Four ID nominees shaping curiosity through design
Industrial Design celebrates four nominations for the 黑料福利网 Science and Academic Awards. Their research connects healthcare, AI, mobility, and social interaction at Research Day 2026.
On June 23, will center on the theme 鈥淐uriosity Connects.鈥� For the department of Industrial Design, that theme carries extra meaning this year, as several PhD candidates and researchers from the department have been nominated for the 黑料福利网 Science and Academic Awards. Their work moves between technology and human behavior, between imagination and application, and shows how curiosity can open up new perspectives.
New angles
In the PhD Thesis Award category, , a PhD candidate at Industrial Design, has been nominated with the dissertation Crafting Worlds: Navigating Fact and Fiction as a Data Futures Designer. In her work, she explores how design can help make possible futures easier to imagine and discuss. Her quote reflects that approach clearly: 鈥淪torytelling and speculative design can greatly improve how we design high quality, equitable healthcare futures.鈥�
Closer in
Industrial Design is also strongly represented in the Young Researcher Award category. Minha Lee, a researcher at the department of Industrial Design, focuses on conversational AI as a design challenge. Her research explores how technology, care, and moral emotions influence one another in the interaction between people and systems. Lee describes that focus as follows: 鈥淚 explore conversational AI as a design challenge, bridging ethical selfhood, care, and socio technical futures when we interactionally shape moral emotions like self compassion with technology.鈥�
What matters
Maarten Houben, a researcher at Industrial Design, has also been nominated for the Young Researcher Award. His work centers on how multisensory technologies can support meaningful social connections, especially for people in vulnerable situations. Houben puts it this way: 鈥淚 research how multisensory technologies can create meaningful social connections and positively impact the wellbeing of people in vulnerable situations using inclusive participatory design approaches.鈥�
Bringing worlds together
The fourth nominee from the department is Pavlo Bazilinskyy, a researcher at Industrial Design. His research focuses on the interaction between people and automated vehicles, with open science as an important foundation. Bazilinskyy connects that approach to a clear aim: 鈥淢y curiosity connects people worldwide. Through open science, I pioneer crowdsourced video methods to study human and automated vehicle interaction and make tomorrow's traffic safer.鈥�
A fitting moment
It is fitting that these four nominees are being recognized in a year when revolves around the theme 鈥淐uriosity Connects.鈥� The event is about meeting one another, sharing research, and exchanging ideas across disciplines. For Industrial Design, this is a strong moment to show the breadth of research within the department, from healthcare and AI to wellbeing, social interaction, and mobility. On June 23, the award winners will be announced, but these nominations already show how much care, imagination, and social engagement come together within Industrial Design.