Anne-Laure Le Cunff

Anne-Laure Le Cunff, PhD, is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and award-winning author who specialises in the neuroscience of curiosity and mindful productivity. Her research at King's College London explores how curiosity, ADHD traits, and cognitive processes shape decision-making and lifelong learning, whilst her book Tiny Experiments was named the 2026 Business Book of the Year at the Business Book Awards. As founder of Ness Labs, she reaches over 130,000 readers weekly and has delivered keynotes at SXSW EDU, TEDx, the World Economic Forum, and organisations including Google, Microsoft, and HubSpot. Her sessions equip leaders and teams with practical frameworks to replace rigid goal-setting with experimental thinking, helping them reduce pressure, spark innovation, and build sustainable growth through curiosity-driven approaches that transform uncertainty into opportunity.

After leaving a successful career leading global marketing initiatives at Google, Anne-Laure Le Cunff, PhD, pursued a radical shift: she enrolled in a PhD programme in Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London to understand the science behind how humans learn, adapt, and thrive. That decision has since shaped a body of work that challenges conventional approaches to productivity and goal-setting, helping leaders and organisations worldwide rethink how they navigate uncertainty. Her research focuses on the neuroscience of curiosity, exploring how this fundamental drive influences decision-making, cognitive load, and lifelong learning, and how traits associated with ADHD may reflect evolutionary advantages in curiosity-driven behaviour.

Anne-Laure's expertise combines rigorous academic research with real-world impact. Her peer-reviewed studies have been published in leading journals, examining topics from hyperactive-impulsive ADHD traits and curiosity to neurodiversity in online learning environments. As founder of Ness Labs, a research-driven platform dedicated to mindful productivity, she reaches over 130,000 readers weekly through her newsletter and supports a thriving community of learners. Her book, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World, was named the 2026 Business Book of the Year at the Business Book Awards, cementing her reputation as a thought leader reshaping how we understand success and growth. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Aeon Magazine, and Microsoft's WorkLab podcast, and she has delivered keynotes and workshops at SXSW EDU, TEDx, the World Economic Forum, Oxford University, the University of Chicago, and organisations including Google, Microsoft, HubSpot, Qualcomm, and KPMG.

Anne-Laure equips audiences with practical tools to replace rigid, linear models of success with experimental, curiosity-led approaches that foster creativity and resilience. Her sessions teach leaders and teams how to run small-scale experiments in their work and routines, transforming uncertainty from a source of stress into a catalyst for discovery. Drawing on neuroscience and lived experience, she demonstrates how embracing productive failure and adaptive goal-setting can reduce pressure, spark innovation, and create sustainable growth. Audiences leave with actionable frameworks to cultivate curiosity, navigate complexity, and build careers and lives that feel more purposeful and alive. Tailored to each organisation's context, her talks create lasting impact by helping people learn, lead, and thrive in a world that demands flexibility over perfection.