Media Appearances

I appeared on BBC Radio 4 discussing social media data and online social influences. My work has also been covered in written news (inc Buzzfeed), and our Computerphile Youtube Channel now has over 1M subscribers. Checkout my contribution to the Brain Health Podcast

Our 2024 Future of Consumer Neurotechnology Exhibition received a lot of media coverage, from the BBC, the Times, and the Guardian. See our Exhibition Page to see it.

Consulting

I have consulted for sevaral large organisations, including on internal software design for Rolls Royce, and delivering social media training to the European Commission.

Bio

I am an Associate Professor in Human-Computer Interaction, in the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham, UK. I lead the Brain (and Physiological) Data Group, which focuses on the role that Mental Workload plays in our everyday life as we interact with technologies. This involves a) measuring levels of mental workload as we interact with technology, b) evaluating how we experience mental workload over time, and c) the neuroethics concerns of neurotechnology becoming part of our lives. Since joining Nottingham in 2012, we have focused on demonstrating the validity and efficacy of using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in HCI, as a method of measuring mental workload during interaction. With consumer brain scanners now available, our research also focuses on the inevitable future of living with neurotechnology and other wearables and systems that try to estimate and track our cognitive activity. We call this Cognitive Personal Informatics, where we consider how technology will try to show us this data, what goals people will have for their lives, and what neuroethical concerns this new type of personal data creates, both personally and for e.g. employers. Our research in this area has both UKRI and EU funding as part of multi-million pound projects.

Past Research

Prior to 2011, my research sat between Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval, including InteractiveIR and Information Seeking. My research focused on Exploratory Search, and involved evaluating both Search User Interfaces and human seeking behaviour. Through this work we created more powerful, but equally 'more complicated' user interfaces (e.g. mSpace). Trying to understand what made search user interfaces 'hard to use' prompted my post-2011 research agenda focusing on evaluating mental workload. My doctoral work, which won best article in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology in 2009, focused on evaluating Search User Interfaces using models of Human Information Seeking behaviours. My reserach in this area received industry funding from Google, and led to a book on Search User Interface Design and a monograph with co-authors schraefel, Kules, and Shneiderman on future Search User Interfaces for the web. Occasionally I am lucky to work with PhD students that work in this area between HCI and Information Retrieval.

I received my PhD (2006-2009) from the University of Southampton, under the supervision of m.c. schraefel and Dame Wendy Hall. In 2009, I joined Swansea University to work with Matt Jones and Harold Thimbleby, and many others. In 2012, I moved to University of Nottingham to be part of the world-leading HCI research group, and nearer family. Since the start of my PhD, I have enjoyed volunteering in conference organisation, including: IIiX, EuroHCIR, CHIIR, and CHI. I have served on Steering Committees for ISRC/ECIR, CHIIR, and CHI, and have worked on the editorial boards of IP&M and IJHCS. As a teacher, my primary focus is on Student Experience. In my role as Director of Student Experience for the School of Computer Science, I care about the onboarding of new students, and events and communities that inspire people to go beyond studying and begin to develop careers in Computer Science. As part of this aspect of my work, I have led the UK & Ireland Programming Contest since 2013, as part of the International Collegiate Programming Contests, which enables hundreds of undergraduate students to compete each year and earn spots at the subsequent European conferences.