Dr. Emīlija Veselova is an expert in the emerging area of designing with nature that strives to address the sustainability crisis by including natural nonhuman entities, such as organisms, species, and ecosystems, as stakeholders in design processes. It is also referred to as more-than-human, multispecies, planet-centric design.
In her doctoral research, Emīlija coined the designing with nature for sustainability approach by building integrative, transdisciplinary links between design research and practice, sustainability science, socio-ecological systems, systems thinking, ecology, and environmental ethics. Additionally, her research pioneered a novel systemic approach and typology for identifying natural nonhuman stakeholders and critically investigating the identification of natural nonhuman needs.
Dr. Emīlija Veselova holds a Doctor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree in design. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher in multispecies design for sustainability at the Department of Design, Aalto University.