Curriculum Vitae 

Susanne is researcher, designer, and architect currently pursuing her PhD. Her work explores technology-supported design research and human-AI co-creation, with a focus on the human side of creative collaboration with AI.

She's particularly interested in how emotions and metacognitive states influence co-creation processes and creative outcomes. Through her research, she aim to understand how working with AI can foster (or hinder) self-efficacy in the design process, and how critical reflection on these interactions can help shape new ways of integrating AI into both design practice and design education. Ultimately, her goal is to encourage more creative, reflective, and human-centered approaches to co-creation with AI.

Her background lies in Architecture M.A. (TUM) and Industrial Design M.Sc. (TUM). Before starting her PhD, she worked for several years as an architect and freelance designer, gaining experience in digital fabrication (with a focus on 3D printing), collaborating with early-stage startups, and teaching in design and architecture.

Research Focus

• Technology-Driven Design Research 

• Human-AI Co-Creation

Teaching

• IPD Project

• Design Expedition 2: AI-Supported Design Futuring

• Design Expedition 1: Exhibition Design at DDW

• Project Week: Design Futuring

• IPD Foundations (till Summer Winter 24-25)

Publications

Dreyer, S., McTeague, C., Liu, S. & Thoring, K. (2025). Design exhibitions as spaces for controlled experiments. Proceedings of the Design Society 5, 1153-1163. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2025.10129

Dreyer, S., McTeague, C., & Thoring, K. (2025). Design Science Research Labs: A Framework and Design Principles. Proceedings of the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 5395-5404. https://doi.org/10.24251/HICSS.2025.648

McTeague, C., Dreyer, S., Liu, S., Kizilkaya, A., & Thoring, K. (2025). Emotional responses to the design of multisensory interior spaces. Proceedings of the Design Society 5, 1475-1484. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2025.10161

Liu, S., McTeague, C., Dreyer, S., & Thoring, K. (2025). Towards automated video-based human behavior analysis: leveraging AI capabilities for spatial behavior detection. Proceedings of the Design Society 5, 3171-3180. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2025.10331

Contacts

susanne.dreyer@tum.de