Nicolas Nova est Professeur à la Haute école d’art et de design (HEAD – Genève) où il enseigne et mène des recherches anthropologiques sur les cultures contemporaines liées aux mutations insufflées par les technologies numériques ou par la crise environnementale. Il est également co-fondateur d’explorare, une agence d’exploration prospective. Avec un parcours pluridisciplinaire, au croisement des sciences naturelles, de l'anthropologie et des pratiques artistiques, ses travaux de recherche abordent trois axes : (1) la compréhension et le devenir des cultures numériques, en particulier à propos des pratiques ordinaires, (2) les imaginaires et les changements sociotechniques liés à la crise environnementale, (3) les démarches d’enquête au croisement de l’ethnographie et de la création

Titulaire d’un doctorat en sciences de la société (Université de Genève) et d'un autre en informatique (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), il a été professeur invité à ENSCI - Les Ateliers (Paris), Politecnico di Milano (Italie), Die Angewandte (Vienne), chercheur invité à Art Center College of Design (Pasadena) et à l’Institut de Recherches Sociologiques de l’Université de Genève.

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Nicolas Nova is an anthropologist, design researcher, and writer. With a multidisciplinary background in social sciences, information technologies, design, and natural sciences, he investigates everyday cultures to tell stories, and employs design approaches to explore the implications of new technologies as well as environmental changes. He is Professor at the Haute-Ecole d'Art et de Design (HEAD - Geneva), and associate researcher in the Department of Sociology at the University of Geneva. He is also co-founder of explorare, a foresight agency involved in design fiction projects, working with public organizations and companies. His academic research work focuses on three areas: (1) the understanding and future of digital cultures, particularly in relation to ordinary practices; (2) the imaginary and socio-technical changes linked to the environmental crisis; (3) the methodological challenges of practice-based research, using investigative approaches at the crossroads of ethnography and art/design: the role of observation in creation, investigation through design, design fiction. 

Nicolas holds a PhD in Social Sciences (University of Geneva), and another PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from the Swiss Institute of Technology (EPFL, Switzerland). He was previously co-founder of the Near Future Laboratory, as well as visiting professor at ENSCI - Les Ateliers (Paris), Politecnico di Milano, visiting researcher at the Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, CA), the Institute of Sociological Research at the University of Geneva, and co-founder/curator of the Lift Conferences, a series of international events about digital culture, design and innovation.