dr. J. da Costa Junior (Jairo)

Jairo da Costa Junior is an award-winning Brazilian product designer and Assistant Professor at the Chair of Interaction Design. He also serves as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer and is a co-founder of the Bio-Based Materials Design Lab at the University of Western Australia. His research explores how systems thinking influences design theory and practice. Jairo has worked in multidisciplinary environments, applying research in industry, teaching, and promoting multicultural dialogue across Latin America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe.

He completed his PhD in Sustainable Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology. In his doctoral research, he developed a systems design framework to tackle complex societal problems like those outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Looking at systems theory and practice, he examined how systems approaches, methodologies and tools support design engineers in responding to the increasing complexity of societal challenges in low-income markets.

Jairo is committed to helping people and organisations uncover, structure, and visualise the complexities within the systems they interact with daily. To tackle societal challenges such as climate change, planetary health and social injustice, he integrates systems thinking and design thinking to develop methods, frameworks, and tools that embrace uncertainty and design systemic interventions, influencing current systems and creating better futures.

Expertise

• Computer Science

  • Design
  • Systems Design
  • Contexts
  • Product Service
  • Sustainability
  • Transitions
  • Complexity

• Social Sciences

  • Production

Organisations

Jairo da Costa's research focuses on understanding, exploring, and shaping industrial design engineering theory and practice through adopting systems design approaches. He aims to deepen designers' and engineers' understanding of the complex dynamics intrinsic to socio-technical and socio-ecological systems, develop methodological tools for driving and assessing system change, collect empirical evidence to support informed decision-making and design systemic interventions to facilitate sustainability transitions. Currently, Jairo's research focuses on three emerging topics: Systems Design Approaches for Planetary Health, Systemic Foresight for Sustainable Transitions and Systemic Behaviour Change.

Publications

Research profiles

Jairo da Costa primarily teaches in the Industrial Design Engineering programmes, where he designs and delivers both undergraduate and graduate courses and lectures on Systemic Design, Futuring, Design for Transitions, Design for Behaviour Change, and Design for Sustainability. Additionally, he trains PhD and EngD candidates in the Creative and Design Thinking course at the Twente Graduate School. His teaching philosophy emphasises collaboration, research-driven approaches, and project-based learning. He supports students in acquiring new skills and knowledge by engaging with complex, real-world problems with scientific rigour and pragmatism through real-life case studies and partnerships with external stakeholders.

Affiliated study programs

Courses academic year 2024/2025

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2023/2024

Jairo da Costa's research projects promote the integration of systems design approaches within design and engineering, drawing on both theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence.

CURRENT PROJECTS

AI-Driven Systemic Design Methodologies for Planetary Health Actions - 2024-2028

Research corroborates the importance of systems thinking in grasping the complexity and interconnections of planetary health. However, stakeholders encounter methodological, cognitive, and institutional obstacles that hinder the effective application of systems design approaches. In this project led by PhD candidate Dulaj Perera and supervised by Dr. Jairo da Costa, Wouter Eggink and Geke Luden, design acts as a conduit between theory and practice, creating opportunities to merge systems science with design and engineering to develop innovative systemic methodologies and tools. This study delves into ways to enhance these methodologies and examines the promise of AI-assisted participatory modelling tools in boosting stakeholder engagement in planetary health challenges. It identifies the challenges stakeholders face in applying systems design approaches and investigates how AI can promote more inclusive and practical participation. Many stakeholders struggle to manage and interpret the complexities of planetary health when employing systemic tools, preventing them from deriving meaningful insights. Current methods inadequately present this complexity in an understandable way for stakeholders, limiting their ability to make sense of information and make informed decisions. This study highlights the role of design in fostering transdisciplinary collaboration and supporting informed decision-making in planetary health. It contends that AI-assisted participatory modelling tools can distil complex insights, enhance accessibility, and reduce biases in decision-making. By fostering engagement and adaptability, these tools empower stakeholders to actively participate in addressing planetary health challenges.

Pathways to Planetary Health - 2024-2025

Planetary Health Challenges (PHCs) like climate change, loss of biodiversity, pollution, and socioeconomic inequalities present serious threats to the health of both present and future generations. To confront these pressing environmental and health issues, higher education must equip upcoming professionals to effectively respond to and foresee PHCs. It is vital to integrate innovative reasoning and problem-solving approaches, such as systems and futures thinking, into social sciences and engineering programs to develop the necessary capacity for addressing these challenges. To bridge this gap, the project "Pathways to Planetary Health: Exploring Systems and Futures Thinking in Engineering Education for Sustainability" (approved by NES Ethical Committee UT n240650) co-designs and implements a systemic design methodology and educational resources targeting PHCs.

Making Local Nature-based Solutions with a Global Impact - 2025-2027

This project is a collaborative effort with Dr. Rosangela Tenorio, an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Western Australia (UWA), along with the team from the Bio-based Materials Design Lab. This online platform aims to educate citizens by co-designing and creating nature-based solutions that address global environmental challenges. This project is closely connected to the BBMLAB Camp. The BBMLAB Camp consists of a series of micro-credentials designed for individuals who have completed a Bachelor’s Degree and are eager to learn about the application of biomaterials in design, particularly in engaging with climate action through sustainable production and consumption within the contexts of architecture and product design. This program empowers citizens to actively contribute to the transition towards alternative production and consumption systems by providing learning resources and a platform that enhances sustainability in open-source resources, customises solutions to local contexts, and fosters knowledge sharing between makers and the broader community. Furthermore, it involves the continuous development of innovative, sustainable, open-source products and resources for learning, such as circular furniture, blue-green panels, and making and upcycling manuals.

Making Sense of Planetary Health: A Participatory Tool - 2025-2026

Planetary health involves the complex relationships between human activities and environmental degradation, which profoundly impacts the well-being of all life forms, notably humans. Environmental changes induced by human actions significantly contribute to the deterioration of ecosystem services, healthcare systems, and public health initiatives, thereby posing substantial health risks that require an immediate and transdisciplinary response. This project aims to develop a participatory modelling tool that supports transdisciplinary learning processes by integrating meaningful and actionable insights from various disciplines and stakeholders to analyse systems, synthesise complexity, and identify leverage points for designing systemic interventions for planetary health.

In the press

• Power to the people. In: Form Design Magazine – Special Edition Design and Energy, Frankfurt, Germany. n 263 – Jan/Feb 2016, p. 65-67. (Interview)

News on utwente.nl

• UT Assistant Professor as a Juri for the iF Design Award
• A' Design Awards for sustainable Do-it-Yourself chairs UMA & IDA

Address

University of Twente

Horst Complex (building no. 20), room W258
De Horst 2
7522 LW Enschede
Netherlands

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Organisations