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Anja Overdiek is a professor of Cybersocial Design at the Creating 010 Research Centre. Anja is active in the “Design in the 21st Century” research theme. Within this theme, she conducts research into designing solutions for complex issues to enhance societal resilience through digitalization.

Anja has been active at Creating 010 Research Centre since January 2021.

Digitalization and internationalization have led to increased complexity in societal challenges. Everything seems interconnected, and solutions require collaboration between existing institutions and disciplines. Additionally, the needs of people, machines, and nature must be considered. Designing within and for these new multi-stakeholder networks is complex, but it can significantly enhance societal resilience. Designers are uniquely positioned to unite diverse parties, offer concrete visions for possible futures, and test integrative designs in practice. Cybersocial design is “social design” focused on designing digital applications. The professorship conducts research with educational programs and design agencies to unlock new design capabilities, make digital designs more inclusive, and support governments and companies with digital applications in their transitions towards greater circularity and inclusivity.

Anja is also an Associate Professor at the Mission Zero Research Centre of The Hague University of Applied Sciences, where she specializes in living labs as environments for the energy transition. Earlier in her career, she was the European manager of an international ICT/telecom branding and communication agency and facilitated transition processes with her own company. She earned her PhD from Freie Universität Berlin (Germany) in 1998 with research on social movements and their knowledge production. For the past ten years, she has collaborated with design researchers on societal issues.