Dr Andrea Szymkowiak

Contact info

a.szymkowiak@abertay.ac.uk

+44 (0)1382 30 8596

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Human Computer Interaction and my background is in Psychology and Industrial Engineering. My research focuses on the evaluation of user interfaces using task-based performance measures, eye tracking and psycho-physiological as well as qualitative measures in applied contexts. I am working on a number of industry-facing and applied research projects, and have acquired £0.5M funding.

As part of an Industrial Secondment funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, I was seconded to NCR Financial Solution in Dundee, working with the Consumer Experience Team. I am part of the EU Interreg Consortium Create Converge (€3.2M), exploring convergence in creative technologies, and I supervise 3 postgraduate research students.

I have a substantial track record in the field of usability and interface design for average and non-average users, for example co-developing a novel interactive memory aid system for users with an acquired memory problem. My previous research investigated cognitive processes for tool use (Max-Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich, Germany) and how drivers of different ages process traffic signals and signs in driving simulations (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA).

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Teaching
Research

Cognitive Science, eHealth, Cognitive Ageing, Cognition, Emotion Elicitation & Assessment, Sexuality & Ageing, Personality, Sensation & Perception, Human-Computer Interaction, C, Java, E-Prime programming, Project Management, HCI/Interaction Design

Interests

My research activities are primarily industry-facing and underpinned by close to ~£0.5M of external funding. I am currently involved in projects on virtual agent design, consumer experience in retail, emotional biometrics and traffic psychology, as well as food perception and obesity and visualisation of cell networks. I have also obtained funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering for an Industrial Secondment to be located for a year at a global company investigating self-service solutions, starting September 2012.

My work focuses on the investigation of real-life problems drawing on a combination of psychology, sociology, computing, food science and gaming, and I work with discipline experts from Schools across the University.

I am generally interested in how people as a whole - but also specific groups differing in personality, age, gender etc. - interact with technology, and how we can measure the user experience in this interaction. The assessment of this experience comprises task-based performance measures, psycho-physiological responses and eye movements, assessing cognitive performance, attitudes or personality factors in the areas of human computer interaction, traffic psychology, and in assistive and health technologies, as well as digital media and games.

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More Information

Funding

Total: £448,222

2016 Create Converge, EU Interreg, Co-investigator

2013 Self-service experience research (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2013 SAMOVAR 2 - Smart Algorithms for Media and Object Verification and Recognition (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2012 SAMOVAR 2 - Smart Algorithms for Media and Object Verification and Recognition (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2012 The Mental Model of Self-service Technology (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2012 The application of human-like agents in self-service technology (Royal Academy of Engineering, Industrial Secondment - based at NCR), Principal Investigator

2011 A journey through the consumer experience; Industry-facing project (Industry Partner), MSc by Research Studentship

2011 A journey through the consumer experience – Research project to initiate links with Dalian Maritime University, China (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2010 Smart Algorithms for Media and Object Verification and Recognition - SAMOVAR (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2010 Transferring an interdisciplinary scientific narrative to grow Dundee’s games industry (Matthew Trust), Co-investigator

2010 EVA – Evaluating virtual assistants; PhD Studentship (Industry Partner)

2010 FUSE – the Future of Self-service Entertainment; Industry-facing project (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2010 Valence assessment for food items, Vacation Scholarship (Carnegie Trust), Principal Investigator

2008 A Biometric system for identifying stress signatures from keystroke metrics (Carnegie Trust), Principal Investigator

2006 Improving driving performance in the fog, Student Vacation Scholarship (Wellcome Trust)

2005 Assessing the influence of chromaticity and instructional context on eye-movements and change detection in a video based observation task (British Academy), Co-investigator

Esteem

Guest Editor for Frontiers Journal; Research Topic: Neuroscience perspectives on Security: Technology, Detection, and Decision Making

External Examiner, Psychology, University of St. Andrews – 2008-2012

Reviewer for

Personal & Ubiquitous Computing
British Journal of Psychology
International Journal on Universal Access in the Information Society (UAIS)
BCS - HCI
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Knowledge Exchange

Total: £272,373

2016 Create Converge, EU Interreg, Co-investigator

2013- SAMOVAR 2 - Smart Algorithms for Media and Object Verification and Recognition (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2013- Self-service experience research (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2012- SAMOVAR 2 - Smart Algorithms for Media and Object Verification and Recognition (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2012- The Mental Model of Self-service Technology (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2012- The application of human-like agents in self-service technology, Royal Academy of Engineering, Industrial Secondment (NCR), Principal Investigator

2011- A journey through the consumer experience; Industry-facing project (Industry Partner), MSc by Research Studentship

2011- A journey through the consumer experience – Research project to initiate links with Dalian Maritime University, China (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

2010- Smart Algorithms for Media and Object Verification and Recognition - SAMOVAR (Industry Partner), Principal Investigator

Outreach

Study conducted and displayed at Dundee Science Centre (June-September 2012), Exhibition: Robot - The Fantasy & the Reality; attracted over 30,000 visitors

Space School 2007-2011