Tutors Health by Design
Meet the dedicated tutor team of the Master of Arts in Fine Arts & Design, a group of practicing artists, designers, and researchers committed to guiding your development. They bring diverse perspectives from contemporary practice to help you shape your own artistic and professional direction.
Laura Koenen
Laura Koenen (1988) is a Rotterdam-based social designer, design researcher, and educator. A graduate of Design Academy Eindhoven (Man and Communication), she focuses on hands-on, experimental approaches to complex societal challenges, with a strong emphasis on elder care. Her project Ken.Mij (Know Me) (2020) is widely recognized in Dutch healthcare as a creative methodology for meaningful interaction with people living with dementia. Laura sees design as a tool for creating dignified, meaningful lives, driven by empathy, creativity, and social connection.
Michel Witter
Michel Witter is a senior lecturer in Interaction Design at Avans Creative Innovation and a researcher at CARADT. His work is driven by a fascination with embodied interaction, and within the Health by Design master pathway he contributes theoretical perspectives from art, health, and technology. As a PhD candidate at Tilburg University, his research focuses on sensory augmentation technologies that bridge the sensory gap between Deaf and hearing people. He develops situated, co-creative design methods to enable meaningful sensory integration in real world contexts.
Sandra Suijkerbuijk
Sandra Suijkerbuijk is a researcher and programme manager in digital health innovation. She holds a master’s degree in Human–Technology Interaction from Eindhoven University of Technology, where her work on qualitative research methods for people in the early stages of dementia laid the foundation for her PhD research (2017–2024). She previously worked as a researcher at Vilans, the Dutch Centre of Expertise for Long-term Care, contributing to several national and international innovation projects. Since 2021, she has been Programme Manager Digital Innovation at Surplus, and from 2024 she is a part-time lecturer in the Health by Design graduation track at Avans University of Applied Sciences. Her work is driven by inclusive, creative approaches and a strong focus on end-user perspectives in care and technology.