I am a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computing at the Open University, UK, and head of The Pervasive Interaction Lab . My research is primarily concerned with the human aspects of ubiquitous computing, exploring the interactions between people and technologies. A main focus is on the development of novel haptic technologies, i.e. those that make use of the sense of touch, and that give feedback that people can make use of in their activities, almost as if the technology augments their senses.

I get very excited by in-the-wild user studies - these are studies that are about the real usage of the technology in the setting and under the conditions in which people would actually be using it. I have worked with very diverse groups: children as young as six during their violin lessons, community groups exploring their local cemetery as well as blind and sighted audience members in an immersive theatre setting. In these various studies I am not only interested in the actual results - What can we glean from people's experiences? How do people use the technologies to make sense of the world around them? - but am also interested in the research methodology itself. Researchers have to be increasingly inventive to find ways of distilling what really matters from such studies, and it is that challenge that I particularly enjoy.