David Abbink from Delft University of Technology, the current winner of the prestigious Stevin bonus, shares insights on his research on the future of work. Together with the host, Dr. Claudia Werker from the same university, he has been working together in a vision team on robots at work. This is the last episode of our podcast series on Inclusive Research and Innovation (IRI) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) before the summer break.

David Abbink is a full professor in haptic human-robot interaction and a mechanical engineer specializing in sensory motor control. He shares his journey from initially focusing on human-robot interaction within traditional engineering disciplines to embracing a more interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach. This approach involves collaborating with social scientists, designers, and industry stakeholders to develop innovative and inclusive technological solutions. David highlights the significance of considering the diverse needs of workers in different industries throughout the research and development process. The goal of technological interventions are not only to improve efficiency but also job satisfaction and inclusivity. He emphasizes the importance of responsible research and innovation in his interdisciplinary work and discusses the challenges of adapting technologies to diverse and challenging work environments.

Needs in mobility differ considerably for people of different age, gender, income, and environmental awareness. In the episode of our podcast series on Inclusive Research and Innovation (IRI) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Mara Tanelli from Politecnico di Milano shares how to develop inclusive mobility systems for everyone with the host, i.e. Claudia Werker from Delft University of Technology. In particular, Mara discusses how researchers can utilize data to construct these systems by focusing on technology adoption drivers, building social networks, and designing equitable policies within her data-driven framework. She highlights the importance of data privacy and the value of interdisciplinary collaboration with social scientists and policymakers to create inclusive technologies.

Mara Tanelli combines her tasks as a full professor in Automatic Control at Politecnico Milano with being her rector’s delegate for diversity and inclusion. Mara and Claudia are both members of the IDEA League’s working group on Gendered and Inclusive Research and Innovation. In this network, they have been working on how to make inclusive research and innovation the gold standard in STEM research and innovation.

How can researchers make the design of medical devices more inclusive? Measuring characteristics of patients correctly can make all the different, e.g. in surgery, because it improves effectiveness of outcomes.

In this episode of our podcast series on Inclusive Research and Innovation (IRI) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Prof. Dr. Domenico Della Volpe from Geneva University shares insights on his research with the host, Dr. Claudia Werker from Delft University of Technology. Both have been working on the @ATTRACT project: Domenico on the engineering side and Claudia on the business side of the project.

Dominico Della Volpe is a particle physicist with a keen interest in Radio-Guided Surgery (RGS) in nuclear medicine. In this podcast, he shares his journey developing a new medical device, POSICS-2, for tumor treatment through RGS, highlighting how the diverse needs of individuals influence the final design of such devices. Domenico stresses both the vital role of interdisciplinary collaboration and the need to address unconscious biases in research to make Inclusive Research and Innovation in STEM happen.

Learn more about the development of POSICS-2 tumour treatment medical device within the ATTRACT project:

https://phase2.attract-eu.com/projects/posics-2/