The Founders

Empathy founders Emma Saunders and Matthew Ellingsen bring together expertise in behavioural psychology and industrial design. Their unique combination of disciplines have helped a range of businesses around the world to understand human motivation and behaviour.

Dr Emma Saunders
Matthew Ellingsen, MA

Dr Emma Saunders

Although born and raised in New Zealand, Emma has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. Her research helped her to gain a valuable understanding of human decision-making, particularly in time-poor and information-sparse situations. It also honed her research and analysis skills, which have been used in many projects since.

The majority of Emma’s experience has been working within large organisations. She has led or been critically involved in many projects to change consumer culture. In all cases, she expertly balances the goals of the business with a true understanding of the behaviour in the target audience.

Matthew Ellingsen, MA

Matthew is a masters graduate of Central St Martin’s School of Art and Design, London. It gave him a strong creative foundation in design thinking and user-centred innovation. His training is grounded in design as a complex intellectual activity, which examines and answers the important questions in today’s society. He is one of the new breed of designers, who take a leading role in shaping trends and changing behaviours in a fast-moving world.

Matthew has a strong background in design management, leading teams in both London and Wellington. As business and consumer cultures change, he has helped many organisations to understand how designers (and design) can take a proactive role in improving business outcomes.