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Alexis Hope        

Designer & Researcher at MIT Media Lab, Expert in Creativity, Innovation & the Future of Work

Dr. Alexis Hope is an award-winning artist, designer, and researcher from MIT. Her research focuses on how joy and play can unlock our creativity and help us find purpose, meaning, and connection with others.

With over a decade of experience as a designer and researcher at one of MIT’s most creative research centers — the MIT Media Lab — Hope has worked on projects ranging from cameras for deep-sea exploration, creative learning technologies for children, artistic tools for zero-gravity environments in space, low-cost ultrasound machines for reducing maternal mortality in areas with limited resources, and much more. She believes that the best ideas come from an interdisciplinary approach, and that by leaning into joy and play, we can unlock our creativity to solve the toughest problems.

Currently, Hope serves as the Creative Director of TEN FWD — a consultancy that helps clients design playful, experimental objects and social experiences. She is also a co-founder of focused (www.focused.space), a mindfulness company that helps remote workers reach their personal and professional goals in community with others. Hope brings expertise in deep technology, art and design, community building, and more.

Speech Topics

Future of Work: Making remote and hybrid work actually work

The way we work is changing, and companies need to keep up. Alexis will share lessons learned from co-founding focused, a mindfulness and productivity startup that helps remote and hybrid workers accomplish their goals — and take care of themselves along the way.

Unlocking Creativity through Joy and Play

Alexis will share inspirations and experiences from her decade of work at the MIT Media Lab, MIT’s playground for science, engineering, art, and design. She’ll help you unlock your own creativity by leaning into what brings you joy.

“Make the Breast Pump Not Suck”: How can we better support new parents and babies in the United States?

Many things “suck” about being a new parent — not just breast pumps. Alexis will share insights from the “Make the Breast Pump Not Suck” project, a six-year community effort to improve life for nursing parents and their babies in the United States.

News

MIT Media Lab | ML Voices: Alexis Hope
Watch the video, then read this post by Alexis Hope, a researcher in the Lifelong Kindergarten group, to learn more about her work at the Media Lab and her passions.
ABC News | Engineers, doctors and moms team up to 'make the breast pump not suck' and hack other barriers to breastfeeding
“The energy in the room was so strong and it was so clear that everyone was excited to finally have a space to talk about these things that society normally ignores,” Alexis Hope, the hackathon’s creative director, told “Good Morning America.” “I think it’s the beginning of a larger movement.”
The New Yorker | Hacking the Breast Pump
The Times piece caught the attention of Hope and other Media Lab researchers. There had to be a way to make pumps quieter, or more elegant, or less painful without making them significantly more expensive. Maybe what the breast pump needed, the researchers thought, was a hackathon.
NPR | Sensory Fiction: Books That Let You Feel What The Characters Do
You know the power of a great book. It transports you, taking you into another place and time. But if well-written prose and the power of your imagination aren't enough, a few clever engineers at MIT have come up with a wearable vest that hooks up to an e-book to enhance your reading experience even more.
Fast Company | MIT Rethinks How You Consume News
The global news cycle can be overwhelming. Fold, a news platform being developed by MIT Media Lab‘s Alexis Hope and Kevin Hu, has been designed to provide context at its very core.
The Atlantic | The Problems With Breastfeeding Go Way Beyond Breast Pumps
At an MIT hackathon last weekend, engineers, designers, and parents brainstormed ways to make feeding newborns easier.

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