PhD Position in Computational Design and Fabrication of Adaptive 3D-Printed Structures

_Help shape the future of products that sense and adapt to the human body, using multi-material 3D printing and computational design.

_Job Description

Many products that support or interact with people need structures that do more than carry loads: they must respond reliably to changing forces and patterns of use. Multi-material additive manufacturing makes it possible to integrate different mechanical and functional behaviours within a single structure. Yet designing structures that combine load-bearing performance with embedded sensing and controlled adaptation remains a major challenge. Addressing it calls for new ways to connect geometry, material behaviour and manufacturing with the needs of people who use the resulting products.

In this PhD, you will develop and investigate computational design approaches for multi-material 3D-printed structures. You will explore how geometry, material distribution, electronics functions and manufacturing parameters can be designed together to achieve desired structural and functional behaviour. You will also design and fabricate prototypes that incorporate sensing and geometry-driven mechanisms for adaptation. Combining computational modelling with hands-on experiments, you will evaluate structural behaviour, sensing performance and durability under static and cyclic loading. You will interpret the results, refine design methods, integrate promising concepts into demonstrators, and communicate your findings through scientific publications and presentations.

Your research will include:

• Developing fabrication-aware computational workflows for lattice geometries and multi-material layouts.
• Designing and making 3D-printed prototypes to investigate load-bearing, sensing and adaptive behaviour.
• Using computational modelling and experiments to evaluate stiffness, deformation, sensing and actuation performance, and durability.
• Integrating and validating concepts in demonstrators, including a wheelchair cushion to evaluate sitting pressure redistribution and user comfort.

You will be part of the Materializing Futures group in the Department of Sustainable Design Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, supervised by Dr. Mehmet Özdemir and Dr. Wolf Song. You will have access to the faculty’s digital fabrication facilities and the Comfort Lab, and collaborate with experts in ergonomics, and smart materials, as well as industry partners.

Job Requirements

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