Past
Expertise Areas
Browse through the cards to see how I have tackled each Expertise Area throughout my education.
User & Society
Technology & Realization
Math, Data & Computing
Business & Entrepreneurship
Design & Research Processes
Professional Skills
Cooperating
The group project-based curriculum was, although rough at times, crucial in helping me develop the people skills necessary for participatory, community-centric projects. Before TU/e, I had conducted workshops through the cultural association in my village, but I stuttered terribly and once even had a participant walk out on me. These experiences left a big impact, and I wondered whether I was cut out to work with people.
During my bachelor, cooperation developed through group projects, where I learned to communicate, negotiate, divide work and deal with group dynamics. In B2.2, I set a goal to improve interdisciplinary collaboration. Through Multidisciplinary CBL, working with mechanical engineers, a physicist, a computer scientist and a chemical engineer, I practiced communicating briefs clearly to non-designers and connecting ideas, values, technical constraints and communication, their feedback on my collaboration skills is embedded here.
My internship developed collaboration skills in a professional context, from facing my fear of phone calls to working in a studio with different seniorities and observing stakeholder communication. The strongest evidence is my FBP: I reached out to museums, prehistoric parks and local experts, and organised a speculative co-creation workshop with six experts in Cyprus. Their expertise grounded the speculative fictional aspects of my project in local knowledge, material culture, tourism, archaeology and lived experience. The participatory workshops also showed that I can create a constructive atmosphere for collaboration with communities, experts and participants outside university.
Planning & Organizing
Organising and planning has been one of the more difficult but important parts of my Bachelor development. Besides regular planning of studies and course load, I have also been dealing with chronic illness, invisible disabilities, and events beyond my body, such as regional war and conflict. This meant that I physically could not take on many extracurricular activities, as getting through the regular course load was already difficult.
Because of this, my development has not been about becoming someone who can simply do more and more. It has been about learning to plan realistically, protect my health when necessary, and create safe ways out when things become uncertain. Earlier in my bachelor, I used PDP goals to monitor progress and reflect on learning activities. Over time, this became more specific: I used Bloom’s taxonomy, defined measurable outcomes, connected them to courses/tools, and reflected on whether they still fit my development. I also used Gantt charts during projects to make sure every group member was on the same page regarding the project timeline, roles and task distributions.
Trying to secure an internship was an important planning lesson. After many AI-automated rejections and the risk of extending my studies, I called a studio directly and was invited for an interview. It showed me that I needed to plan a “safe way out” earlier. I applied this during my FBP by keeping project client possibilities broad enough that escalating regional conflict would make me pivot, rather than become a catastrophe.
My growth in this area is not about perfect control, but about becoming more responsive, realistic and proactive. I strive to get better and better at this as I gain more experience.