Part of Nicolas Nova activities involved teaching and mentoring in different contexts (design school, engineering schools, universities, private institutions). He was a Professor at HEAD–Genève (Geneva University of Arts and Design) and he also taught as a visiting professor in: ENSCI–Les Ateliers (Paris), ENSAD (Paris), Art Center College of Design (Pasadena), die Angewandte (Wien), and Ecole Gobelins (Annecy).

He also curated exhibits such as Culture interface at La Cité du Design in Saint Etienne, France and Sens-Fiction as part of Lille World Design Capitale.

His topics ranged from the sociology and anthropology of digital practices (how people actually live with and appropriate technology in their everyday lives) to ethnography as a method of curious, attentive observation, design fiction (creating tangible artefacts to probe what futures might feel like), futures research and foresight, and the sociology of innovation (why certain technologies embed themselves in society while others fail or disappear).