Felix Beck

Felix Hardmood Beck studied visual communication with focus on media design and exhibition design at the Berlin University of the Arts [→]. He graduated (2007) with the degree Diplom Designer (equivalent to MA) and received the terminal degree Meisterschüler (2011) under the patronage of Prof. Joachim Sauter [→]. Felix has gathered practical experience working as media designer and user-experience professional from 2001 on. His projects as well as his works with his former employer ART+COM Studios [→] and several other renowned german design agencies and architectural studios have been featured around the globe in a range of art and design publication, and in numerous festivals and exhibitions. As independent design director he works for clients in business and cultural institutions. In this role he develops and realises designs for products and services, and conceives experiences, engaging media-environments and interactive installations for showrooms, trade fairs, exhibitions and museums.

Living in the United Arab Emirates from 2015 to 2020 he consulted several federal ministries and governmental departments and partners on the topics of design thinking and innovation. Holding the position of Assistant Professor of Practice of Design at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) from 2015–2020 he taught various courses in the overlapping fields of art, design, technology and innovation. At NYUAD, he successfully founded two research labs: the NTSI Lab and the Plastic Lab [→], and received over 525.000 USD in research grants and related funding. He led both applied research labs as principal investigator until 2020. He initiated several internship and volunteer programs and managed to integrate more than 50 student research assistants into his work. The results of his research and of his research groups got published in scientific papers, posters, research conferences, art exhibitions and design festivals. In 2019 he got awarded by New York University with the WSN Faculty Fellowship. (Find here a summary of his accomplishments at NYUAD.) In 2020 he moved with his family from the UAE back to Germany. (Read more information about his move.)

In 2020 he got appointed as Full Professor at the University of Applied Sciences, Münster School of Design (MSD) [→], where he teaches the Foundations of Design. In his continuing research activities he investigates with his students and project collaborators systems, spaces and physical properties of artefacts and materials to envision scenarios and pioneer use-cases for the interaction of humans through media and deployed Narrative Technologies. Since 2020 Felix Beck is Visiting Research Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi.

In 2021 he won a research grant for the development of a Summer School (50.000 Euro), received the funding for a 3D printer (12.000 Euro) and received a grant (50.000 Euro) together with Prof. Christiane Knecht for their research project "Nursing meets Design".