Design for dignity: Introduction

Design for dignity: Introduction

According to the Oxford Encyclopedic English dictionary, dignity is defined as the state of being
worthy of honor and respect. It intertwines with equity, autonomy, freedom, trust, and
acknowledgment of usefulness and importance. Human dignity, as a value, remains challenging to
concretely define, yet holds a remarkable importance in our lives. It is even a fundament of human
rights. In this project, we are looking for a Student Assistant to investigate the value of human
dignity and provide a working definition that is suitable for Design for Dignity. As we believe,
dignity to be dynamic and context dependent, the student will conduct physical-interviews with
citizens from a diverse community of citizens in the Rotterdam-Rijmond region to collect their
interpretation of human dignity. Once the value defined, the student will investigate how to
incorporate the value of human dignity in systems design, which is until today underexplored. This
exploration study will be conducted in the specific context of information digital platforms design.
These platforms aim at informing the citizens of what is happening in their community/neighborhood and allows them to take action accordingly and be involved in decisionmaking.

Student responsibilities:

• Conduct literature studies.
• Design and conduct physical interviews with citizens.
• Analyze results of the interviews.
• Report on the definition of human dignity and its interpretation in the context of information digital platforms design.

Profile of the candidate:

• A MSc Student.
• English and Dutch speaker.
• As the interviews are conducted within a diverse community, mastering more languages (more than English and Dutch) is a plus.
• Prior knowledge in value-based design, value-sensitive design, design principles, or similar.
• Affinity and experience in conducting qualitative research activities (interviews).
• Strong writing and communication skills.
• Open minded and culturally sensitive candidate.
• Available to work on the topic between 20 and 30 hours between the 1st of October 2024 and the 31st of December 2024 (number of hours is flexible and can be negotiated during the interview).

If you are interested, please send your CV and a motivation letter before the 25th of September
2024 to Fatima-Zahra Abou Eddahab-Burke at this email address f.aboueddahab-1@tudelft.nl.