Together with some colleagues from the other support services, such as finance, HR, and communications, we visited the Klokgebouw with exhibitions by the educational institutions, including Design United, and the Drivers of Change expo at Ketelhuisplein.A great opportunity to understand for whom and what we are working, and what is actually happening in those labs and student spaces.

In the hall of the Klokgebouw, we immediately met a researcher who could tell us about the intriguing, but incomprehensible, Perspex machine. It turned out to be research into the application possibilities of a new material that can change shape under the influence of heat or light. The student aimed to apply this in the design of an eye prosthesis, in which the pupil, as in the real eye, widens and narrows under the influence of light.

On to the next halls with seemingly mysterious, funny, or confusing objects, which without explanation often only evoked wonder for me. There, however, we saw a two researchers from our own department, with a topic that was appealing to the group (which consisted mainly of women): Let's talk menopause. Finally, a topic some of us also knew about, even though general knowledge about this taboo subject is still not widespread. The researchers had designed a toolkit for this purpose.

We were also impressed by the research into sustainable, biodegradable materials, materials that change their shape under the influence of water, heat or light, a self-driving racing car by student team URE ( but wouldn’t that kill all the fun for Max Verstappen?), as well as the car by Student Team Ecomotive that can be recycled for 75%, or a more woman-friendly way of detecting breast cancer. The students spoke passionately about it.

We like to be critical at our university. But what cool things do we do here too.

Annemarie van Malsen is a communications officer at TU/e’s Department of Industrial Design. The views expressed in this column are her own.