Willemijn Elkhuizen is a research fellow at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, in the department of Sustainable Design Engineering. Her research delves into the intersection of digital technology and tangible cultural heritage, focusing on how digital experiences can bring historical artifacts to life.

Currently, Willemijn is investigating the experiential material characterization of cultural heritage artifacts, aiming to use these insights to inspire innovative interactions with both physical and digital representations of cultural heritage artifacts, for instance using 3D printing, VR, and mixed reality technology.

Her work builds on material-driven design theory, methods, and tools - developed to support designing the materials of today and tomorrow – and seeks to apply them in the cultural heritage context, to create meaningful experiences that connect people with the material and craft cultures of the past.