Aim and relevance

This graduation project explores how young people may relate to democracy in

2035 and how design can support them in recognising, practising and contributing

to democratic life. The project starts from growing concern about democratic

decline. International research describes continuing autocratisation and pressure on

democratic rights, representation and participation (Nord et al., 2025; International

IDEA, 2025). In the Netherlands, democracy remains relatively strong, while trust in

politicians and the House of Representatives has declined substantially (CBS, 2026).

Rather than approaching democracy only as a political system, this project

understands it as a way of living together. Young people encounter democracy

not only through elections and institutions, but also by follwing rules, having

disagreement, when belonging to a group, when feeling influence of your context and

being responsible for the things happening in your life. This perspective is especially

relevant during adolescence, when democratic attitudes develop alongside identity,

autonomy and relationships with peers (Van der Meer et al., 2024; Meeus, 2011).

ProDemos, a Dutch organisation that provides education about democracy and the

rule of law, forms the design context for exploring what this could mean for

democratic education.

Method

The project follows the Vision in Product Design approach (Hekkert & Van Dijk,

2011), using design to first understand and reframe the context before developing

interventions. The existing ProDemos instrumentarium was studied through

programme materials, observations and interviews with guides and programme

makers. This was followed by future-oriented research towards 2035. Interviews,

conversations with young people and professionals, input sessions, observations,

lectures, performances and desk research were translated into 159 context factors and

clustered into 14 clusters.

These clusters were used to construct a framework of plausible future relationships

between young people and democracy. The framework and later design directions

were further developed through conversations with researchers, education experts,

political and institutional experts, as well as design sessions and tests with young

people and ProDemos education experts. 

Results

Two dimensions became central in understanding the possible future relationships.

The first describes how graspable the world around a young person feels, ranging

from clear and structured to contested or difficult to grasp. The second describes

how a young person relates to a group: moving along with it, taking an own position,

or withdrawing from it. Together, these dimensions create nine possible behavioural

positions. These positions are not mutually exclusive: a young person may move

between them or encounter several of them across different situations.

The nine behavioural positions informed the development of nine democratic

capacities. These describe what young people may need to practise when navigating

democratic situations: choosing consciously within guided systems, daring to take a

position within a group, contributing to the system they depend on, pausing before

reacting, acting without knowing all possible consequences, understanding that

fairness feels different for everyone, building shared orientation within uncertainty,

connecting across differences, and feeling part of something larger than themselves.

The capacities are intended to develop through repeated practice and across different

situations in young people’s lives.

This led to a reframing of the design challenge. Instead of focusing on separate

democratic experiences, the project proposes recurring democratic practice across

situations young people already encounter: ‘experiencing’. A school rule, a decision

at a sports club, becoming eighteen or a disagreement about a shared place can

become an opportunity to practise a democratic capacity.

Conclusion

The resulting concept, Lieve Toekomst, is a programme for a recurring practice. It

supports educators and other makers in recognising everyday situations, selecting

a democratic capacity and turning that combination into a concrete educational

intervention. A practical booklet and first collection of examples make the programme

usable today. The shared identity, feedback loop and roadmap describe how separate

practice moments could become connected across places where young people

already are.

The project therefore proposes a broader role for ProDemos. Knowledge about

institutions, rights and procedures remains important, but young people also need

opportunities to practise how they position themselves, relate to others and act within

uncertain situations. Lieve Toekomst provides an instrumentarium for creating these

opportunities while leaving the content of the democratic future open. Young people

are prepared for that future by practising democracy in the situations they already

share with others today.
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Early-stage, mission-driven start-ups are increasingly expected to make their impact visible and credible to funders, partners, and support organisations. Yet the impact frameworks available to them were developed for larger, mature organisations with stable products and substantial data, and they privilege what can be counted over what is meaningful. This creates a mismatch: the demand for impact evidence is growing, while the tools meant to provide it do not fit the dynamic, resource-constrained reality of early-stage work.

