Ena Naito

Project Employee
Project Employee
U401 Aalto Studios

Ena is an interdisciplinary design researcher, working at the intersection between biology, design, and co-learning. Her doctoral research investigates makerspaces as sites for cultivating sustainability competencies, particularly by integrating biodesign into learning processes. Through this research, she also explores alternative socio-cultural knowledge systems towards expanding environmental sustainability research beyond the West.

In addition, she is a researcher for the Erasmus+ collaborative project, CoCoon – Co-Creating Greener Futures, which develops methodologies and processes to empower sustainable ways of making, as well as advocating innovative use of bio-based materials. Ena holds an MA in Contemporary Design with CHEMARTS from Aalto University, and BFA in Fine Art from the University of Oxford, UK. 

Full researcher profile
https://research.aalto.fi/...
Phone number
+358504644304

Areas of expertise

Biodesign, Biomaterials, Sustainability, sustainability education, Infrastructural design

Honors and awards

DipWrap team awarded for outstanding science @Biodesign Challenge

Recipient of Outstanding Science Award at the international Biodesign Challenge. Innovation of sustainable alternative to plastic shrink wrapping.
Invitation or ranking in competition School Common ARTS Jun 2021

Research groups

  • Inuse

Publications

Biodesigning with Living Organisms in Fablabs? Towards a Research Agenda

Ena Naito 2024 What's Around Design? 2024 Conference Proceedings

Growing Conditions for Growing: Infrastructures for Designing with Living Organisms in Fabrication Settings

Ena Naito, Andrea Botero 2024 NordiCHI '24: Proceedings of the 13th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction