Elise van den Hoven studied Biology (MSc) at Utrecht University, with a focus on perception research (including internships on human stereovision, auditory masking and rhythm in speech). She continued working on perception while studying Human-Computer Interaction (MTD). Her final project coincided with her PhD project, which was centered around tangible interaction (giving physical form to digital data) for recollecting personal memories in the home (see books for her PhD-thesis, 2004). Her PhD-project took place at Philips Research Laboratories Eindhoven.
Since 2003 Elise works as an assistant professor at the User-Centered Engineering group, headed by prof. Berry Eggen, at the Industrial Design department of the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands. She teaches (and has taught) several courses at both Bachelor and Master level, e.g. Foundations of Tangible Interaction, Design for Embodied Interaction, User Testing, Tacile Experience, User Research Methods and User Focus and Perspective Basics. Over the years she supervised numerous students from a.o. Industrial Design (Bachelor and Master), Human-Technology Interaction (Master), Psychology (Master) and User-System Interaction (2-year PhD).
Her organizational experience includes organizing conferences (a.o. TEI08, TEI07 and Persuasive06) and being on program or reviewing committees (a.o. PUC, IJHCS, HCI, CHI, TEI and Interact).
Elise was chair of the WISE-network (Women In Science Eindhoven-network), member of the TU/e Stuurgroep Vrouwelijk Talent naar de Top, initiator of the TU/e mentoring system and initiating member of the MADe network (Music Art Design experiences).
Elise is involved in the Intelligent Lighting Institute of the TU/e as the program manager of the research program No Switches Allowed, which focuses on innovative interaction styles with light and lighting.
Summarizing, the research interests of Elise are in (user-centered) designing, building and evaluating tangible interaction in different application areas, including memories, light(ing) and digital tabletop games. She collaborates with several colleagues world-wide on these forementioned topics. This also resulted in visiting scientist positions at:
the Synaesthetic Media Lab, GVU, GeorgiaTech, Atlanta, headed by prof. Ali Mazalek, and at the Memoir project, University of Sheffield, headed by prof. Steve Whittaker.