With the increasing amount of data in collaborative engineering research, the need for effective and efficient data management is growing. This paper uses a maturity-based process model to examine the implementation of research data management (RDM) in engineering projects. A process model visualizes a research-supported implementation of RDM and helps researchers evaluate their data management strategies through maturity level assessment. For this approach, activities are assigned to different maturity levels based on a maturity level characteristic providing a differentiated view of the implementation of RDM. An example from an ongoing project shows the application and support of the developed maturity-based process model. The work emphasizes the importance of standardized and quality-assured data management for the success of research projects and their contribution to the scientific community

Design research faces growing challenges from multifaceted developments, which traditional methods and lab settings often struggle to address. New approaches are needed to bridge the gap between controlled lab settings, field studies, and these complexities. Exhibition spaces offer opportunities for dynamic, real-world studies beyond lab-based research’s limitations. This study explores a hybrid ‘exhibition-experiment’ format by examining a design exhibition on biophilic workspace design. Participants visited different design exhibits (experimental conditions) within the experiment while a suite of passive measurement devices measured their emotional and physiological responses. The findings highlight the strengths and limitations of ‘exhibition-experiments’, provide insights into the usage of technology-driven tools, and discuss them as a hybrid approach between lab and field studies.

It is necessary to pass on design knowledge through links between product models to efficiently utilise the design knowledge built up throughout a design process. Yet, researchers lack support for deriving new links between product models. Based on the findings from analysing publications that present links, a systematic approach to deriving links between product models in engineering design research is developed and subsequently demonstrated in an illustrative case linking two product models. The approach enables researchers to derive new links between different product models in a systematic and traceable way. This offers the potential to increase the density of known links within the body of product models. Further, this facilitates the integration of previously unlinked product models into design processes and their efficient combination through the passing on of design knowledge.

The humanitarian sector requires innovation to enhance emergency response efficiency and effectiveness. This paper examines the sector’s unique challenges, including complex emergencies, specialized products, diverse actors, and barriers to innovation. To address these, UNHRD has revamped its approach, blending accelerator initiatives with design-driven activities via its Innovation Lab. A task force of academics and experts is developing a tailored workflow integrating product design and business process management to improve decision-making. Efforts like market scouting, innovation contests, and in-house R&D aim to overcome current limitations, fostering collaboration among stakeholders. This approach offers a more adaptive and inclusive innovation ecosystem.

Design method validation is fundamental to ensure that design methods achieve their objectives in the intended situations and are accepted in practice. Although various method validation approaches have been developed, there is still a lack of practical guidance for planning validation studies based on project characteristics. To address this, an intensity map of the validation effort is presented as the core of a scenario-based planning approach. It categorizes projects according to the novelty of the method and the state of research on the problem or the research area, enabling the required validation studies, their sequence and validation criteria to be identified. Thereby, researchers can plan validation studies and estimate the required effort situation-based, allowing for a better alignment with their individual project characteristics before starting studies.

This paper examines the effects of prototyping on design space exploration (DSE). Based on a literature review, a study design is proposed that attempts to integrate a longitudinal view from downstream development steps in the point-in-time investigation of design fixation. This study design is tested in a pilot study, the results are presented and discussed. The observation of participants’ design fixation (DF) in downstream activities shows that the need to create prototypes limited DSE behaviour, and suggestions for further adaptation of the study design are made. Challenges related to group dynamics, bias and logistical issues highlighted the need for a more refined study design. The findings highlight the role of prototyping in limiting DSE behaviour and suggest improving metrics, refining interventions and using structured moderation to improve future DF and DSE research.

This paper introduces a novel approach to analysing design protocols using a combination of methods. It describes an approach using a synthesis of concept extraction (using an LLM), semantic analysis (using word vectors and conceptual clustering), and network analysis (following graph construction). It suggests that the resulting measures are useful for studying design framing and for aiding qualitative analysis. It demonstrates this technique with data from a study of 17 designers addressing two design problems. The method enables the comparison of designers working on the same problem as well as the study of individual designers’ use of concepts over time during a think-aloud study.

This paper explores the multifaceted concept of design theories value, challenging traditional views of science and philosophy and proposing a novel framework for evaluation. Through critical analysis, considering design theories like C-K theory, PSI, GDT, and CDP, and insight from the history of science, we establish the need for a new value model of design theories that includes design-related and other general properties such as generativity, robustness, and impact on practice. We adapt a recently developed system value model (SVM) to consider the diverse perspectives of design theory stakeholders. Our framework is tested on the PSI theory, demonstrating its applicability. This paper redefines how we perceive and measure the value of design theories, offering insights that could influence future research and practice in design science.

Problem framing is a foundational aspect of the engineering design process, shaping how designers perceive challenges and potential solutions. Qualitiative methods, such as protocol analysis, have provided valuable insights about problem framing but are labor-intensive and time consuming. This study explores the use of a NLP technique BERTopic, to analyze framing in design conversations. BERTopic retains contextual nuances, offering a tool for uncovering the diversity and uniqueness of concepts explored by design teams while also making the analysis process more efficient. The results provide one representation of eight design group’s processes, highlighting the different and changing topic representations that emerge throughout a design session. The findings highlight the potential of NLP tools for enhancing our understanding of framing in design cognition and team dynamics.

