Dr. Neil Crawford is a Lecturer in International Politics & Public Policy at the University of Stirling, Scotland. His research focuses on climate/environmental justice, forced migration, urbanism, gender/sexuality, international organizations, and East African politics. He holds a fellowship from the Higher Education Academy and contributes to the Centre for Policy, Conflict and Co-operation Research (CPCCR). Neil’s work emphasizes qualitative methods such as art-based and ethnographic research. His recent publications (2023–2025) explore themes like UNHCR policy dynamics in Nairobi, intersectionality in climate justice, and disaster displacement in Bangladesh. Earlier work includes analyses of urban refugee camps and Scotland’s climate emergency responses. Awards: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Labs/Groups: Centre for Policy, Conflict and Co-operation Research (CPCCR) His research bridges theoretical and applied perspectives, advocating for decolonial methodologies and equity-focused climate policies. Current projects include visualising urban climate crises and improving data on climate-induced mobility in Zambia.
Peter Ross is a Researcher at the Edinburgh Napier University , affiliated with the School of Computing Engineering and the Built Environment and the Centre for Algorithms, Visualisation and Evolving Systems . He collaborates with academics like Emma Hart, Alistair Lawson, and Andrew Webb on projects involving evolutionary swarm robotics , artificial immune systems , and optimisation algorithms . His research focuses on applying bio-inspired computing to robotics, including work on perceptual aliasing , adaptive scheduling , and swarm intelligence . He has supervised postgraduate research, notably serving as Director of Studies for Dr Neil Urquhart’s thesis on evolutionary machine learning in metamorphic malware analysis (1999-2003). His publications span 1998-2003 and explore intersections between immunology , sparse distributed memory , and robotic systems . Recent projects like VanFill Innovation Voucher (2025) indicate ongoing involvement in AI-driven solutions and human-robot interaction research.
Dr Hilde Bennett-Heim is a Lecturer in the School of Design at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), within the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice. She holds a PhD from QUT and brings extensive industry experience in fashion design, visualisation, and entrepreneurship. Her educational background includes a PhD from Queensland University of Technology. Hilde's research focuses on the intersection of small-scale fashion entrepreneurship, sustainability, and fashion technology. Her work explores how independent designers navigate urban fashion ecosystems, the rise of artisanal fashion, and the role of media in shaping public perception. She applies expertise in illustration, styling, and digital design to both teaching and research. A key interest is the application of blockchain for transparent fashion supply chains, as seen in her project Fashion Spin . Her recent publications analyze the challenges and opportunities for independent fashion designers in urban contexts, the cultural significance of artisanal fashion, and the often contradictory media portrayals of local designers. These works reflect a strong interdisciplinary approach, bridging design, sociology, and business. Award winning designer Hilde is actively engaged in research and supervision. She has served as Chief Investigator on projects related to fashion innovation and sustainability. Her industry affiliations include membership in the Australian Fashion Council and participation in the Industry and Skills Building Australia (IBSA) Industry Reference Committee, linking her academic work with national policy and workforce development. She is involved in initiatives that connect academic research with real-world fashion industry challenges, particularly in sustainability and ethical production. Her work bridges creative practice, academic scholarship, and industry engagement.
Dr. Agnes Haryanto is a Research Fellow in the Embodied Visualisation Group at Monash University's Faculty of IT. Her work focuses on improving healthcare quality through live-streaming clinical analytics and dashboards for accreditation. She holds a PhD from Monash University (2015) in Spatial and Graph Databases. Education: Doctor of Philosophy, Monash University Research interests span Big Data Management, Geospatial Databases, and Health Informatics. Her current projects include a digital health intervention for Emergency Department clinicians (2023–2026), funded by Australia's Department of Health and Aged Care. She has contributed to advancing spatial query optimization and clinical data warehouse systems. Collaborations involve interdisciplinary teams addressing SDGs like quality education and health equity. Teaching commitments include units like FIT3003 (Business Intelligence) and FIT5137 (Advanced Database Technology). Key projects include developing real-time clinical analytics systems to bridge gaps in healthcare data utilization. Her work aligns with UN SDG 3 (Good Health) and SDG 4 (Quality Education).
Catia Trubiani is a faculty member at the Gran Sasso Science Institute in L'Aquila, Italy, specializing in software performance engineering, architectural analysis, and cyber-physical systems. Her work bridges theoretical modeling with practical applications, focusing on performance antipatterns, uncertainty quantification, and DevOps practices. In research , she explores performance modeling of microservices, federated learning systems, and cyber-physical systems, with a strong emphasis on architectural decision-making under uncertainty. Her recent articles analyze performance regression testing, aging detection in networks, and anti-pattern correlation in distributed systems, reflecting her interest in robust, scalable software solutions. She collaborates extensively with researchers like Raffaela Mirandola , Alberto Avritzer , and Riccardo Pinciroli , contributing to tools and frameworks such as PLUS (Performance Learning for Uncertainty of Software) and VisArch (Visualisation of Performance-Based Architectural Refactorings). Her work has been published in journals including IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering and Future Generation Computer Systems , as well as conferences like ICSE, ECSA, and ICPE.
