Associate Professor at the School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham. Member of the Mixed Reality Lab and Horizon research institute and CDT.

I primarily research social and collaborative technologies, investigating how people use diverse kinds of interactive devices and systems in real world situations and places. My interests sit across the following:

• Human-computer interaction
• Collaborative computing
• Design research (research on design)
• Ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (EMCA)

Other things about me: I am an elected member of the University of Nottingham Senate (term till 2026) and a member of the university's Council. I have a Medium page that I occasionally update. Don't confuse me with the other Stuart Reeves who is an illustrator. I sometimes put code into github. I also have an ORCiD iD. Some of my recorded talks are available, as is a bit of music.

I have organised a selection of my publications around seven key themes:

Robots and artificial intelligence technologies in action

Although there is considerable hype around the potential of robotics, robots and various kinds of AI technologies, I tend to think that we are better off looking at concrete examples of AI- and robots-in-use to properly evaluate what kind of thing we are dealing with.

Understanding interaction in public settings

A major strand of my work revolves around deployments of interactive technology in public and semi-public places settings such as museums and galleries, crowded urban locations, and artistic or performance events taking place anywhere from city streets to dedicated venues. A key driver for this has been developing understanding the importance of spectatorship within these spaces, but it has also addressed more generally how we design for a variety of forms of technological engagements in public.

Methods, concepts, and practices of technology research

This work is concerned with examining technology research practices themselves. This includes unpacking the concepts we work with in research—such as 'futures' or 'science'—as well as reflections upon the various methods that we use.

The ‘work’ of playing video games

Video games have seen enormous attention from research. Curiously, though, the vast majority of this work tends to avoid any detailed study of the interactional 'work' involved in playing video games. There is still a limited EMCA literature on this topic. My work here also crosses into concerns of play and spectatorship.

Examining practices with technology in other settings

Studies of practices with and around technology in a range of other settings than public or semi-public ones. While more of my research has examined the arts and cultural settings, the papers here focus on technology use in other kinds of environments such as workplaces and the home.

Human computation and crowdsourcing

Empirical and theoretical explorations of the design features of crowdsourcing and, more specifically, human computation systems.

Social media

Social media is a hugely popular area of research for HCI and particularly CSCW. This work looks at the nature of social media practices in various ways (e.g., as methodic practices).

I held an EPSRC Early Career Fellowship. The Fellowship was premised broadly on investigating the links between academic HCI research, and the work of user experience and design (UX&D) professions in industry. As part of this, the Fellowship examined the state of HCI research practices themselves intellectual endeavours. Doing the Fellowship has led to a continued interest in connecting my research (and research I supervise or manage) with practice in some way or other.

I have built a number of web-based resources related to the Fellowship, which are listed here:

• There is a mailing list for discussing the connections between academic HCI research and UX&D professional communities. To join, please email listserv@jiscmail.ac.uk with the message body "SUBSCRIBE UX-RPI Firstname Lastname" and a blank subject line.
• A UX practitioner-oriented account of my research on usability testing in industry.
• Various bits of research dissemination on voice interfaces that have targeted practitioners, including a fairly well-read Medium article, a video recording of my Interaction18 talk, and a description of the path taken in doing this.
• I wrote an article for UXmatters that explains some of the topics the Fellowship is attempting to get at.
• A resource webpage to chart the landscape of UX / IxD links with HCI research.
• Towards the end of 2014 I ran a 5-minute survey that was targeted at gathering some basic information from UX professionals.

Publications, workshops, etc. that relate to the topics of the Fellowship are as follows:

• How UX practitioners produce findings in usability testing (paper in ToCHI, Jan 2019)
• A survey of the trajectories conceptual framework: Investigating theory use in HCI (paper in CHI 2017)
• I was involved in the UCL Symposium on Grand Challenges in HCI (September 2016; talking on notions of 'science' and 'disciplinarity' in HCI research communities)
• HCI-UX Symposium Report (proceedings of a meeting held at Mixed Reality Lab in November 2015 about the topic of my Fellowship)
• Locating the 'Big Hole' in HCI research (Interactions article)
• Human-computer interaction as science (paper at Critical Alternatives 2015, a recording of my talk is also online)
• Knowledge production in interaction design (CHI 2015 workshop)
• What to study in HCI? (CHI 2015 workshop)
• Is replication important for HCI? (CHI 2013 workshop paper)

• PI on Responsible AI UK funded International Partnerships Project "Understanding Robot Autonomy in Public" £43,369, 1st March 2024.
• PI on Royal Society Kan Tong Po International Fellowship 2021 "Technologies of recognition: Understanding human-AI interaction 'in the wild'" (KTP\R1\211015), £3,000, 16th November 2021.
• Co-I on EPSRC "Horizon: Trusted Data-Driven Products" (EP/T022493/1). £4,075,506, 8th December 2020, 5 years duration.
• Co-I on EPSRC "From Human Data to Personal Experience" (EP/M02315X/1). £4,062,954, 1st October 2015, 5 years duration.
• PI on EPSRC Early Career Fellowship "From theory to practice: putting HCI frameworks to work" (EP/K025848/1). £458,736 (80% FEC), 1st October 2013, 5 years duration. Industry partners: Microsoft Research Cambridge, Palo Alto Research Center.
• Research partner on "RIOT 1831 @ Nottingham Castle", Oct 2013-Oct 2014. Funded by Digital R&D Fund for the Arts (Nesta), AHRC, and National Lottery via Arts Council England. £125,000, Oct 2013, 12 months duration.
• Co-I on "Projection Augmented Relief Models for historical understandings in museum settings: The 1831 Nottingham Reform Bill Riots". Creative Economy Knowledge Exchange Project (Archives, Assets and Audiences: new modes to engage audiences with archival content and heritage sites), AHRC funded. £14,026, 1st May 2013, 6 months duration.
• Co-I on "Understanding the Multi-Screen Household" project. £86,286 total Horizon Hub funding, 1st Oct 2012, 12 months duration. PI Elizabeth Evans (University of Nottingham), industry partners: BT Research, BT TV Strategy, Red Bee Media, BBC, OFCOM.

• 1^st year undergraduate tutor COMP1002
• 2^nd year undergradute software engineering group project supervision
• BSc & MSci undergraduate project supervision
• MSc project supervision
• Co-convener for Designing Sensor-based Systems module COMP4104 (with Joe Marshall)
• Co-convener for Databases, Interfaces, and Software Design Principles module COMP4039 (with Nazia Hameed and (sometimes) Jeremie Clos)