The Da Vinci Programme Short Track

Sustainable development and the strive to make our economies circular are grand challenges the world faces. These can only be solved via an interwoven collaboration of society, science, and technology. Academic education should be at the forefront of training the new generation of connectors, who are skilled in collaborating outside their comfort zone and in creating viable and practical solutions with different stakeholders. This manner of working requires strong disciplinary and transdisciplinary knowledge and skills. The Da Vinci Program focusses on this transdisciplinary knowledge and skills, and attitude required for sustainability problem-solving. Future professionals will be encouraged to challenge the status quo, to change what doesn’t work in the transition towards a sustainable world. They will be stimulated to develop strong connector skills so they can build bridges between scientific disciplines and between organizations outside the academic world. And they will be inspired to become innovators that can develop the solutions of the future.

The short version of the Da Vinci Program consists of 10 weeks (15 EC) of full-time challenge-based education in which students will work in innovation hubs at public and private partners outside university. Students will work at the partners workspace, like an internship, but in an interdisciplinary student team, dedicated to a challenge in the field of energy, feedstock and materials transition. Four to five partners will facilitate a team and provide a real-life challenge, in this way shaping an innovation agenda. Industrials as well societal partners such as VDL, Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam, Rabobank, and REACT have joined the Da Vinci Master Program. In several iterations and by applying design thinking methodology, the teams will move from a challenge briefing to feasible, viable, desirable, and sustainable solutions. Students spend two third of their time on this challenge. The teams are guided by a supervisor at the partner organization and by a mentor from the university to professionally master tackling real sustainability-related problems. The remaining time they co-work with fellow students in the Da Vinci community and build a personal development portfolio. The Da Vinci community is an important platform for knowledge exchange, peer learning, and personal growth. Students have workshops together and operate with fellow students from other teams to co-create the Da Vinci Program.

Participants must be enrolled in a university master program. In case the number of applicants becomes too large, the coordinators retain the right to reject students, and a selection will be done by the coordinators of the program, based on three aspects:

1. We aim to create interdisciplinary student teams. Some challenges require certain disciplines and for some challenges particular disciplines are more desirable than others.
2. Students must submit their motivation when they register for the program.
3. Students that have registered and submitted a sufficient quality motivation will be invited for an interview and will be asked to perform an assignment.
   The program will commence only if a sufficient number of registrations is received.

More information on registration, criteria & selection procedure available on: https://ewuu.nl/en/education/challenges/the-da-vinci-programme/

Program

The entire program consists of the team challenge, workshops, jams, fieldtrips, squad activities and a personal development portfolio. The team challenge is 2/3 (280 hrs, including workshops and mentor sessions) and the remaining parts 1/3 (140 hrs, including the jams, field trips, squad activities and end game) of the study load.

The program of the short version of the Da Vinci program takes place simultaneously with the program of the regular Da Vinci program of 30 EC. In the program of the regular version, the course is divided into three parts: three iterations that make up the team challenge. In every iteration the teams undertake the whole design thinking cycle from gathering data to experimenting. At the end of the iteration the teams present their results to a panel of experts. The teams will be guided in their performance by mentors from academic staff and by supervisors of the partner. Every iteration is anticipated by a week in which the community comes together for the entire week: a Jam. The first Jam has the goal of boosting the community and kickstarting a specific way of working. During the first iteration there will be weekly workshops on systems thinking, design thinking and interdisciplinary co-working. During the second and third iteration other activities such as field trips will be organized. There is room for students to co-create and organize parts of the program. The Da Vinci Program finishes with an ‘End Game’ as a large showcase of the results from the team challenges and other activities.

The short version of the Da Vinci program participates in the first iteration (10 weeks) of the regular Da Vinci program. They participate in the same sessions and activities as their fellow students in the regular program. However, after the first iteration, the program finishes for the students enrolled in the short version. This means that the students in the short version will also be assessed after the first iteration.

Enrollment deadline is 26th of August! After the enrollment deadline in Osiris has passed, it is possible to enroll by sending an email to mdavinci@uu.nl .
NOTE : The programme will start 9th of September .

In the Da Vinci Programme we have the ambition to educate future changemakers that are connectors and innovators. To prepare master students for that role in society, we focus on personal development. To achieve the required learning outcomes students will be immersed in a learning experience of doing – experiencing – becoming. These outcomes are distinguished from learning objectives which are defined on the level knowledge, skills, and attitude described below.

