Learnings from Academia for Women-Centric Design
A Women-Centric Design Conversation
Researchers Mallory Feldman and Nicole Gervasio bring different perspectives – psych, neuroscience, english literature & gender – to discuss the ways in which we can leverage academic research to create real change for women.
🙋🏽♀️ Design Must Account for the Lived, Embodied Experience
Women’s physical experiences—such as fatigue, bloating, or mood shifts related to hormonal cycles—are often misunderstood, ignored, or misattributed. A better understanding of how the body influences emotions and perception can help design more empathetic and inclusive products, services, and systems.
📚 Academia and Practice Need to Meet in the Middle
Bridging the gap between academic research and real-world design is crucial. Academic insights, particularly from psychology, neuroscience, and gender studies, can deeply inform inclusive design—if made accessible and invited into practical conversations.
¿ Include People in Defining the Problem, Not Just Solving It
Participatory methods work best when they’re used from the start—not just to validate a solution, but to shape the question itself. People with lived experience should be involved in identifying what actually needs to be addressed, not just in responding to predetermined problems.
🌊 Challenge What’s Been Taken for Granted
Many everyday objects and systems are shaped by historically dominant norms—often male, white, and able-bodied. Designers should make a conscious effort to examine their own assumptions, invite feedback, and build for a broader range of users—not just “the average.”
📖 Representation and Storytelling Expand What’s Possible
The books we read, the spaces we learn in, and the stories we’re told shape how we see the world—and what we believe can be changed. Inclusive design begins with imagination, and imagination is fueled by diverse narratives, perspectives, and histories.
About the speakers
Mallory Feldman is a doctoral student in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a formal concentration in Quantitative Psychology. Her research in the Carolina Affective Science Lab explores how our bodies shape our mental states and social relationships. Prior to UNC, she worked in psychology labs at Tufts University, Harvard University, and Northeastern University, studying topics ranging from discrimination to emotion. Mallory brings a unique perspective that blends rigorous neuroscience with deep curiosity about embodiment and lived experience.
Nicole Marie Gervasio is a Mellon Public Fellow and the Programs Manager for the PEN World Voices Festival. She is a writer, teacher, and scholar with a PhD in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University, along with a certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Nicole has led creative writing workshops and human rights seminars for diverse communities—including New York City teens, immigrant youth, incarcerated women, and university students. Her work critically explores literature, gender, queerness, and power, often pushing against conventional academic boundaries to create more inclusive and imaginative spaces for learning and reflection.