معرفی
Dr. Damiano Spina is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He serves as an Associate Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S), the RMIT Research Lead at the Australian Internet Observatory (AIO), and a member of the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE). In June 2025, he began a 3-year appointment as an ACM Distinguished Speaker, recognizing his significant contributions to the computing field.
Dr. Spina received his PhD in Computer Science from UNED (Spain) in 2014. His academic journey has established him as a leading researcher in information access systems and human-computer interaction. His educational background reflects a strong foundation in computer science with a focus on information retrieval systems.
Dr. Spina's research focuses on Information Retrieval (IR), Text Analytics, and Human-AI interaction, with particular emphasis on interactive IR (including conversational assistants) and the evaluation of information access systems. His work bridges theoretical research with practical applications, addressing critical issues such as fairness-aware evaluation, bias detection, and the impact of generative AI on information access. He has developed innovative methodologies that incorporate physiological and cognitive data to better understand user interactions with information systems. His approach often integrates perspectives from cognitive science, behavioral analysis, and ethical considerations to create more effective and equitable information access solutions.
His recent publications demonstrate a clear trajectory toward increasingly interdisciplinary research, combining traditional information retrieval with neurophysiological approaches, ethical frameworks, and societal impact assessments. The articles show growing attention to real-world applications, particularly in addressing misinformation, bias in search systems, and accessibility challenges for diverse user groups. His work increasingly incorporates multimodal data and human-centered evaluation methodologies that go beyond traditional relevance metrics.
- SIGIR 2025 LiveRAG Challenge - First Place
- Walert - Outstanding Achievement in the 2024 EIP-RACE Demonstrator Competition
- Award for Excellence in Reviewing ACM SIGIR 2024
- Best Presentation Award NTCIR-17 (2023)
- Best Poster Award Ubicomp-ISWC 2023
- RMIT Award for Research Impact (Technology) (2021)
- ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) (2020-2023)
- Best Short Paper Award ECIR 2020
- Best Evaluation Paper Award ECIR 2019
- Top Reviewer Award Information Processing & Management (2018)
Dr. Spina has supervised numerous PhD and Master's students across diverse research areas including neurophysiological approaches to information retrieval, trust perception in social media, fairness-aware question answering, and sexism identification in social networks. His research has been supported by significant grants including the ARC DECRA award for 'Fair and Transparent Information Access in Spoken Conversational Assistants' (2020-2023) and ongoing projects through the ADM+S Centre. He has also received the 2021 RMIT Award for Research Impact (Technology) for his work's practical applications.
Dr. Spina is actively involved with the Australian Internet Observatory (AIO), a national research infrastructure initiative developing tools to analyze digital social data across disciplines. He co-leads the EXIST project series on sexism identification in social networks and has contributed to the Cortana Intelligence Institute (2018-2020) which advanced knowledge on digital assistants. His work often bridges academia and practical applications, particularly in the areas of misinformation management, fairness in information access, and human-AI cooperation.
