PhD Position Biosensing and Designing Temporal and Biofabricated Textile

PhD Position Biosensing and Designing for Temporal and Biofabricated Textile Experiences

Join TU Delft and the Horizon Europe project INTERWeuVEN, to explore how people experience temporal and biofabricated textiles through biosensing, user studies, and Material‑Driven Design.

Our bodies are in constant dialogue with the textiles we wear. But what happens when textiles are no longer static, when they move, respond, grow, and change over time?

This PhD project investigates human experiences of animated textiles, including biofabricated materials and garments that evolve through morphing structures or embedded living organisms. How do we experience such materials against our skin? How do they change in response to our movements and bodily inputs? And what do these dynamic, evolving interactions mean for our wellbeing?

You will develop a novel methodology that combines Materials Experience thinking with biosensing, together with a toolkit, including a sensor‑based system, for studying human‑material experiences with temporal and biofabricated textiles. You will then apply this methodology and toolkit in user studies to investigate how people perceive, interact with, and adapt to dynamic textile materials over time, advancing methods for studying embodied interactions with emerging material technologies.

As a PhD candidate, you will join the Materialising Futures section within the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft. Your project builds upon internationally recognised research in Material‑Driven Design, Biodesign, Materials Experience, and Temporal and Experiential Characterization of Materials, and you will generate new knowledge, methods, and tools. Your work will focus on the relationships between material affordances and temporalities, bodily interactions, emotional responses, and human wellbeing, contributing to advancing material experience approaches for future regenerative textile systems.

This PhD is part of the Horizon Europe project INTERWeuVEN, which explores new approaches to textile design and manufacturing through interdisciplinary collaboration between academic and industrial partners. As a PhD candidate, you will work with 16 academic and industrial partners across Europe and Canada, including lululemon athletica, alongside researchers and practitioners from the wider INTERWeuVEN consortium.

• Develop and apply methods and tools for studying embodied human‑textile/material experience.
• Develop material samples and wearable prototypes.
• Design and conduct user studies.
• Collect, process, and analyse physiological and experiential data to understand human–textile/material experiences.
• Translate research findings into design guidelines and actionable recommendations for the development of materials, products, production systems, and/or digital design tools.

• A Master's degree in Design, Design Engineering, Industrial Design, Product Design, Human‑Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Proven experience with, or a strong interest in, sensor‑based system development, biosensing technologies, physiological measurement, and data collection, including approaches such as affective computing and emotion recognition.
• A strong interest in the intersections between materials, the body, and technology, including materials experience thinking and soma design.
• A combination of technical inventiveness, analytical thinking, and a strong design research sensibility, with proven experience in prototyping and/or user research.
• A strong motivation to conduct academic research and publish in peer‑reviewed venues.
• Fluency in English and enthusiasm for working in an international research environment.

• Experience with adaptive or responsive textiles, garment design, or wearable design.
• Experience with biofabrication, biodesign, or bio‑based materials.

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4‑year period of employment in principle, but in the form of two employment contracts. An initial 1.5‑year contract with an official go/no‑go progress assessment within 15 months, followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2.5 years, subject to satisfactory performance.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from €3059 - €3881 gross per month, from the first year to the fourth year based on a full‑time contract (38 hours), plus 8 % holiday allowance and an end‑of‑year bonus of 8.3 %.

Applications are accepted until 2 August 2026. Please submit an updated CV.

For more information about this vacancy or the selection procedure, please contact Dr. Stefano Parisi via s.parisi.