About me

Since 1st August 2021, I am a Senior Lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Digital Health at the School of Computer Science and Informatics at Cardiff University, in Wales (UK). Since February 2023, I am the Lead of the Human-Centred Computing research Unit. I joined Cardiff on the 1st November 2019 and I am part of the Human-Centred Computing Research Group and part of our new Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Human-Machine Systems (IROHMS). Since November 2020, I have been appointed as the IROHMS Cross-Cutting Themes (CCT) Academic Lead in charge of the academic issues related to the sustainable development goals and global challenges.

My research lies at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Design, and Social Sciences with particular interest in the Healthcare (e.g., home, hospital and community health) and Sustainability domains. Through a Design-oriented research approach, I combine user-centered and participatory design methods to further understand people’s everyday practices, different stakeholder’s needs and how people appropriate technology into their everyday life. I have been working in various projects related to healthcare, physical computing, and sustainable HCI. Most of my research is aligned with the turn to practice in HCI, in which the understanding of everyday practices plays a major role in system design. So, if you are a bachelor/master or a potential Ph.D. student looking for a thesis project in HCI/UbiComp/CSCW – healthcare or sustainability domains – send me an email to get in touch and discuss possible projects.

Before moving to Cardiff, I was Lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction at the School of Informatics (former Department of Computer Science) at the University of Leicester from April 2016 to 15th October 2019. During my time at Leicester, I was also a NIHR CLAHRC East Midlands Faculty member. Before moving to Leicester in April 2016, I was a Postdoctoral researcher at the Ubiquitous Computing and Interaction Group – Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University in Aarhus-Denmark. My postdoc supervisor was Prof. Kaj Grønbæk. From August 2014, I was working in the EcoSense Project: “Collective Sensing and Macroscopic Analysis Methods for Reducing Environmental Footprints” + I was also teaching Advanced Physical Computing and Context Awareness Computing for bachelor and master students respectively.

I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science – PervasiveHealthcare – from the Faculty of Science and Technology at Aarhus University in February 2014. My Ph.D. thesis advisor was Prof. Morten Kyng and co-advisor was Erik Grönvall. During my PhD studies, I was Research Assistant in the Use, Design and Innovation Group and the Centre for Pervasive Healthcare. In addition, I received a Bachelor degree in Computer Engineering-majoring in Technological Systems from Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (ESPOL) in Guayaquil – Ecuador, degree in June 2009. My advisor at ESPOL was Prof. Guido Caicedo. Then, I got a scholarship from University of Trento (UNITN) in  Trento – Italy and I was a student of the Second Level Professional Master in Human Language Technology and Interfaces (HLTI), degree in October 2010. My advisor at UNITN was Prof. Laure Vieu and co-advisor was Prof. Alessandro Oltramari.

Since 2006, I was working as developer and research assistant at the Centre for Information Technologies CTI-ESPOL in several projects under supervision of Prof. Xavier Ochoa and Prof. Katherine Chiluiza, until October 2009. In summer 2010, I did an internship as research assistant at LOA-ISTC-CNR (Laboratory for Applied Ontology) under the supervision of Prof. Laure Vieu and Prof. Alessandro Oltramari.
In my spare time, I enjoy dancing, cooking, traveling, playing soccer (or floorball) and spending time with my nieces, friends and pets.
Reviewing and Volunteering experiences