Dr. Mateusz Jakub Fafinski is a Research Fellow at the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt. His work bridges historical analysis, digital humanities, and narratological frameworks to explore post-Roman urban transformations shaped by religious institutions. Research Focus : Urban adaptation (6th-11th centuries), monastic influence on cityscapes, church organization's role in creating para-urban landscapes, and digital methodologies for historical analysis. Publications : Authored/co-authored critical works on monasticism's urban impact, digital reproduction in historical scholarship, and spatial uncertainty in medieval texts. His 2021 book Roman Infrastructure in Early Medieval Britain remains a key reference. Digital Humanities Leadership : Pioneered fuzzy ontologies for mapping geographical uncertainty in historical manuscripts (2020) and contributed to computational methodologies in the INFORMATIK 2020 workshop. Current projects include Adapted Landscapes , redefining urban decline narratives through the lens of institutionalised religious life. His interdisciplinary approach integrates textuality, social interaction, and material culture to trace the foundations of High Medieval urban expansion.
Katrien Verbert is a Professor at KU Leuven in the Department of Computer Science within the Faculty of Engineering Sciences. She leads the AUGMENT research group, an imec research group focused on Human-Centered AI. Her work spans multiple institutes including DigiSoc – KU Leuven Institute for Digital Society and Leuven.AI - KU Leuven Institute for Artificial Intelligence. She also serves as Program Director of the POC Digital Humanities for the Faculty of Engineering. Her research focuses on creating AI systems that amplify and augment human abilities while preserving human control. This work aims to make AI systems more productive, enjoyable, and fair through visualisation and interaction techniques across various hardware platforms. Verbert investigates how to enable end-users to understand AI model rationale and steer models with input and feedback to increase appropriate trust, acceptance, and accuracy while empowering users as active participants in data-driven solutions. Verbert's research spans applications in learning analytics, precision agriculture, healthcare, media consumption, digital humanities, food & nutrition, fintech, and human resources. Her work emphasizes interactive explanation methods that improve model understanding while enhancing users' ability to steer and refine AI models through domain knowledge. She leads multiple major research projects through 2029 focusing on human-centered explainable AI across diverse application domains. Human-centered Explainable AI Interactive Model Steering Healthcare Applications of AI Educational Technology and Learning Analytics Digital Humanities and AI Collaboration Motivational Design Techniques Verbert has presented her work at prestigious conferences including CHI, Aachen AI Week, and EXPLAIN'AI events. She actively supervises PhD candidates and master's students, with several supervised theses receiving recognition. Her research group continues to advance the field of human-AI interaction through numerous publications and real-world applications.
Professor Kate Seear is a leading Australian legal scholar at Deakin Law School, holding an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. A practising solicitor with expertise in family and sexual violence law, she serves as Deputy Chair of Victoria’s Inquiry into Women’s Pain and co-editor of Contemporary Drug Problems . Her multidisciplinary work spans law, sociology, feminist theory, STS and posthumanism, focusing on drug policy, health, gender, stigma and multispecies justice. Education: PhD, Monash University LLB (Hons), Monash University BA (Hons), Monash University Admitted as Barrister & Solicitor, Supreme Court of Victoria & High Court of Australia (2003–present) Research Interests: Seear’s research interrogates how law governs alcohol and other drugs, health, gender and the body. She examines harm-reduction legal frameworks, drug-related stigma, overdose, hepatitis C, family violence, feminist lawmaking, legal ethics and emerging “post-human rights” approaches to drug policy. Her theoretical toolkit includes Science & Technology Studies, feminist, posthuman and new materialist thought. Publication Trends: Recent articles (2024-25) cluster around three themes: (1) gendered and posthuman critiques of drug policy (Colombian peace process, parliamentary scrutiny, “more-than-human rights”); (2) stigma and healthcare structures (EHR systems, space-time stigma, hepatitis-C complaint mechanisms); and (3) legal ontologies of drug use (narco-necropolitics, “dope-sick ontology”, rights assemblages). Outputs traverse law, sociology, health policy, criminology and feminist theory journals. Scientific Awards & Recognition: 2020 UK Socio-Legal Studies Association Theory & History Book Prize Monash Dean’s Award for Research Impact (2016, 2018, 2019) Monash Vice-Chancellor’s Research Impact Award (2019) Monash Faculty of Law Early Career Researcher of the Year (2015) Grants & Funding: Seear has secured over AUD 7.5 million in competitive funding. Highlights include a 2026-31 ARC Mid-Career Industry Fellowship (AUD 1.18 M) on a “Reform Collaboratory” for drug harms; an ARC Future Fellowship (2021-24, AUD 1.03 M) developing a world-first “post-human rights” drug-policy framework; and ARC Discovery projects on hepatitis-C discrimination and performance-enhancing drug injecting. Supervision & Teaching: She welcomes HDR candidates in socio-legal studies, drug law & gender, stigma, feminist legal theory, legal ethics and multispecies justice. She has supervised nine doctoral/masters projects to completion and currently co-supervises studies on GHB use in pregnancy and young women’s prescription stimulant use. She teaches units MLL427 and MLP720 at Deakin.
