Heidi Christensen

Heidi Christensen is a Professor and Head of the School of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield. She holds an academic rank of Professor of Spoken Language Technology and is a member of the Speech and Hearing (SpandH) research group. Her research focuses on speech and language processing in healthcare, particularly in detecting cognitive impairments like dementia through technologies such as CognoSpeak. She has a PhD from Aalborg University (2002) and an M.Sc. (1996). Professional roles include serving as Faculty Director of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (2020–2022).

Research interests include disordered speech recognition, conversational analysis, and paralinguistic trait detection. Notable projects include CognoSpeak for early dementia detection and COMPASS for stroke survivor cognitive assessment. She has secured grants from NIHR, UKRI, and Rosetrees Trust, among others. Her work emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and accessibility, with a focus on AI-driven healthcare solutions.

Publications span over two decades, addressing speech technology for healthcare applications. Key achievements include the Rosetrees Trust Interdisciplinary Prize and contributions to open-source tools like NeuroSpeech. Current initiatives prioritize EDI in speech technology and expanding AI applications for underrepresented groups.