Shaun Macdonald

Dr. Shaun Macdonald is a Researcher in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) at the University of Glasgow's School of Computing Science, affiliated with the Glasgow Interactive Systems Section. As a Co-Investigator on the AZRAM project, his work focuses on emotionally resonant haptic technologies and socially assistive robotics. He holds a PhD in HCI from Glasgow, supervised by Professors Stephen Brewster and Frank Pollick, exploring vibrotactile comfort objects for social anxiety intervention.

Research interests include haptics, extended reality (XR), cybersecurity in social VR, and privacy-preserving technologies. Recent work addresses safety tools in social VR, deepfake ethics, and thermal attack mitigation. He contributes to grants like the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Award (AZRAM project) and has received awards including the Saltire Scholarship.

His 15 most recent articles span topics like social VR moderation, zoomorphic robot emotion expression, and thermal imaging security. Teaching includes guest lectures on VR and haptics, while supervision involved 5 MSc/MSci projects on topics like accessible interfaces and neurodivergent robot interactions. Active in academic communities, he participates in CHI and ICMI conferences and advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and ethical tech practices.