FOCUS GROUP INSIGHTS “Do you want to talk about ethics of space traveling or do you want to build a rocketship ”
The discussion within the focus group was mainly about how to create an environment where designers and scientists can communicate. Therefore many lecturers were discussing how and where to bring in knowledge towards designers but also towards scientists. One topic strongly addressed was the question of whether BioDesign should be taught as new form of ‘product’ design or as a form of social science where a critical evaluation on ethics will be taken in account. As response to this, biologists sought a misinterpretation of the living organism worked with as ‘product’. The lecturers were discussing the linear process the students were taking and finding ways to make the students more knowledgeable of the actual representation the organisms have. They did this by making the students take care of organisms in order to understand the limitations and opportunities the organism will bring. In-depth interviews:lecturers on biodesign challenge BIOLOGIST PERSPECTIVE NAOMIE NAKAYAMA Professor Nakayama is a Biologist and lecturer at the course BioDesign. She has been teaching a multidisciplinary group of students. The group contained students with engineering, design, computer science and biology backgrounds. Nakayama thinks BioDesign is an important platform for biology students and engineering students to learn from the design and art students how to communicate but most importantly learn to redefine or find important questions. She identifies the importance of “Understanding that we are not looking for solutions, but new questions to open up new questions.”
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