Sophie Rutter

Dr. Sophie Rutter is a Senior Lecturer in Information Management at the Information School, University of Sheffield. She holds a BA from SOAS (London), MSc and PhD from the University of Sheffield, and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). Her research focuses on health communication, usability testing with EDI principles, and information behavior in workplace and educational settings. She leads projects on hand hygiene in office and mobile work environments and co-design methodologies for public health interventions.

Key research areas include the influence of environmental factors on information use, HCI studies, and inclusive user research. She has conducted co-design studies with children to improve school hygiene facilities and collaborates with organizations like Savortex on IoT-based hand hygiene technologies. Dr. Rutter teaches modules on information retrieval and user-centered design, and coordinates the MSc Information Management program. She actively contributes to professional bodies such as the ASIS&T European Chapter and advises the 123 Germ Free initiative.

Her work bridges academic and applied contexts, emphasizing practical solutions for health messaging, technology adoption challenges, and equitable usability practices. Recent projects explore smart sanitiser systems, EDI in usability testing, and policy recommendations for mobile worker hygiene facilities.