Dr.ir. R. Wever (Renee)

Assistant Professor 
Design Engineering

Biography

After finishing my Industrial Design Engineering studies cum laude at Delft University of Technology (2003) with a specialization in sustainable development, I have done a PhD project entitled “Thinking-about-the-Box; a holistic approach to sustainable design engineering of packaging for durable goods”, which I defended in Delft in 2009. I now work as an assistant professor in the Design for Sustainability section (www.io.tudelft.nl/dfs). 

Education

• 1996-2003
  Industrial Design Engineering. Delft University of Technology
  
  

Experience

Within the context of my PhD, I developed an applied-ecodesign approach regarding packaging for durable goods, addressing both design management (e.g. data collection though benchmarking), as well as translating the gained insights into design strategies. This way, I provided designers and managers with tools to balance marketing requirements with sustainability requirements.

Besides my PhD, I pioneered a separate research line, related to inducing sustainable behaviour through design (in this case specifically related to preventing littering). For this project I secured funding from the Dutch industry-funded anti-littering organisation, Nederland Schoon. I have also done collaborative projects with different companies, including Royal Philips Electronics and Smurfit Kappa packaging.

In my current research line on sustainability in the front-end of innovation, I co-supervise three PhD candidates, and I have acted as project manager for the Interreg-funded Ecomind project.

I am a member of the editorial board of “Packaging Technology and Science” and act as an ad-hoc reviewer for several journals including and the “Journal of Cleaner Production” and the “International Journal of Sustainable Engineering”. I have been involved in the organization of Eco-design conferences (Eco-Design 2009 en 2011 in Japan and ERSCP-EMSU 2010 in Delft). I acted as guest editor for the “Journal of Design Research” for a special issue on Design for Sustainable Behaviour (Vol. 10, Issue 1/2). Currently, I’m guest editing a special issue for Packaging Technology and Science on ‘Human-Packaging Interaction’.

Besides my position in Delft, I’m also an UL Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Furthermore, I chair the jury for the EISA Green Awards for television and smart phones, and I am a member of the jury for the Dutch Design Award for ‘best client of an agency’. 

Specialisation / field of research:

Throughout all my research I take the perspective of how it enables regular designers, who are faced with regular design assignments, within regular organizations, to incorporate sustainability in their work.

Within the context of my PhD this was on packaging design for durable goods. In my current research I look at the incorporation of sustainability within the front end of innovation, the phase where corporate strategy is translated into new products and services. 

• Click here for more information about my current research

This research covers issues such as: