Research Interest
Cees de Bont was trained in psychology, and specialised in economic psychology, at Tilburg University. Cees went on to conduct his PhD research at the Delft University of Technology. The title of his thesis is: Consumer Evaluations of Early Product-Concepts.
Cees completed his military service and became an assistant professor at Tilburg University. From there, he moved on to join Royal Philips Electronics where he first worked for Philips Design, leading the Human Behaviour Research Centre, and later for Domestic Appliances and Personal Care, overseeing Marketing Intelligence and Strategy.
In 2005, after being with Royal Philips Electronics for more than ten years, Cees chose to become the Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering in Delft. In Delft, Cees was able to initiate a massive national research project on product-service systems. In 2012, Cees moved to Hong Kong to become the Dean of the School for Design. In his 6.5 years at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Cees was able to strengthen the research activities with a focus on social design. Between 2018 and 2024, Cees was the Dean of the School of Design and Creative Arts at Loughborough University where he merged design and creative arts in one school. Since August 2024, Cees is heading the Division of Industrial Design at the National University of Singapore.
Cees has several different research interests. These include: consumer behaviour, design education, sustainable design, inclusive design and healthy living. Cees has co-authored publications in a wide variety of design journals, such as: Design Studies, Design Issues, International Journal of Design, the Design Journal, Sheji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation.
At NUS in Singapore, Cees has a special interest in inclusive design with a special focus on the aging population as well as in the psychological underpinnings of design for healthy living.