Pourang Irani

Pourang Irani is a Professor and Principal’s Research Chair in Ubiquitous Analytics at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan campus), within the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science’s Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics. Previously, he served at the University of Manitoba for 19 years as a faculty member and Acting Associate Dean of Science. His research focuses on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Wearable Computing, and Information Visualization, with an emphasis on designing interactive systems for 'anytime, anywhere' sensemaking using emerging technologies like mixed reality and smart devices. He leads interdisciplinary projects such as the NSERC CREATE grant on Visual and Automated Disease Analytics, training data scientists in health analytics.

Education: PhD in Computer Science (University of New Brunswick, 2002), supervised by Dr. Colin Ware.

Research Interests:

• Wearable interfaces (smartwatches, smartrings, and AR/VR)
• Data visualization for health and pervasive systems
• Persuasive health technologies and data storytelling
• Mid-air and hands-free interaction techniques
• Embodied interaction through social robots

Recent Work Trends: Articles emphasize innovations in smartwatch interaction (e.g., bezel-to-bezel gestures), tactile visualizations via skin-dragging, and voice assistant-driven health data queries. Projects like Databiting explore transient personal data exploration, while Data Videos focus on narrative-driven health communication.

Grants & Leadership: Principal Investigator of NSERC CREATE Visual and Automated Disease Analytics program. Co-leads UBCO’s Digital Transparency cluster. Active in interdisciplinary teams addressing health informatics and HCI challenges.

Labs & Teams: Leads a lab developing prototypes in wearable computing, spatial analytics, and immersive technologies. Collaborates with researchers in medicine, engineering, and data science to translate HCI innovations into practical solutions.