Secil Ugur Yavuz is one of the ten women in our campaign “Women in Science” at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, being the best example of embarking in an academic career without renouncing to having a family.

In her research she combines her many interests – textiles, didactics for children and technology – in a playful combination between digital and physical. The professor at the Faculty of Design and Art makes garments more performative, using open-source technology as she is a strong believer in the maker culture. In this way she is experimenting with wearable technologies but also with toys for children: “I don’t want to design for them, but I ask the digital native children to co-design their little games”. The Turkish born designer organizes workshops called “abiti parlanti”, in which she shows how to mend e-textiles, presenting the topic also in TEDx talks. So, her research continues to ask questions about how this world should be shaped and reshaped, as she explains in this episode of “unibz insight”, the podcast by the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.