Dr. Shawn Day serves as Head of Department and Lecturer in Digital Humanities at the Department of Geography, University College Cork (UCC), Ireland. He holds a PhD in Cultural Geography from UCC and an MA in History from the University of Guelph. His interdisciplinary research spans Cultural Geography of Irish Craft Beer, 19th Century Economic History, Spatial Humanities, and the History of Health and Medicine. He has pioneered digital humanities projects like the Digital Humanities Observatory (DHO) and contributed to global initiatives such as the Dariah Project and NeDiMAH. Education: PhD Cultural Geography, UCC (2024) MA History, University of Guelph (2004) BA Management Economics, University of Guelph (1988) Research focuses on spatial humanities methodologies (GIS, statistical modeling) applied to Victorian public mental hospitals and Canadian economic history. He has co-authored key works on DH infrastructure and led projects like the 1871/1891 Canadian census databases. His work bridges academic scholarship with entrepreneurial ventures, including founding software companies in Canada. Professional roles include Director of the European Health Futures Forum and Open Knowledge Foundation Ireland, and Coordinator of the Canadian Network for Economic History. He actively collaborates with institutions like Trinity College Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy.
Sarah Goodwin is an academic affiliated with City, University of London, focusing on visualization techniques, geodemographics, and energy consumption analysis. Her work bridges computer science and geographic information systems (GIS), emphasizing user-centered design and collaborative methodologies. She holds a PhD in Visualisation for Household Energy Analysis from City University London (2015). Her research explores multivariate data visualization, particularly in energy-based geodemographic classifications and the impact of scale and geography on data interpretation. Notable contributions include frameworks for creative visualization workshops and topology-preserving map deformations for dissimilarity data. She has received the VAST 2012 Mini Challenge Award for Efficient Use of Visualization. Publications span journals like IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, and she has presented at conferences such as IEEE VAST and GIS Research UK. Her work addresses energy consumption patterns, network health monitoring, and spatial data analysis. Current research emphasizes innovative visual methods for complex data exploration across scales and geographic contexts.
Xiliu Yang is a Research Associate at the Institute of Computational Design and Construction (ICD) , University of Stuttgart. Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, University of Hong Kong Master of Science (Distinction), ITECH programme, University of Stuttgart Her research explores the intersection of human–robot collaboration (HRC) , augmented reality (AR) systems , and timber prefabrication . She investigates how AR interfaces can enhance multi-user workflows with industrial robots, focusing on safety protocols, task allocation, and user agency in automated environments. Recent publications highlight her work on large-scale multi-human-robot systems , error-handling in AR-assisted construction , and asymmetric AR instruction methods . Her studies often involve industry partnerships and real-world fabrication demonstrators, such as the livMatS biomimetic shell and Spatial Lacing composite systems. Scientific Awards: IntCDC Thesis Grant Research Residency at Autodesk Technology Centre She previously co-founded 3DNA , a startup developing cloud-based platforms for eyewear manufacturing, and contributed to distributed robotic platforms for fibrous material fabrication.
