Notification: The Neurodesign Group is currently operating at a reduced capacity following Dr. Julia von Thienen's transition to new professional roles in 2024. Despite this, the team remains actively engaged, continuing research on a voluntary basis. Our email address remains unchanged. We invite you to stay connected: Reach out, share ideas, follow updates, and send proposals. We look forward to continuing the exploration of this fascinating domain together!
Courses
The neurodesign work-group offered a portfolio of classes at HPI, all designed to teach skills in creativity, innovation, and collaboration. Attendees learned to conduct and manage their own creative processes in the field of digital engineering. Students had significant freedom to choose their topics of interest, with classes providing process and community support to help them realize their vision and achieve remarkable solutions in their creative endeavours.
Beyond the overarching aim of fostering creativity in engineering, each class pursued specific objectives.
Design Thinking for Digital Engineering
This course focused on theories and empirical research related to design thinking, presenting findings from the Stanford-HPI Design Thinking Research Program. It provided in-depth knowledge in the "4P" domains: creative People, Processes, Places, and Products. Participants explored the practical relevance of these insights in their own digital engineering projects, applying established principles, monitoring project development, and managing resources in the 4P domains.
Sample classes:2018, 2019, 2020, 2023
The Neurodesign Lecture
This lecture imparted neuroscience-based insights into creativity, collaboration, and innovation. Distinguished guest experts, leading scholars in their fields, shared overviews of their research and the latest findings. Participants learned to leverage neuroscientific knowledge for meaningful engineering innovation. Each year, the lecture series explored a unique focus:
- 2019/20: Physiological Perspectives on Engineering Design, Creativity, Collaboration and Innovation
- 2020/21: Artificial Intelligence and the Neuroscience of Creativity
- 2021/22: Designing for Empathy in Business Contexts
- 2023/24: Fostering Human-Nature Empathy through Digital Innovation
Neurodesign Seminar
This course focused on measuring and analyzing physiological and psychological data to enhance creativity and collaboration in engineering and design. Students explored research methodology, accessible neurodesign tools, and neuroscientific lab analysis. Topics included study design, statistical methods, motion tracking, heart rate and electrodermal activity measurement, and data analysis using EEG and fMRI datasets. The seminar provided practical skills and theoretical insights to integrate physiological and psychological data into innovation processes.
Sample Course: 19/20
Ambidextrous Thinking
This course explored Ambidextrous Thinking, a concept developed at Stanford Engineering, emphasizing the role of the whole body in creative engineering. Participants measured physiological parameters (e.g., EEG, heart rate, skin conductance, eye tracking) to predict innovation performance and overall project outcomes. Using accessible physiological research methods, the course investigated how body motion and sensory engagement influence creative processes, user experience, and digital engineering solutions. This interdisciplinary class combined neuroscience, engineering, and design thinking to advance neurodesign.
Sample course:2020
Visual Thinking and Sonic Thinking
These courses delved into human-media interactions to enhance creative performance. They examined how specific media, whether visual or auditory, influenced creative possibilities and outcomes for digital engineers. The courses offered theoretical insights and practical experiences in (i) perception, (ii) imagination, and (iii) expression within each medium. Participants developed technical craftsmanship and artistic sensitivities while exploring design opportunities enabled by the unique qualities of visual or auditory media.
Sample Classes:2019, 20/21, 2021a, 2021b, 21/22, 2022a, 2022b, 22/23, 2023, 23/24, 2024
Master Thesis or Master and PhD Thesis Class
These seminars supported participants in planning and writing their master’s or PhD theses through hands-on sessions and training in two key areas: research methodology and scientific writing. The methodology component covered designing experiments, conducting surveys, analyzing interviews, and exploring UX testing, alongside an introduction to statistical data analysis. The writing component addressed structuring scientific texts, managing the writing process, selecting journals, understanding the review process, and handling ethical considerations, including the use of AI tools. Participants regularly presented their work for feedback, culminating in the submission of a 4-page academic paper.
Sample Courses: 23/24, 2024
Classes offered by the neurodesign work-group were primarily for master’s students, though no specific prior knowledge was required. Bachelor’s students were also welcome to attend. For inquiries, students were encouraged to contact neurodesign [at] hpi.de.
