'I wanted to get acquainted with the newest technological possibilities and translate them in a way that people can benefit from it.'
"Before I started with my Master’s, I did a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering at Saxion. I liked the engineering part very much: solving problems and being creative. I just thought that my Bachelor’s lacked human interaction in creating solutions. The focus was mainly on machines, calculations and simulations. I realised I was not so much interested in building machines. I want to design and develop products that involve both technology and human interaction, which people can actually benefit from.
Fulfilling
I realised this particularly in one of the assignments during my Bachelor’s. My team and I had to design a prosthesis for someone. We sat down with the man, talked about his situation and tried to design something that served his needs. It was really fulfilling!
I decided to follow up my Bachelor’s with the Master’s in Industrial Design Engineering at the University of Twente. I chose the Master’s track in Emerging Technology Design (ETD), as I still wanted to focus on the engineering part. I wanted to get acquainted with the newest technological possibilities and translate them in a way that people can benefit from them.
One of the great things about the Master’s track in ETD is that you get to choose a specific field to specialise in, thanks to the technology directions you can choose from. These directions are highly varied, from sustainability to advanced materials to acoustics.
I found out that my interests lie in the medical applications of technology, so I wanted to develop myself within this field. I chose the technology direction in Products and Surfaces and combined it with electives from the technology direction in Biomedical Product Design.
Optimising product perception
As you can guess, in Products and Surfaces you focus on the surfaces of products. Every product comes with a certain perception that can be related to the tactile perception of that particular product. For example, a surface may feel warm, cold, rough or smooth. In Products and Surfaces, you try to enhance such a perception, by adjusting the surface texture and its material. You might want to change the look or feel of a product, but you could also focus on functional improvements. For example, if you’re designing gymnastic equipment, you want to use non-slippery materials.
Combining this field with biomedical applications turned out to be a great choice for me. My master’s assignment is a perfect example of this combination. I focused on the development of an antibacterial surface texture that you can apply to all kinds of plastic products in a medical environment. In an environment such as the intensive care unit, many hygiene regulations are in place as bacterial transmission can be fatal for patients with a weakened immune system. An antibacterial texture would be an improvement for the devices here because they can reduce bacterial transmission.
Examples in nature
To be able to design and engineer such an antibacterial surface, I looked for examples of antibacterial surfaces in nature. In science, this is called biomimetics: you basically mimic natural phenomena to solve human problems. One of the examples I used as an inspiration is the lotus flower. This flower has an antibacterial surface and it is self-cleaning as well: it lives in a muddy environment, yet its leaves are always clean. I’d never heard of the field of biomimetics before I started my Master’s, but I think it’s really cool!
After I graduate, I hope I can continue within this field by finding a job at a company in the medical industry. Whether they design antibacterial surfaces, wheelchairs or surgical devices: I’d be more than happy to contribute. In the end, it’s fulfilling as you can really mean something to people."