Mission Statement
Design is not problem-solving but the articulation of political choices. Each design functions as a script that reinforces/challenges power. Design can expose and question this power.
Biography
Niels heads the ‘Caring and design research’ cluster at LUCA School of Arts (KU Leuven, Belgium). He coordinates URBAN, a LUCA-led platform for research/education on art and design in health, inclusion and care in Limburg, Belgium. Niels is also a design researcher and lecturer. His interests include interaction/product design, participatory design and design for health. He has worked on projects designing for/with people (living) with dementia and other disenfranchised groups, such as teens with a high risk of psychosis, persons with palliative care needs, people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. He co-founded the Dementia Lab, clustering research/education and a conference on dementia and design. He coordinates the doctoral network HOMEDEM, researching how design and care can join forces to ameliorate lives for people with dementia and their caregivers. As co-coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Response-Able Futures, he integrates participatory research methods into this international Masters curriculum. He has been active in Belgium, Hong Kong & Denmark in education and research.
Questionnaire
Where do you want to foster change and why?
To support design in collaborating with other relevant disciplines to enhance accessibility for those who experience hurdles in their daily life and in society.
What or who influenced you during your professional career?
I was and still am influenced by my colleagues and the people we design for. They inspire me to go beyond what I see as givens and to look at the world with new eyes.
We all have those significant moments or situations (success or failure); which one was yours, and what did you learn from it?
Early in my research, I was embedded in a dementia care facility, staying on the ward to experience resident life. I struggled with what might be defined as ‘strange’ behaviour, such as residents asking to go home. I would flee to my room, but soon realised I was the one being ‘strange,’ as my reaction was abnormal in their context. This shaped my view on how design can question what is normal.