summer school 2022 the teachers

Aalto university

Kirsi Niinimäki, Elif Öztekin, Natalia Moreira, Sampsa Hyysalo, Matti Jalas & İdil Gaziulusoy

Kirsi Niinimäki
Kirsi Niinimäki is Associate Professor in Design, especially in Fashion research in the Department of Design at Aalto University, Finland. Her research has focused on holistic understanding of sustainable fashion and textile fields and connections between design, manufacturing, business models and consumption. She addresses the subject of sustainability from a variety of perspectives and her scientific results create a cohesive collection of new knowledge in this field. Her research group the Fashion/Textile Futures, is involved in several significant research projects, which integrate closed loop, bio-economy and circular economy approaches in fashion and textile systems and extends the understanding of strategic sustainable design. Niinimäki has published widely in top scientific journals and she is a leading scholar in the field of sustainable fashion.
Elif Öztekin did her doctoral studies in NODUS Sustainable Design Research Group. Her research looks into networks and processes of learning in sustainability transitions through cases of community-led sustainability initiatives and eco-settlements. Her research interests include design for sustainability transitions, transdisciplinary research, and participatory methods of knowledge production.










Holder of a PhD in Sustainability by the University of Manchester (UK), Msc in Eco-efficient products development by the Politecnico di Torino (Italy), and Bsc in Textile and Fashion by the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Natalia is an interdisciplinary researcher and Project Manager with focus on products, sustainable consumption and circular economy. With a strong technical research and publication record, Natalia has been in the field of product development since 2007, advising global fashion brands and completing research on sustainable textiles for action-oriented change projects, and contributing to vital academic debates on sustainability. Natalia’s research emphasises direct engagement with diverse stakeholder groups involved in product supply chains, which has enabled her to successfully develop new models of sustainability futures and systems thinking in her research.
Hyysalo’s research and teaching focus on co-design, user involvement in innovation and the co-evolution of technologies, practices and organisations. He received his Ph.d in Behavioral Sciences in the University of Helsinki and holds a Docentship in information systems, specialising in user-centred design.










MSc degree in Industrial management from Helsinki University of TechnologyI and PhD degree from Organization and management from Aalto University School of Business. 
My interests relate to everyday life, materiality, sufficiency and temporal rhythms of the society. Alternative, more sustainable consumption practices call for better understandings of what and how we care about, attach to and live with. Hence my research on the practice of everyday life, DIY and hobbyist cultures. On a critical note, I seek to understand how the lack of skill, the thorough economization of everyday life and the transformation of public and domestic spaces in to consumption spaces connect to unsustainability.
I am Professor of Sustainable Design at the Department of Design, Aalto University. I’m a sustainability scientist and a design researcher, developing a teaching and research portfolio for imagining sustainable, equitable and resilient future systems through various approaches in design research and developing interventions to achieve these proposals. My work is concerned with socio-technical and socio-ecological systems with a particular focus on production-consumption systems and cities. I am a global pioneer in the emerging area of design for sustainability transitions, developing theories and methods/tools for design practice dealing with sustainability transitions.

Parsons: The New School

Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo, Jeongki Lim & Caroline Dionne

Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo (she/her/ella) is a Brooklyn-based Colombian digital artist, technologist, and educator. She is Dean of the School of Design Strategies, Associate Dean of Parsons, and Associate Professor of Integrated Design. An internationally exhibited artist, her current research focuses on the Parsons DEED Research Lab, which she co-founded in 2007 and currently directs. DEED Lab brings together students, faculty, and external partners from business, design, development and policy to model more equitable ways for designers to work with artisans, and for artisans to sustain their livelihoods. Cynthia lectures internationally on design, education, technology, and social practice. She received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá) and a Master’s in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University’s ITP.
Jeongki Lim is Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management at Parsons School of Design, The New School. His practice spans from launching new organisations in both private and public sectors to researching and teaching at the intersection of design and science. He holds a B.A. in Individualised Studies and an M.S. in Applied Urban Science and Informatics, both from New York University. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in the Department of Art and Media at Aalto University under the supervision of Dr. Teemu Leinonen. His research focuses on computational creativity that can bring value to our understanding of human creativity and innovation.
Caroline Dionne is Assistant Professor of History and Theory of Design Practised and Curatorial Studies at Parsons School of Design, The New School. Trained in the history and theory of architecture, her research sits at the intersection of design, architecture, literature, philosophy, and social theory. Her scholarship and teaching are concerned with the social and political implications of design, with a focus on the relationship between language and space, between speech acts, and collective processes of placemaking. Her forthcoming book (Routledge, 2023) proposes design theories of the emergent based on a close reading of the complete works of nineteenth-century writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll.