This graduation project, conducted with the Secrid Impact Fund and its start-ups, asks how early-stage, mission-driven start-ups can be supported in assessing and communicating their impact in a way that fits their context and development stage. Through a literature review, an analysis of existing impact frameworks, and exploratory research with founders, five recurring limitations were identified: existing frameworks fail to capture qualitative and narrative impact, are overwhelming, are ill-suited to experimental ventures, are not embedded in daily practice, and insufficiently capture systemic change.
In response, the project developed Trace, an impact companion that travels with a venture across its year in the Fund. Trace combines an app for capturing small moments of impact as they happen, a quarterly report that turns those moments into structured reflection, and a set of impact games that establish a shared language at kick-off. Grounded in systemic-design theory, Trace reframes impact measurement from a periodic accountability task into an everyday, narrative-driven steering mechanism for founders. ... Read more

The accelerating energy transition in the Netherlands, driven by stringent climate targets and a rapid expansion of renewable energy, has created severe congestion in the national electricity grid. This thesis explores energy hubs as a promising solution to alleviate grid congestion, enabling the flexible, local integration of renewable energy resources. Energy hubs coordinate generation, storage, and consumption of multiple energy carriers through shared infrastructure, offering resilience and efficiency while supporting decarbonization goals. Hydrogen, with its long-duration storage capabilities and sector-coupling potential, is identified as a critical enabler within these hubs. However, widespread implementation faces significant regulatory, market, and technological uncertainties, compounded by challenges in social acceptance and governance. This research, conducted in collaboration with Arup’s Business Investment Advisory team, employs a Double Diamond design framework to analyze these uncertainties and co-create strategic pathways for implementation. Methods included stakeholder interviews, case study comparisons, participatory workshops, and scenario planning. The resulting strategic roadmap proposes iterative, transparent collaboration supported by data-driven tools such as an Energy Hub Opportunity Map. The roadmap is supported by developed KPIs, that make the roadmap actionable for relevant stakeholders. The findings highlight that energy hubs, underpinned by participatory design and equitable governance models, can bridge gaps between policy ambition and practical system constraints, transforming local energy systems into dynamic, flexible, and inclusive networks capable of reducing grid congestion and accelerating the energy transition. ... Read more

The Netherlands is in the middle of the transformation of the energy system. As electricity demand and (decentralized) renewable electricity generation grow, the electricity grid is increasingly facing congestion. This threatens the pace of electrification, business growth, and sustainability ambitions. Energy hubs (EHs), local and decentralized energy systems, have emerged as a potential solution, especially if they include battery storage. This helps local balancing and efficiency. However, the development of these EHs, including storage on Dutch business terrains, is lagging behind.

This research shows that the lack of collaboration, due to misalignment of interests of network operators (DSOs) and and EH collectives, is a critical factor that delays the development of EHs. This research explores how design, especially strategic and participatory design, can play a role in addressing these challenges. The goal is to understand how collaboration between DSOs and EH collectives can be designed to facilitate battery storage integration in Dutch business terrains. This is done through a literature review, stakeholder interviews, and participatory co-creative workshops.

The literature review showed that EHs can be considered to consist of four interconnected elements: technology, organization, regulation and finance. Each element influences the others, revealing a web of dependencies that must be managed strategically, as battery operations can also pose a risk for grid congestion. Interviews showed that actors in the system differ in drivers and barriers. Four main tensions were identified:
- Operational control of batteries,
- Capacity allocation,
- Risk allocation,
- Uncertainties in emerging contracts

Co-creative workshops with different stakeholders offered a way to discuss these tensions and align interests. In the workshop, two decision-making scenarios were explored and evaluated: DSO-led flexibility and EH-led flexibility. Results showed that stakeholders generally preferred a hybrid future, where DSOs act as facilitators and the EHs have control over battery use. Participants emphasized the need for EH authority, mutual trust, fairness of compensation and reliability of the systems. The workshop also revealed boundary conditions to achieve these needed values and move toward grid integration of battery-based EHs. Based on these insights, two tools to support EH developers, DSOs, and regulators in navigating the complexity have been developed:

- A morphological chart that shows options of the EH configuration
- A roadmap showing steps for each aspect of the EH toward system integration

This thesis contributes to the energy transition by offering a deeper understanding of the problem, a shared vision for the preferred future, and clear requirements to achieve it.