Developing methodical approaches, from methods and concepts to algorithms and comprehensive methodologies, requires application-specific expertise and a structured procedure to ensure both workflow efficiency and validity. This contribution introduces a conceptual model for assessing the maturity of methodical approaches through ten predefined readiness levels. By achieving level-specific sub-goals, the model aims to systematize the development process while progressively increasing maturity, ultimately yielding more effective approaches. This novel concept not only supports the structured development of methodical approaches, but also facilitates their comparability and evaluation. The necessity of the proposed concept is substantiated through a systematic literature review, while its functionality is critically evaluated and validated by experts and using multiple examples.

The emergence of new technologies, such as additive manufacturing, and places to promote access to these equipment’s, such as fablabs and makers space, has supported the development of new methodologies based on prototyping. From problem definition to customer validation, prototypes can support the different phases of the innovation process. The biggest challenge being to design the right prototype to address the objective of each phase. Here, we propose to transpose and develop a model from human-computer interaction (Houde & Hill, 1997) (Yang, 2005) to the field of design sciences. The model intends to separate design issues into the “role”, the “look and feel” and the “implementation” axes. Next, we illustrate its potential through the characterization of different prototypes fabricated within the product development process of a tool design to unbend electric pylons.

This paper examines the replicability of studies in design research triggered by the replication crisis in psychology. It highlights the importance of replicating studies to ensure the robustness of research results and examines whether the description in a publication is sufficient to replicate. Therefore, the publication of a reference study was analysed and a replication study was conducted. The design of the replication study appears similar to the reference study, but the results differ. Possible reasons for the differences and implications for replication studies are discussed.

The spatial arrangement of objects in residential environments is a crucial indicator of occupant behavior, shedding light on the complex dynamics of their interaction with the interior. This study introduces an object-based graph method for decoding urban home interiors, examining the co-presence of objects to uncover domestic behavioral patterns through indoor imagery analysis. By integrating centrality metrics with objects in graphs, we gain deeper insights into household behaviors, which provide empirical evidence for future interior design.

When designing battery packs, opposing target-conflicts and design goals arise due to the different disciplines involved in the development process. Looking at the available technologies for battery pack design, different solutions can be found on the market. The development of a battery pack for use in various scenarios therefore presents an interesting use case to evaluate product modularisation approaches. Hence, this paper discusses the application of the Integrated PKT Approach based on a fictious use case of a modular battery pack to derive potential starting points for its improvement.

The paper emphasizes the need to consider negative aspects of creativity, especially in design, where it can have significant societal impacts. It calls for a more comprehensive view of creativity that includes both positive and negative effects and proposes a research approach to assess the potential negative consequences of creative work.

Gibson used "affordance" to describe how animals perceive and interact with their environment. Since the term was coined, many studies, both theoretical as well as empirical, have been done. We conducted a review of the 56 most cited works on physical affordances to answer: (1) What methods have been used to study affordances, and how have they changed with time? (2) How has the definition of affordances evolved over time? We went through papers decade-wise and compare their key contributions. Finally, we discuss how the definition and research on affordances has evolved in the last 40 years.

This paper reports the preliminary findings from ongoing research on the potential role of storytelling as an analytical framework in assessing a research project. It is noted that most existing research on storytelling in science is focused on science communication. There is limited research on storytelling as an analytical tool for analyzing and synthesizing research plans and design. This research is based on the premise that the assessment of a research project and design is based on reviewing one or the other form of research communication, whether it is a research plan, a research report, or a presentation. Thus, the assessment is mediated by how well the research plan, proposal, report, or presentation, communicates the research to the reviewer and how well it connects the dots. The reported findings are based on studies with two different storytelling frameworks applied to assess research representations made by doctoral researchers as part of their annual research progress review. The paper reports the details of the research approach, the empirical study, and preliminary findings from the collected data.

Performance assessment plays a crucial role in engineering education. Yet most instructor assessment focuses on student outcomes to analyse achievements. Although there is extensive research analysing student productions, however, few studies have explored assessment from instructor perspectives, especially when reporting their assessment practice. This study examines instructors' assessment of student performance through the lens of course review reports (CRRs). The CRRs were collected from 5 core undergraduate courses submitted for annual review and were related to the mappings of the measurable outcomes to performance indicators, assessment methods, and level of engagement. Regardless of the variability in reporting the student design experience, instructors' assessment and potential gaps, as well as strong existing correlations between some indicators and associated assessment methods, the study showed that the CRR may be a powerful and complementary approach to investigate the complexity of multidisciplinary design and design assessment.

One of the obstacles to the ability of research to make an impact on industry resides on the research process itself. Today, there is a need to accelerate the means for research to support industrial transformation. At the same time, there is the need to maintain scientific rigorousness, which often requires time. To solve this trade-off, this paper evaluates existing research approaches through the lenses of agile development. The analysis is based on a simulation of research process architectures, and on observations made over several research projects with industry. The results of this analysis highlight five light-but-sufficient rules of research project behavior to keep momentum, motivation and trust when doing research with industry. The paper demonstrates the use of these five rules in a “research sprint” conducted iwith two automotive OEMs.

Mindset has been identified as an essential aspect of design and innovation, impacting both behaviours and performance. However, the concept of design mindset is elusive. Often design mindset is used indistinguishably from design behaviour, diminishing the complexity of the mechanisms and cognitive processes underlying design behaviour. As the initial step in researching these mechanisms, we operationalise the concept of design mindset and present the design mindset inventory (D-Mindset0) to measure it. The initial inventory centered around 16 agreement-to-value statements related to design practice. To analyse the inventory, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis based on 473 master students from different engineering disciplines participating in a course on innovation in engineering. The analysis revealed a four-factor structure with 11 final items. The four factors align with the concepts of ‘conversation with the situation,’ ‘iteration,’ ‘co-evolution of problem-solution,’ and ‘imagination.’