Participants of the program will BECOME:

1. collaborators that are aware of their relationship to the real world,
2. confident changemakers that know how to act in uncertainty and complexity,
3. ECO-centric instead of EGO-centric leaders,
4. creative innovators that are aware of their talents and expertise,
5. pro-active connectors in a transdisciplinary working environment

Learning Objectives

• Shows understanding and critical thinking of theory and practices of:
  • innovation for sustainable development,
  • systems thinking and design thinking
  • co-design and stakeholder management

• Applies methods and tools of systems thinking and design thinking on real-life challenge to develop sustainable, desirable, feasible and viable solutions

• Applies methods of co-design and stakeholder management within a network of public and private stakeholders outside university

• Designs sustainable solutions in an iterative process by repeatedly doing research, select and synthesize different types of data, generate innovative ideas, build prototypes, setting up and conduct experiments and critically evaluate your own designs

• Communicates, collaborates, and facilitates effectively in a transdisciplinary environment

• Shows personal leadership skills, such as empathy, decisiveness, critical reflection, integrity, creativity, resilience and adaptivity

• Awareness and understanding of the complexity of sustainability challenges

• Estimates the value of:
  • an iterative process in complex problem solving
  • diversity and working in transdisciplinary teams for sustainability development
  • co-design with stakeholders in sustainability challenges
  • the design thinker’s mindset and an integrative approach to complex problem solving

• Approaches challenges as a reflective practitioner

• Shows creative confidence in an uncertain and complex environment

• Shows initiative in establishing connections and collaboration in a transdisciplinary team and in a diverse network of stakeholders

Competencies & Assessment

The assessment at the Da Vinci programme is competency-based. At the end of the program students show proof of competence on nine competencies: Immersion, Sensemaking, Alignment, Emergence, Imagining, Learning in Action, Critical thinking, Communication, and Collaboration.

These competencies will be assessed in two ways:
First, the total assessment of the team challenge (2/3 of the final grade) consists of two parts: a presentation and progress report. This assessment takes place simultaneously with the formative assessment of the students in the regular version of the Da Vinci program. Not only the final presentation and progress report is being assessed here, but the entire process and progress of the team during the semester. The competencies that are assessed in this section are Immersion, Sensemaking, Alignment, Emergence, Imaginingand* Learning in Action.*

Second, the students work on a personal development portfolio (PDP) in which they show individual proof of competence (1/3 of the final grade). Students conduct a self-assessment and hand in their PDP including self-assessment to be approved by the examiner. This assessment also takes place simultaneously with the first formative assessment of the students in the regular version of the Da Vinci program. The competencies that are being assessed individually are Critical Reflection, Communication, and Collaboration, plus three competencies from the Team Challenge selected by the student for personal development. Active participating in the jams, workshops, team meetings, field trips and other activities is a conditional requirement to qualify for the individual assessment.

The deliverables of the team challenge and the individual development will be assessed by a panel of experts from academic staff. The mentor and supervisor provide the panel with advice. Both the team challenge and the PDP must be graded sufficient (5.5 or above) to pass.

Application Da Vinci Master Program

The application deadline is 21 June 2024

Before you complete the online application, there are some documents you need to prepare and send to mdavinci@uu.nl:

1. Video pitch in English
   Make an eye-catching video pitch (max. 3 minutes) in which you motivate why you want to become part of the Da Vinci Master Program. Name your pitch: Surname - First Name – DaVinci-Pitch, example: Johnson-Maria- DaVinci-Pitch. Upload your video in Google Drive / Dropbox or make it publicly available on Youtube / Vimeo. In the application form you will be asked to share the link to your video pitch.
2. Preference for challenge and motivation for ranking
   Above, you can find videos and descriptions of the challenges students will work on during the Da Vinci Program. We would like to know which challenges you are interested in so we can make the best match between challenges and students. This doesn’t guarantee you will be assigned on the challenge of your choice, but we will try to do our best to at least give you your first, second or third choice. Criteria for creating interdisciplinary teams are most important, we aim for disciplinary diversity and representation of all universities in teams. Moreover, we would like to stress that the program entails much more than the topic of the challenge. In your application you can submit one page with a ranking of the challenges in order of preference (1 = my first choice, 5 = my last choice) and a brief motivation of your ranking.
3. CV in English (max 2 A4)
   Include a short description of your academic performance so far, extra-curricular activities, work experience and other valuable skills or life experiences. Please also indicate how proficient you are in English.
4. Study progress report
   Your study progress report lists your results.
5. Combine documents into 1 PDF
   Make 1 PDF of your Challenge preference motivation, your CV and Study progress report and the and name the PDF: Surname-First Name-DaVinci-CV, example: Johnson-Maria- DaVinci-CV.

Once the deadline has passed, the admission committee will review your application. After review, you will be invited for an interview. Shortly after the interview, you will be informed if you can partake in the Da Vinci Master Program.

Ben je student aan de Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) of Wageningen University & Research (WUR)? Schrijf je dan in voor deze cursus via eduXchange.nl