Who are you and what is your research topic?
After completing my PhD at the Institute of Transportation Design and a few years of freelancing, I joined the SE2A cluster with initiating a project called Scenair-2050. My focus lays on the cross road between user-centered Design and forecasting the future, and so is also the topic of our contribution to the cluster: ICA A1.1 SCENAIR 2050- Assessment of Air Transport System in alternative Future Scenarios.
Which research question are you working on?
At the Institute for Design Research, we are a working team called “Future Design”. We explore the future of Air-Transport –System and try to find out, how it will look like? Especially it is important for us to estimate, how the customer is going to perceive the upcoming electric aircrafts. Yet there is not a single possible future, there are several scenarios imaginable for the future of ATS. In this context, we help engineers make technical decisions based on the big-picture that we deliver from the future(s) of ATS and its peripheral environment(s). For example when there is a dilemma between two technical solutions and it comes down to comparing their performance in Political, socio-economic context, then our scenarios will facilitate the decision-making.
What makes this topic special/exciting for you?
The transformation in ATS towards connected -electric civil aircrafts will happen, with or without our intervention. Still we can navigate this transformation for the good. The golden ara for steering this transformation is now! It’s an honor for me to be at right time at the right place and play a small part in this navigation towards an user- and environmental friendly Air Transport.
This is why our team is called “future Design”, we do not merely predict the future, we deliver actively innovative impulses to design the future.
Why is your topic relevant for future of aviation?
See my answer to Q2.
What is special about participating in the interdisciplinary research network SE²A?
ATS is not a single solution, but a bundle of products, services and systems that are in permanent interaction with each other. This interaction involves various stakeholders from heterogeneous disciplines including experts from engineering, Design, economy, politics and human science. Due to this interaction, its crucial for the success of this project that knowledge is translated and transferred across the whole SE2A research network. As a Design-Thinker and big fan of co-creation workshops, I can witness that (multi- and) trans disciplinary activities are welcomed by all teams and more importantly are well organized in the cluster.
