Professor Pieter Desmet is co-founder and Managing Partner of Emotion Studio as well as professor of Design for Experience in the Department of Human-Centered Design at TU Delft (Technische Universiteit Delft, The Netherlands). His main research interest is in understanding why and how design evokes emotion, and how design can contribute to the well-being of individual users and communities. He supervises a research group that studies various aspects of user experience, and he chairs the ‘Delft Institute of Positive Design’, an initiative to stimulate the development of knowledge that supports designers in their attempts to design for human flourishing.

Pieter is chairman of the International Design and Emotion society, and initiator of the Global Positive Design Initiative. He has published over 150 scientific papers, book chapters, and books on a variety of aspects of experience-driven design, reaching an audience that includes both scholars and practitioners. Besides his research, he contributes to local community projects, such as a recently developed sensory wellness neighborhood park, and a cultural Rotterdam-based “House of Happiness.”