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Eindrücke aus der Welcome Week und den GL-Kursen im Winter Semester 2021/22

The Münster School of Design (MSD) is the design department of the Münster University of Applied Sciences. Felix joined the university as full Professor receiving a life-long position in Fall 2020. At MSD, he is heavily involved in the restructuring and organisation of the foundations program (example of structure of first semester and second semester), and teaching the following courses:

• Design Project II. (18 CP, 2nd semester MA-level) ⇒ Sacral Design (WiSe24-25)
• Foundations of Design I. (10 CP, 1st semester BA-level)
• Foundations of Design II. (10 CP, 2nd semester BA-level, incl. introduction to the departments' workshops),
  Example semester topics: Lautleise, Non Intentional Design, Radio Gaga
• Design, Technology and Innovation in Munsterland (4.5 CP, BA-level summer school class offered in 2023 and 2024)
• Welcome Week (Five days of introductions for incoming cohort: ±90 students each semester)

He also enjoys co-teaching additional courses like…

• Creativity & Innovation (co-teaching design methodologies at Münster School of Business in 2021 (MA-level))
• CampX – a three day gathering on Felix's farm¹⁾ on the topic of sustainability, August 2022 with Münster School of Business (MA-level).
• Introduction to Nursing (co-teaching design methodologies at Münster School of Health in 2021 (BA-level))

• Nursing meets Design, 06/2021 – 07/2023: A project that looks into inter-professional teaching and learning opportunities between the fields of design and nursing. Based on a social awareness campaign that aims to optimise how nursing as a brand is seen by the society, several concepts for inter-professional higher education are tested out and are being analysed. This collaboration with Prof. Christiane Knecht (FH Münster, School of Health) was funded with 50.000 EUR by the Centre for Quality Assurance and Enhancement of FH Münster (Wandelwerk).
  
  ↳ Published article "Pflege trifft Design" (Pflegezeitschrift volume 75, pages 34–37, Sep. 2022).
  ↳ World-Cafe: Nursing meets Design, Wed., Nov. 09, 2022, 13-18 Uhr (Senatssaal, Leonardo Campus 6, FH Münster)
  
  

• The Green Weave, 06/2022–05/2023: Production processes of traditional artistic handicrafts in several rural areas in the North-West of India are being analysed and examined: Madhubani, Ajar Block print, Banarasi, Chikankari. Main focus is to research the potential to up-cycle²⁾ relating production processes including less pollution and less carbon monoxide emissions. Together with Dharma Labs and their sponsoring project partner IKEA Foundation the overall goal is to improve the lives of children by enabling their families to create sustainable livelihoods, and fight and cope with climate change.
  
  

• Lerchenfenster, 03/2022–08/2022: A project proposal for prototyping and exploring future living concepts in the rural Münsterland region. The project features the design of several mini houses located along an “innovation axis” linking the Münster Technology Park with the developing Technology Park at the city of Havixbeck. A Center for the Future of Living becomes the hub for local companies to feature their innovative and sustainable products and to showcase those installed as part of a “living lab”. Collaboration with Jason Cruz (NYUAD) and Agata Trojanowska (MSD).
  
  ↳ Presented to the city council of the city of Havixbeck, Aug. 23, 2022
  

• The Majlis of the Future, 02/2022–07/2022: Over the past years the majlis expanded from a social practice into a space of cultural and intellectual exchange. This research project asks the question of how the principles of the Emirati majlis could support the development of ideas in a digital world and draw on the global community without losing its distinctive physical aspects. The goal of this collaboration with Prof. Adina Hempel (Zayed University, UAE) and Prof. Zlatan Filipovic (American University of Sharjah, UAE) is to develop a proposal for a dynamically generated network of meeting rooms in a virtual environment which can be used globally to discuss future priorities and to prototype a first version. Avatar design by Jannik Mannefeld (MSD) and Luis Kirchlechner (NTSI-Lab). (Read more here.)
  
