Course content

TS8001 presents concepts and methods for design and systems thinking in ocean and coastal systems, in a discussion aimed at PhD level. Topics such as nature of mission, performance and economics across ships, offshore units, coastal infrastructure and ocean energy systems are presented.

The course addresses innovation and design as human-in-the-loop engineering processes, from concept formulation to evaluation, using design thinking to structure the innovation workflow. It introduces design thinking as a systematic framework connecting user needs, functionality and technical feasibility in research and engineering applications.

Course content

• Design Principles and Design Thinking: human-centred design; problem definition and iteration; design for ocean and coastal environments; mission-to-operation mapping.
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship: application of design thinking to identify opportunities, create concepts and evaluate value frameworks for ocean and coastal systems; connection to doctoral research and scientific writing.
• Overview of Ocean and Coastal Systems: ships, offshore units, subsea structures, coastal and port infrastructure, and ocean/wind energy systems; functional equipment (e.g., cranes, winches, tanks, plants); shared and domain-specific design aspects.
• Systems Engineering Methods and Analysis: fundamental and interactive design methods; systems and mission-performance-economics assessment; system-of-systems and subsystem analysis.
• Decision-making Methods: stakeholder analysis, ranking and quantification, design trade-offs, case evaluations.

Target group

PhD candidates, and selected MSc students by permission.

Learning outcome

Knowledge - participants will gain knowledge of:

• Principles of design and design thinking for complex engineered systems in ocean and coastal environments.
• The main categories of engineered structures and infrastructure in maritime and coastal domains.
• Literature, methods and analyses for design, performance assessment and decision-making.

Skills: participants will be able to:

• Identify and classify engineered systems and missions in ocean and coastal contexts.
• Use literature and established methods for concept development and preliminary design assessment.
• Apply design thinking to structure concept generation and evaluation considering technical, environmental and human aspects.
• Develop a concept design integrating requirements and evaluation criteria.

General competence: participants will be able to:

• Relate form and function for a defined design problem and formulate it as a research question.
• Combine design thinking principles with engineering methods in research and design analysis.
• Implement design thinking in research-driven design and entrepreneurship contexts.
• Apply mission-performance-economics relations to evaluate alternative solutions.

Learning methods and activities

The course is organized as intensive seminars including lectures, group work, literature studies, assignments and discussions. Minimum 80% attendance at seminars is required. Each participant must participated actively in the discussion and deliver at least one presentation.

Compulsory assignments

• Mandatory assignment

Recommended previous knowledge

MSc or equivalent.

Required previous knowledge

MSc or equivalent degree.

Course materials

Lectures Notes and Readings