TU Delft – Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering is hiring – Department of Design, Organisation and Strategy

Deadline 13th April 2020

https://www.tudelft.nl/en/about-tu-delft/working-at-tu-delft/search-jobs/

“Matching the evolution of people with the revolution of technology”. This is the mission of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE). Delft designers act as a bridge between advances in technology and the needs of people, organisations and society to create products, services and systems with purpose. In order to futureproof this mission, IDE offers 9 tenure-track positions in order to strengthen three strategic design themes.

• Systemic change: placing a product or service within higher level systemic thinking and detailed local thinking creates meaningful insights leading to a greater impact. The combination of systems thinking and design is a powerful tool that shines a light on what is actually happening and offers a language and vocabulary to describe it. It highlights the elements which may be used in making improvements.
• Embedding Artificial Intelligence (AI): society is adopting AI technologies at an ever-faster pace. This poses opportunities and challenges for designers. What is the role of a designer in an increasingly automated society where machine learning and AI alleviate us of many our daily routines and processes? Which of ‘our’ (human) skills will become obsolete or might be re-appropriated to serve as new tools which will help us operate in our ever-changing design practice?
• Designing Design: design methods are integral to IDE research and teaching.  The development and availability of design methods mean that a growing number of progressive organisations, governments, and municipalities are choosing to integrate a design approach. While design becomes more organic and responsive, it risks excluding designers from the loop. As well as developing and testing new methods we also need to find ways to critically evaluate how methods are used in practice – particularly the social, political, and ethical consequences of using particular methods to enable technological change.

IDE has organised its scientific staff in 3 departments: Sustainable Design Engineering (SDE), Design, Organisation and Strategy (DOS) & Human-Centered Design (HCD) under which the 9 tenure track positions will be divided equally. The text below explains the strategy of the DOS department, the other two department texts can be found here and here.

Department of Design, Organisation and Strategy (DOS)

In addition to IDE’s main strategic themes, the DOS department is looking for candidates who are able to expand our design research in one (or more) of the following areas:

• strategic design in organisations and networks:  designers are increasingly involved in the digital transformation processes that incorporate smart technologies to solve societal challenges. We aim to investigate how designers can adapt their practices to carry out data-enabled design; how designers can foster more entrepreneurial behaviour in organisations; and how design can contribute to the transformations that are needed in organisations to implement new strategies.
• Design theories, methods and practices Design methods are changing because of new technologies and new demands in society. We aim to investigate new (agile) design methods and uncover how artificial intelligence and machine learning interrogate and enhance design processes. In addition, we aim to take systemic approaches to design research in addressing complex societal problems.
• Service design for emerging technologies Designers’ involvement in service design changes as a result of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence. We aim to investigate how organisations can adopt and implement design capabilities to improve service development for emerging technologies.
• Strategies for sustainable innovation Emerging technologies and materials provide organisations with new ways to deliver and market products and product-service systems that are more beneficial from a sustainability perspective. We aim to investigate how design can help organisations in the transition towards new sustainable innovations by building sustainable business models.

Candidate Profile

You enjoy the scientific challenges of doing design research. You are pioneering in your approach, something which will help you excel in an interdisciplinary environment where designers and researchers work across research groups, and together contribute to the larger research agenda of the department, faculty and university. Through research and teaching you will inspire your colleagues and your students.

All candidates should meet the following essential criteria:

• Has a background in design, engineering, computer science, or social science and a demonstrable ability to conduct design-related research;
• holds a PhD in a design-related area;
• has a track record of conference and journal publications;
• has a collaborative attitude to research.

In addition, we are looking for candidates that also meet the following desirable criteria:

• has a track record in applying, or contributing to applications, for external research funding;
• has experience in supervising Masters and/or PhD students;
• a postdoc or the equivalent of at least two years of postdoctoral experience;
• has experience of working in international collaborations;
• brings a designerly approach to problem solving and advocacy for design;
• has experience in teaching in higher education.

Conditions of employment

We offer a six-year tenure-track position. At the start of the tenure-track you will be appointed as Assistant Professor. Together with your section leader and department leader,  you will make agreements on the expected performance and (soft) skills. You will receive formal feedback on performance and skills during annual assessment meetings and the mid-term evaluation. If the performance and skills are evaluated positively at the end of the tenure track, you will be appointed as a permanent Assistant Professor.

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.

Our Moving to Delft Service can help you, your partner and family with advice and practical support as you settle in the Netherlands. Located on campus are the International Children’s Centre and an international primary school, with several bilingual schools nearby. Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.

TU Delft sets specific standards for the English competency of teaching staff, with training courses on offer. If you have less than five years of teaching experience and do not yet have your teaching certificate, you will be given the chance to obtain this within three years.

How to apply

Please submit a motivation letter, a detailed CV, and an original research statement presenting your research aspirations in connection to one, or a combination of the research areas mentioned above (max. 2 pages A4). Submit by April 13, 2020, 12:00h (GMT+1). When applying for this position, please refer to vacancy number ATIO-0811. You can send your application to hr-io@tudelft.nl. For more information about the vacancy, please contact Danielle van der Kruk, department secretary DOS, d.m.vanderkruk@tudelft.nl. For more information about the procedure, please contact hr-io@tudelft.nl .

The Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE)

Delft’s Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) is the largest and broadest scientific design institute in the world, with over 2,000 students, 350 staff members and over 7000 Alumni. Delft designers strive to improve lives and address societal challenges with integrated solutions for products, services and systems by taking a human-centered approach integrated with technology and organisations, achieved through education and research.