  ↳ Presented at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Washington D.C., USA, Jun. 22–28, 2022
  
  

Find a summary of all of Beck's accomplishments at NYUAD here (PDF/100kb).

From 2015 to 2020 Felix was Assistant Professor of Practice of Design at NYUAD's engineering department. In this time he newly developed four courses. By offering three Core courses per year he essentially added to the Engineering department’s contribution of Core offerings.


Courses Felix taught:

• 'Utilitas, Venustas, Firmitas' (Art, Design, and Technology Core Competency Course (CADT-UH 1016), 4CP, 14 weeks)
• 'Manus Et Machina' (Art, Design, and Technology Core Competency Course (CADT-UH 1001), 4CP, 14 weeks)
• 'Plastic Fantastic' (Art, Design, and Technology Core Competency Course (CADT-UH 1045J), 4 CP, 3 weeks, J-Term)
• Design & Innovation (Engineering Foundations Core (ENGR-AD 110), 2 CP, 3 weeks, J-Term)
• Design Fundamentals (Engineering Elective (ENGR-AD 323), 4 CP, 14 weeks)
• Introduction to Interactive Media (introductory course (MDMED-AD 101), 4CP, 14 weeks)
• Engineers for Social Impact (1 CP, 2 weeks trip as part of 14 weeks Engineering Ethics course (ENGR-AD-324))

And here are some impressions from the past…

Within three years Prof. Beck established two research labs at NYUAD. He integrated
 over 50 Student Research Assistants, two researchers successfully funded through the Visiting Undergraduate Researchers Program, and six student interns into his research. He initiated an internship program with Cranleigh Highschool.
 He also collaborated with the NYUAD student initiative Ecoherence. Prof. Beck is initiator of the NYUAD Precious Plastic Group, which later became a student interest group (SIG) that collects, washes, shreds, and creates new products from plastic collected on NYUAD campus.

Prof. Felix Beck initiated the Lab for Narrative Technologies and Spatial Installations and started to work as Principal Investigator in September 2016. The NTSI-Lab is an interdisciplinary Design Research Lab in the Engineering Department of NYUAD. Within NYUAD's Center for Interacting Urban Networks (CITIES) and in collaboration with the Dhakira Lab for Heritage Research the focus is on R&D projects in the realm of Experimental Sustainable Designs, Future Technologies, and Social Compositions & Communal Infrastructures. 


Examples for Beck's contribution to collaborative creative work with the NTSI-Lab:
 


• Competition Entry for UAE National Pavilion for Architecture Biennale, Venice 2018

• Involvement in concept development for Pavilion of Humanity (EXPO 2020, Dubai)
• Project involvement and collaboration with Louvre Abu Dhabi for Interactive Installations (with TCA, 2017–2018)
• Concept development for Traditional Weaponry Museum in Jazirat Al Hamra (Ministry of Infrastructure 
Development, 2016–2020)


The research focus in the Plastic Lab (www.plastic.international) is on getting and sharing a holistic view onto global issues that relate to plastic and plastic recycling. As part of his work at the Plastic Lab he has received the following grants:
 First, a 10k $ Center Planning Grant in Fall 2019 to transfer the lab into a Sustainability Center of Excellence, and second, a 50k $ grant for the 1st Precious Plastic WANA Conference 2018. As part of his research, he lead a team of dedicated student research assistants and community members to work on answers, and develop solutions towards questions such as: Why plastic? How is it used in the market? What are the lifespans of the different types? What are processes of waste collection and processing? etc. To find answers to those questions Prof. Beck collaborated with partner institutions on a national and international level such as the following: 


• American University of Sharjah (UAE), College of Architecture and Design (CAAD), Prof. Zlatan Filipovic
• Beuth University of Applied Sciences (GER, Berlin), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kristian Hildebrand

• CRVENA Association for Culture and Art, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Precious Plastic (Mattia Bernini, Delft, The Netherlands), and Precious Plastic Group Shanghai
• Zayed University (UAE), College of Arts and Creative Enterprises, Prof. Adina Hempel

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