ethical stance. By jointly changing practices we can navigate transforming societies towards sustainable, liveable futures