Politecnico di MIlano

Luca Alessandrini & Erminia D’Atria

Designer with training in engineering and a strong sustainable innovation orientation. Consultant in the field of sustainable materials and circular production processes. Currently funded PhD candidate in sustainable materials for design at the Politecnico di Milano. 
my research topic: Luca’s research aims to explore and map the industrial symbiosis practices nowadays evolving in the Italian and EU scenarios in relation to organic waste exchange and novel materials. As part of his final research output, some organic waste upcycling materials will be developed potentially representing the basis of local industrial symbiosis networks developments.
PhD candidate in Design at Politecnico di Milano, she has specialised in Fashion Design for Sustainability.  Her research interests concern sustainability issues in an environmental, economic, social, and cultural context where the role of design is to be a catalyst for innovative solutions. Her work deals with the relationship between design and productive processes within the fashion sector with attention to the study of its supply chain in support of a sustainable transition.

Singapore University of Technology and Design

Wei Lek Kwan, Maggie Pee, Apple Koh & Mei Xuan Tan

Dr. Wei Lek Kwan is an associate head of cluster for Science, Mathematics and Technology at SUTD. Wei Lek is interested in improving students’ learning through design projects and hands-on approaches. His current research interests include applying artificial intelligence to improve teaching and learning.
Dr. Maggie Pee is a Senior Lecturer at Singapore University of Technology and Design. Maggie teaches chemistry, integrated biology and chemistry, and thermodynamics. She is interested in exploring various ways to improve students’ learning outcomes and has done pedagogy research to investigate the effectiveness of active learning and digital tools in education.
Dr. Apple Koh is a Senior Lecturer at Singapore University of Technology  and Design. Apple has been actively developing and executing interdisciplinary activities to demonstrate the interconnectivity between various subjects and to promote students’ appreciation in the applications of science and engineering concepts.
Dr. Mei Xuan Tan is a senior lecturer at Science, Mathematics and Technology (SMT) of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Over the nine years that she has been with SUTD, she has developed countless Designette projects for the Freshmore students in SUTD. She was the course lead and co-developed the curriculum for the core module, Science for a Sustainable World. She is also a certified LEGO Serious Play facilitator and hopes to bring more Design Thinking into formal education to create more collaboration and innovation.

Tecnologico de Monterrey

Carlos Cobreros Rodríguez, David Sánchez Ruano & Pedro Pacheco-Vasquez

Doctor in Engineering, master’s degree in “Architecture, Energy and the Environment”, master’s degree in Architecture, Diploma in “Bioenvironmental Design. Territorio y Arq. ”, and architect degree.  He currently works as a full time Research Professor at the School of Architecture, Art and Design (EAAD) of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Querétaro. He also teaches graduate, master’s, and doctorate courses as a visiting professor at the Autonomous University of Querétaro and the University of Seville. He has worked as a professional and taught, as well as talks, conferences and held exhibitions in different countries of Europe, North America and the rest of Latin America. He has articles and book chapters published in different international journals.
David is a Doctor of Design (University of Dundee) with a Masters in Industrial Design (UNAM). He has been visiting lecturer at Schumacher College (UK), University of Lisbon (PT) and Universidad del Medio Ambiente (MX). Organizer and facilitator of workshops, congresses and publications on topics such as biomimicry, biophilia, regenerative design, circular economy, experience design, bio-materiality and interspecies design. Currently, he is a full time professor at the Design Department and organizes the Strategic Research Group in Design at Tec de Monterrey.
As an architect, Pedro Damián Pacheco Vázquez is excited about the possibility to transform space to create atmospheres that elevate the senses. As a teacher, he likes having an impact not only in students but also in the communities they work for. He is interested in the impact our decisions have had over natural systems, so he has focused on participatory design (civic engagement) and sustainable design and construction strategies. He explores new materials, systems, and construction processes by analysing traditional materials and household and industrial waste.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)

Jeremy Faludi

Jeremy Faludi is an assistant professor of sustainable design engineering at TU Delft, and has also taught at Stanford, Dartmouth, and elsewhere.  He developed VentureWell’s Tools for Design and Sustainability, the Autodesk Sustainability Workshop, and has contributed to six books.  In 2004, he designed the biomimicry database now called AskNature.org; in 2007, he helped design a bicycle that appeared in the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt museum; in 2017, he wrote the OECD’s recommendations for green 3D printing policy.

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