Launch of Design for Justice Theses Awards!​​​

Have you written an thesis at the TU Delft on the ethical and moral value of Justice, related to design? Submit your thesis before 19 February to highlight this work during the Design for Justice Annual Theme of Delft Design for Values Institute.

What can you win?

All theses which pass the 1st round of selection will be highlighted on the institute website. Those which pass the 2nd round, will be given more attention by holding an interview with the author. Ultimately, in the 3nd round the winners of the competition will be chosen: one bachelor and one master thesis. Both winners are able to donate €1500 to a charity whose work is related to the value of justice.

Why Design for Justice?  

The 21st century is characterized by rapid change and fast paced technological development. Countries are facing economic, social, political and environmental challenges, people are migrating to megacities, natural resources are becoming increasingly scarce, and changes in the global climate are becoming intensely palpable. Important developments in science and technology offer hope, but also bring a lot of questions and possible inequalities. Therefore, if we want to use these new technologies for the better, we should design them with values, and justice is one of the most crucial values to address.

The moral value of justice highlights the importance of rethinking design and engineering processes, often inspired by experiences from marginalized people. The value of justice is important to almost everyone but might mean different things to different people.

These huge challenges have effects on the short-term, but especially at the long term. Therefore, the Delft Design for Values Institute finds it even more important to provide a platform to learn from students research. Society should listen carefully – exactly this young generation will have to face the challenges and its consequences.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Spatial Justice

•  Energy Justice

• Water justice

• Justice and fairness in AI/algorithms

• Participation Justice

• Justice in institutions

• Philosophical perspectives on justice

• New design approaches to justice

• Empirical or historical studies of justice in a technological domain

Criteria and selection process

Submission criteria

• Thesis is written by a student or alumni of the TU Delft

• Thesis has been published after 01-01-2019

• Thesis from masters and bachelors van be submitted

• Submissions from all faculties and disciplines are welcome;

• Original grade was a minimum of 7.5;

• Alumni, students as well as their supervisors or fellow students can nominate theses.

Selection process

• The deadline for submission is 19 February. Next to the thesis, an extend abstract for summary and motivation is required. This abstract is a maximum of 2 A4s.

• In the second round, no additional work is needed.

• The winners in the third round will be chosen at the Share Fair: Design for Justice on Tuesday 4 June 2024. To assist the jury with the selection, an additional pitch on the thesis is required on 4June.

• The selection of round 1 and round 2 will be done by institute members, but are two different committees.

• The winners will be chosen by a special jury, headed by the Scientific Director Ibo van de Poel.