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PhD Course: Design for Well-being

February 9 - February 13
Technology holds great promise for enhancing human well-being, improving health, safety, connection, and comfort, yet it can also create new forms of stress, inequality, and harm. This intensive PhD course explores the complex relationship between technology and human well-being.

What you will explore

  • What does human well-being entail?
  • How do technologies promote or undermine it?
  • Who gets to design technologies that shape our well-being?
  • What values are embedded, prioritized, or neglected in these designs?

Topics Covered

  • Technology and values — Historical overview of values in philosophy of technology
  • Embedding values in technology — Key theories and philosophical accounts
  • Design for Values — Value Sensitive Design, participatory design, value conflicts and change
  • Understanding well-being — Different conceptualizations and theories
  • Well-being and technology — How technology can enhance or undermine flourishing
  • Designing for well-being — Practical approaches, examples, and case studies (including AI and digital health)

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  • Understand the relation between technology, values, and human well-being
  • Argue why technology can or cannot embody values
  • Differentiate main approaches to designing for human well-being
  • Evaluate technology in terms of its impact on human well-being

Lecturers

  • Steffen Steinert (TU Delft)
  • Ibo van de Poel (TU Delft)
  • Pieter Desmet (TU Delft)
  • Naomi Jacobs (University of Twente)
  • Matthew J. Dennis (TU Eindhoven)
  • Iulia Lefter (TU Delft)
  • and guest lecturers

Practical Details

Dates: 9–13 February 2026
Location: TU Delft Campus
Credits: 5 ECTS
Target group: PhD students (ReMa students welcome if places available)
Registration deadline: 27 January 2026

Costs

  • Free — Members of 4TU Ethics, OZSW, or another Dutch research school in the Humanities (LOGOS)
  • €300 — All others

Assessment

Active participation required. Participants must complete required readings before each session and write a blog post as final assignment.

Register

Register via OZSW

Contact

Steffen Steinert and Ibo van de Poel (TU Delft)
i.r.vandepoel@tudelft.nl
Organised by: OZSW, 4TU Ethics, Delft Design for Values Institute

Details

  • Start: February 9
  • End: February 13

Organizer

  • OZSW, 4TU Ethics, Delft Design for Values Institute

Venue

  • TU Delft – Campus