Palliative sedation is a medical intervention used in the final phase of life to relieve suffering caused by refractory symptoms. It involves proportionately lowering a patient’s level of consciousness. In the Netherlands, palliative sedation increasingly takes place at home, where much of the process unfolds in the presence of naasten: partners, relatives, friends and others closely involved with the patient. They may provide practical and emotional support, observe changes in the patient and communicate with healthcare professionals, while facing uncertainty about what to expect, how to interpret what they observe and what is expected of them.

This graduation project explored how naasten experience palliative sedation at home in the Dutch context and what support needs emerge during this process. It also examined how these insights could be translated into support before, during and after palliative sedation. The project combined a literature review, semi-structured interviews with seven naasten and six healthcare professionals, a hospice visit, co-creation and scenario-based evaluation. Rituals and meaningful moments around dying initially provided a lens for the design process, but the findings redirected the focus towards more fundamental needs concerning understanding, uncertainty and support.

The findings indicate that naasten experience palliative sedation at home as an unfolding and partly unpredictable process. Uncertainty may arise before sedation begins, during the waiting period and around the patient’s death. Naasten may have questions about how the process will unfold, whether the patient is comfortable, how bodily changes should be interpreted, when professional support is needed and what role they are expected to take. At the same time, they may remain present, provide care and seek to create calm, closeness and space for farewell. The infusion pump and the possibility of administering a bolus provided one example of how uncertainty could become intertwined with responsibility. More broadly, the findings pointed to a need for timely preparation, understandable information, repeated reassurance and clear access to professional guidance throughout the process.

These findings informed the Wat nu? portfolio, consisting of death education, the Wat nu? booklet, the Wat nu? app and a 24/7 support line. Together, the interventions provide complementary support at different moments: early familiarisation before palliative sedation becomes personally relevant, an accessible first orientation when palliative sedation is introduced, more detailed situation-based guidance during the process and direct professional reassurance when self-guided information is insufficient. Rather than prescribing a fixed pathway, the interventions can be accessed and revisited according to timing, preference and need.

The portfolio does not aim to eliminate uncertainty from an inherently unpredictable and emotionally demanding process. Instead, it aims to make uncertainty more manageable through preparation, accessible guidance and human reassurance. The project provides a research-informed design direction for supporting naasten before, during and after palliative sedation at home. Further medical validation, organisational development and evaluation in real care settings are required before implementation.


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Dutch citizens face increasing water-related climate risks, but awareness remains low due to past water management successes and ineffective communication. This project developed and tested a Collaborative Future Storytelling (CFS) workshop to help participants connect future risks to their daily lives through co-created stories.

Developed over five iterations, the workshop helps participants explore futures through personally meaningful locations. These locations serve as anchors, grounding future changes in lived experiences, making abstract climate risks more tangible and personally relevant. The stories explore these locations alongside possible problems in a turn-based, collaborative game. Created futures were rich in values, personal and explored wide systematic complications going further than only the physical problems.

Evaluation examined both participant-created content and the method’s effectiveness using criteria such as future understanding, engagement, and ease of participation. The results showed that the workshop helped participants meaningfully relate to future water risks to their lives, helping participants understand the risks. ... Read more

This research investigates the integration of community storytelling and speculative futuring within Volkskeuken, a communal dining initiative at Verhalenhuis Belvédère (VHB) in Rotterdam. Set against the backdrop of Rotterdam’s multicultural landscape, Volkskeuken becomes a fertile ground for exploring how collective storytelling can evolve from a tool of reflection into a method for imagining and shaping more inclusive and interconnected futures.

Volkskeuken is a community-driven initiative where shared meals facilitate storytelling and connection among the diverse residents of Rotterdam. While its current storytelling practices focus on personal and historical narratives, this research explores how speculative storytelling can extend its role to envisioning shared futures. Grounded in literature on design futuring, participatory design, and storytelling, the study situates itself within contemporary debates on equitable, community-driven future-making.

Engaging with Volkskeuken chefs, volunteers, and organizers, the research followed an iterative process, first exploring the past and present, then imagining possible futures. The first half of the study examined individual pasts, establishing a foundation of community values and lived experiences through active participation, narrative analysis, surveys, and semi-structured interviews.Through interviews, observations, and surveys, the first half of the study explored individual pasts to uncover the narratives, values, and lived experiences shaping Volkskeuken. Chefs shared personal migration stories, cultural traditions, and motivations rooted in family, memory, and care. Four themes emerged (legacy and documentation, food as love and connection, creativity and adaptation, and process and nourishment) highlighting Volkskeuken as both a space of cultural preservation and a platform for community-building. These themes now serve as aspirational lenses for imagining collective futures. In the second half, participants took part in scenario-building and backcasting workshops to reflect on their evolving roles and relationships, and to envision Volkskeuken’s future within and beyond its walls. Storytelling became a relational tool for transformation, allowing the community to explore shared aspirations, reimagine identity beyond fixed cultural labels, and ground future possibilities in desired connections, with each other, with the neighborhood, and with Rotterdam at large.
The study concludes that relational capital is not a byproduct of community design, but a prerequisite for meaningful co-creation. When design methods align with a community’s relational rhythms and values, they can surface deep motivations and empower collective agency. Speculative storytelling that centers who a community wants to become—rather than just what it wants to do—offers a powerful pathway for long-term, inclusive futuring. Volkskeuken’s future lies not in fixed outcomes, but in the strength of its evolving relationships.
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