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Aim and relevance
The aim of this project is to design for understanding and reducing street harassment behavior among young people in Rotterdam. In 2020, nearly half (47%) of the women surveyed in Rotterdam, reported being targets of street harassment (Fischer et al., 2021). Street harassment is a persistent and normalized form of gender-based violence in public spaces that can have severe effects on the target. In Rotterdam, young people aged 15–25 are not only disproportionately targeted but are also often the perpetrators. Current interventions have focused primarily on supporting targets and bystanders or on raising awareness but often fail to address the social structures that sustain the behavior. This project addresses a critical gap: the lack of understanding about why young people engage in street harassment.

Method
To address the complexity of the topic, I used a combination of multiple design methods and practices. To better understand the social structures surrounding street harassment, I adopted a systemic design approach. To better understand the context of young people in Rotterdam, I adopted a participatory approach. Activities included, but were not limited to, stakeholder interviews (n=5), guerilla street interviews (n=27), two generative sessions with young people in youth hubs (n=7, n=12), testing the design proposal three times (n=3, n=5, n=5) and interviews with relevant stakeholders to evaluate the design proposal (n=5).

Results
The research showed that street harassment is difficult to tackle because it is deeply normalized and sustained by intersecting structures of inequality, like gender inequality, racism, and classism. It is not an isolated behavior, but is entangled with broader systems of inequality and identity formation that unfold in public space. When in public space, young people experience and reinforce these inequalities, but are unable to challenge them. Resulting from a lack of accessibility, agency and ownership in regard to their environment, young people conform to the status quo: a culture of inequality, in which street harassment is normal.

Therefore, the design proposal, a workshop, aims to increase young people’s sense of agency over the public space by enabling them to contribute to shaping public spaces in a way that is both fitting and valuable for them. Through engaging in speculative design practices, I created alternative futures of public space, made tangible in the form of scenarios and objects. In the workshop, young people engage with these scenarios and objects. Through discussions about the meaning and the consequences of these futures, they share their dreams and concerns about their own neighborhood.
Conclusion
Iteratively testing the workshop showed that the process is highly engaging and encouraged participants to think critically, listen to others and reconsider their own views. The design proposal enables urban developers and planners to gain insights into the preferences and priorities of various groups of youth, opening the door for more diverse and representative youth participation overall.

By shifting focus from punitive measures to cultivating agency, this project reframed young people not as part of the problem, but as a part of the solution. The project demonstrated two main things: the potential of speculative design as a tool for meaningful youth participation on public space, and that young people are willing and more than capable to contribute to societal issues it is framed accessibly and when they are taken seriously. With the right follow-up, the workshop has the potential to not just inform, but to activate as well. It can make young people feel seen, heard, and more aware of their role in shaping the future. More than anything, the workshop is a way to take young people seriously and to position them as valuable contributors to society.
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This thesis explores a service design intervention aimed at enhancing the Dutch hydrogen market by increasing social participation. The project focuses on integrating hydrogen into the Dutch energy system across sectors such as transportation, heating, industry, and power. The research delineates hydrogen’s role as a key energy carrier for decarbonization. Through interviews with industry experts and analysis of the hydrogen supply chain, barriers and opportunities that hydrogen encountered were identified. Employing various systemic design methods, the thesis analyzed system dynamics and identified three leverage points, generating four intervention ideas. The final design focuses on a service that enables households to convert excess solar electricity into hydrogen, which can be used for other services, supporting grid congestion management and promoting hydrogen adoption. ... Read more

For innovation to happen, organisations must design environments - internal and externally. This demands identification, analysis and reflection of external developments in relation to the creation of appropriate processes, structures, culture and vision within the organisation. Within this context, Board of Innovation, an independent business design and innovation firm, is willing to undertake a transformation that prepares them for the present and future challenges of the world; aspiring to become a thriving Strategy and Innovation firm.

This Master Thesis presents a journey of exploration through the internal and external environments in which the organisation operates and provides with new organisational processes that will reshape the present and the future of Board of Innovation; strategically creating new structures that focus on the learning experience of current and new employees of the organisation.
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