Dr. Nikki Martyn
Founder of The LOVE Lab: Child Futures Innovation PlaySpace
Nikki is a visionary educator, researcher, and child advocate who believes that love is not a feeling—it’s a foundation for change.
For over two decades, Nikki has worked at the intersection of education, developmental psychology, and innovation, designing systems that honor children’s emotional lives, rights, and potential. As the founder of The LOVE Lab, she brings together neuroscience, attachment theory, and technology to co-create a future where children are not just protected, but empowered.
She is the creator of the Neurorelational Love Model—a framework that explores how love shapes the developing brain, builds trust, and creates the conditions for learning, resilience, and identity. The model integrates predictive processing and attachment theory to show how early relationships form the blueprint for how we understand ourselves, others, and the world. It is a framework for healing, for designing, and for leading with love.
Her work asks bold questions:
- What if systems were built for co-regulation, not control?
- What if we designed for love, not fear?
- What if technology could model empathy—not just simulate it?
- What if children’s voices were heard not after design, but at its core?
Nikki is here to ask, to listen, and to build.
And she invites you to do the same.
