Hi, I’m Bernice d’Anjou, a Dutch researcher, designer and educational practitioner currently based in New York City.

As someone who has lived, studied, and worked on both sides of the Atlantic, I’m no stranger to navigating new environments, collaborating across disciplines and cultures and dedicating myself to projects that matter.

I first learned how intentional design can shape learning experiences during my studies of designing educational technological products and systems at the University of Technology Eindhoven. As I moved through academia, including my PhD at New York University, I found myself drawn more deeply to the human side of learning; specifically, the psychological well-being of adolescents in schools. Through feminist, qualitative research methods I explored girls’ inner narratives and their tension or overlap with societal narratives and I learned how girls make sense of themselves in academic spaces: how they carry pressure, navigate expectations, and form beliefs about who they are and who they’re supposed to be.

My passion for supporting adolescent girls’ psychological well-being stems from a mix of personal experience and years of conversations with students who often carry more than adults realize. I became an academic researcher and designer because I wanted to identify evidence-based opportunities for change and create practical, compassionate solutions for students facing mental health hurdles in schools.

Today, my work focuses broadly on the psychology of girls in educational environments, and I’m passionate to discover more in research and design projects center identity, agency, emotional development, and the everyday realities of middle and high school students.