UG and MSc Project Ideas

Chris Greenhalgh, 2025-09-18

General topics

In general I am interested in Human-computer interaction, Distributed Systems and Computer-supported cooperative work, in particular

• Enabling non-tech people to use novel digital technologies to do great stuff, e.g. artists, health professionals, "ordinary" people :-)
• Unusual interactive experiences that play to the strengths of a particular technology, e.g. audio, mobile, AR, VR
• Creative applications including audio, music, music making, theatre, opera, etc., e.g. the Opera "Losing Her Voice" or "Climb!" for Piano
• Social and wellbeing-enhancing experiences, especially ones that get people away from peering at their own device.

Most of my projects combine (to varying extents) software development, interaction design and user studies and are
suitable for HCI and CS students but NOT DataScience or AI.

General Requirements / Course-specific Guidance

Human-Computer Interaction

If you doing an HCI project (i.e. on the MSc HCI, or an HCI project within the BSc/MSci CS) then your project must be "human-centred". This can involve an emphasis on requirements gathering, design and/or evaluation. You will almost certainly need to do some prototyping, but depending on the project it may be possible to use non-functioning prototypes (although I prefer functioning prototypes).

If you want to tackle an HCI project then please write up a brief (one page) summary of:

• the aim of the project
• why you want to do it
• the specific HCI methods and prototyping technology(s) and level of programming, and
• the specific part or parts of the project that you think are most interesting (and why).

Computer Science

If you doing a CS project (i.e. in the MSc, BSc or MSCi CS) then your project must involve a significant practical (programming) element. It may also involve some HCI elements and prototyping, but at least some will need to be functional.

If you are tackling a web-based project then you should be prepared to use a technology stack with something like Flutter (and Dart) or Angular+Bootstrap (and Typescipt) or Svelte as the front-end and a well-defined HTTP API to any back-end. For Svelte, see SvelteKit. Note, you may not need to implemented your own back-end services, for example a static back-end may suffice or you may be able to use a cloud service such as Firebase.

If you want to tackle a CS project then please write up a brief (one page) summary of:

• the aim of the project
• why you want to do it
• the actual work you would do, including whether and how you would involve users,
• the technologies you would use (including what experience you have with them) and
• the specific part or parts of the project that you think are most interesting (and why).

AI, Data Science

Sorry, I'm not able to supervise projects in Data Science at all, and only to a very limited extent in AI (i.e. only if the emphasis is on human-AI interaction with existing technology/algorithms/data). Also I do NOT have suitable existing datasets to work with.

A Few Specific/Example Project Ideas

Feel free to propose your own idea that fits my interests, above.

Social screen-free experiences

Sometimes it feels like everyone spends all their time staring at their smartphone, even when there are in the same room as their friends and family. But digital technology doesn't have to be like this. Can you envisage experiences that use current digital technologies (such as smartphones) in ways that support engaging and enjoyable realworld social interaction, rather than disrupt it?!

• design, prototype and evaluation a digital technology-based experience that encourages and enhances face-to-face social interaction rather than undermining it.

Interactive music experiences

There is a rich history of using digital technology to enhance live performances. For example, in the Opera "Losing Her Voice" (by Elizabeth Kelly, University of Nottingham) a mobile web app allowed the audience to interact at key points in the performance through a kind of in-opera social media, while in the virtuoso Piano composition, "Climb!" (by Maria Kallionpää), a software system determines which movements the pianist has to play and in which order (depending on key musical phrases played) while a simpler mobile web app helps the audience to follow the performance.

We are interested in exploring other ways of enhancing live musical, opera and theatre performance experiences using personal mobile technologies (smart phones, etc.). We are also interested in ways to engage new audiences with music and music history, for example through music-related mixed-reality experiences. This is a very open brief, and will require significant independent work. It may be possible to collaboration(s) with composer(s) and performer(s), e.g. within the Department of Music, however this is uncertain, and you should have your own creative idea that you are happy to develop as a basis for this project.

Also note that this project might link well to the level 3 Music and Mixed Reality module offered by the Department of Music (with the School of Computer Science).

• design, prototype and evaluate a digital technology-based music performance experience.
• design, prototype and evaluate a digital technology-based music education or learning experiences.

Cardographer, a web-based multi-user concept card system

The Cardographer project is exploring the use of activities based on (physical or virtual) playing cards to help generate ideas, and learn about and explore ethical and legal issues for new technologies and applications. The project has (mid-2025) developed a first version of the Cardographer Platform, a web-based digital platform for creating cards, managing shared session using cards and analysing card use, and a simple webapp interface for viewing cards and classifying them in a shared session integrated with Miro, an online shared whiteboard tool.

• Do an experimental comparison of multi-user sessions using physical cards vs digital cards in Miro and/or the Cardographer web-app.

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