Michael Alexander Riegler is a full-time Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University's Faculty of Social Sciences, specifically in the Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy. While his formal academic affiliation focuses on social sciences, his research interests span interdisciplinary domains including computer technology, information and communication systems, medical technology, and mathematics/natural sciences. Current research projects: Strengthening solidarity for democratic unity across border (SOLIDEM) addressing trust erosion in European welfare states, and Artificial intelligence in assisted reproduction technology improving embryo/sperm selection Recent publications (2025) focus on AI applications in healthcare (wearable sensors, ECG reconstruction), anomaly detection in time-series data, multimodal healthcare data analysis, and psychiatric motor activity datasets
Professor Jon Kerridge is a distinguished academic at the School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University, where he has made significant contributions to parallel programming, software systems, and database applications. With a career spanning several decades, he has published extensively in the field of computer science and has supervised numerous PhD students. BSc, MSc, PhD Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS) Chartered IT Professional (CITP) Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) Chartered Engineer (CEng) Professor Kerridge's research primarily focuses on parallel programming models, particularly through his work on the Groovy Parallel Patterns Library and Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP). His research spans multiple domains including software engineering, database systems, and interdisciplinary work in neuroscience related to dyslexia. He has also made significant contributions to pedestrian movement modeling and evolutionary algorithms. His publications demonstrate a consistent focus on practical software engineering solutions for parallel and distributed systems. The research trajectory shows progression from foundational work in computer architecture education in the 1980s through database systems in the 1990s-2000s to modern parallel programming frameworks. His interdisciplinary work connecting computer science with visual processing in dyslexia represents an innovative application of computational approaches to neuroscience problems. Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS) Chartered IT Professional (CITP) Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) Chartered Engineer (CEng) Professor Kerridge has supervised several PhD students to completion, including Kevin Chalmers (Investigating communicating sequential processes for Java to support ubiquitous computing) and Robert Kukla (A software framework for the microscopic modelling of pedestrian movement). His research has been supported by Edinburgh Napier University funding, with applications ranging from healthcare systems to pedestrian flow optimization. He is a key member of the Centre for Algorithms, Visualisation and Evolving Systems at Edinburgh Napier University, where his work continues to influence both theoretical and applied aspects of computing.
Dr. Timothy Cribbin is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science within the College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences at Brunel University London. He has been with the university since 2001, initially joining as a lecturer and advancing to his current position. His academic home is firmly rooted in the intersection of information science, human-computer interaction, and data analytics. His educational background includes: PGCert Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Brunel University (2007) PhD Information Science, Brunel University (2005) for research exploring spatial-semantic interfaces for exploratory document search MSc Industrial Psychology, University of Hull (1996), where he was awarded the Tom Hoyes Memorial Prize BSc (Hons) Psychology, University of Portsmouth (1994) Dr. Cribbin's research focuses on information visualization, interactive search interfaces, and text analytics, with particular expertise in processing and modeling large text collections to uncover meaningful insights. His work spans the design and evaluation of algorithms, interaction models, and end-user tools that support search, navigation, exploration, and sense-making within connected information spaces like scholarly publications and social media platforms. Early in his career, he pioneered work on interactive visualization using distance-similarity and spatial-semantic metaphors, making key contributions through the application of geodesic distance and second-order similarity transformations. More recently, his research has centered on citation-enhanced information retrieval and social media analytics, including the development of the Chorus Twitter analytics project. His scholarly output reveals a consistent trajectory from foundational work in information visualization to increasingly applied research in social media analytics and text mining. Throughout his career, Dr. Cribbin has maintained a strong focus on human-centered approaches to information processing, with particular attention to how users interact with and make sense of complex information spaces. His recent work demonstrates growing interest in psychological aspects of information processing, author classification, and the analysis of linguistic patterns in online radicalization. Dr. Cribbin has received notable recognition including: Tom Hoyes Memorial Prize for his MSc in Industrial Psychology Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) He has secured research funding for projects including "Predicting online radicalisation" and "Facilitating social media research in social sciences." Dr. Cribbin serves as a Deputy Senior Tutor (Academic Misconduct) and provides supervisory duties for final year undergraduate and Masters dissertation projects. He regularly acts as a reviewer for conferences and journals in information science, social media analytics, and information visualization. Dr. Cribbin is a key contributor to the User Centred Design research group and is the founder and lead programmer of the Chorus Twitter analytics project. His work bridges theoretical research with practical applications, particularly in the areas of social media analytics and text mining.
Dr Tricia King is Senior Lecturer in Photography at University of the Sunshine Coast, specializing in creative arts health for older adults. She founded the Ageing Well Creative Lab developing interdisciplinary programs bridging creativity, technology, and social engagement. Education PhD, Queensland University of Technology BA Visual Arts (Photography), Griffith University Her research employs participatory visual methodologies like photovoice and collaborative photography to challenge visual ageism and enhance social connection. Current projects investigate how creative technologies (AR, drone photography) foster intergenerational learning and technological empowerment. King's work emphasizes place-based environmental connections and ecological empathy through embodied experiences. As founding member of UniSC Creative Ecologies and Healthy Ageing Research Clusters, she integrates art, psychology, and environmental studies. King convenes the Australian Association of Gerontology's Creativity, Art, and Design Special Interest Group and serves as Associate Editor for Arts & Health journal. Research Projects Picture Yourself: Co-creating authentic images of ageing (Creative Australia funded) Creativity and Movement in Ageing Communities (USC funded) The Beeyali Project - Visualising Acoustic Ecology (Australia Council funded)
