As Associate Director and Senior Research Fellow, Dorian applies multidisciplinary expertise in technology research and design to the development and enhancement of CFI’s research projects, centre-wide initiatives, communications, and strategy. She is also Deputy Chair of the CFI Strategy Group and Postdoctoral Affiliate at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Dorian is a designer, design researcher and author who specialises in design for health and wellbeing, design for learning, and digital ethics in practice. She coordinated the launch of the Centre’s Master of Studies in AI Ethics and Society and is on the editorial board of the journal AI & Ethics. She is also a Research Associate at the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London where she works with stakeholders to design technologies for physical and psychological health.
Her books include Positive Computing: Technology for Wellbeing and Human Potential (MIT Press), and Interface Design for Learning: Design Strategies for Learning Experiences (Pearson). With over 20 years’ experience in technology design, she works together with users, engineers, and social scientists to co-create human-centred, context-sensitive and research-driven technologies in ways that respect psychological needs. She has also done work for non-profit and corporate institutions including Movember Foundation, IESO Digital Health, Google, Sony and Phillips.
She received her PhD in Design from the University of Sydney and Bachelor’s from Carnegie Mellon. Her research in human-computer interaction includes development of the METUX model for evaluating the wellbeing impact of technologies within six spheres of human experience. Sitting squarely at the intersection of technology and the humanities, she often fulfils the role of cross-disciplinary bridge, helping colleagues in disparate fields work together through shared language and tools. She also acts as a bridge between research and practice by translating academic discoveries into actionable knowledge for professionals.
A toolkit for designers interested in improving technologies by applying wellbeing psychology to design. The toolkit includes the latest version of the Wellbeing Design Cards The toolkit helps you support key psychological needs through design. The content draws on decades of research in psychology and the toolkit has been tested with over 100 designers and researchers […]
A team funded by Stiftung Mercator and Ammagamma are creating an open access software-based step-by-step toolkit for complying with the EU AI Act. The toolkit is designed for developers of high risk systems (especially small and medium enterprises) and is informed by feminist and pro-justice approaches to the development of safe, just and equitable AI […]
The Responsible AI and Journalism Toolkit is intended for a broad range of stakeholders shaping public perceptions of AI. It aims to empower journalists, PR specialists, and researchers to communicate the risks and benefits of AI more responsibly: to avoid perpetuating problematic AI narratives, to foster inclusivity and diversity in discussions about AI, and to […]
Abstract: While human beings have a right to digital experiences that support, rather than diminish, their psychological wellbeing, technology designers lack research-based practices for ensuring psychological needs are met. To help address this gap, we draw on findings from over 30 years of research in psychology (specifically, self-determination theory) that has identified contextual factors shown to […]
Tools for Wellbeing-Supportive Design: Features, Characteristics, and Prototypes. Multimodal Technologies Interact. 2020, 4(3), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/mti4030040 Abstract: While research on wellbeing within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is an active space, a gap between research and practice persists. To tackle this, we sought to identify the practical needs of designers in taking wellbeing research into practice. We report on 15 […]
Applying intersectional and anthropological perspectives to designing AI for just and sustainable futures.
Growing concern over the impact of digital technologies on psychological wellbeing has prompted the largest technology companies to develop initiatives on ‘digital wellbeing’. However, these initiatives tend to focus on encouraging people to change their technology behaviour rather than on changing technology itself. Yet, it’s unclear why users should bear the burden of adjusting to, or […]
This project, led by the CFI Imperial Spoke, will explore ethical issues to do with the design and devlopment of AI-enhanced conversational agents and how to address these issues as part of the technology development process. The research will survey several development projects currently underway at Imperial that employ Natural Language Processing techniquies to facilitate helpful human-machine conversation. The dialogues are delivered […]
This AI Act Toolkit project is developing a step-by-step pro-justice compliance tool for developers of high-risk AI Complying with the AI Act can be a daunting task for providers of high-risk AI, as it requires extensive documentation, including a risk management system, data governance and declaration of conformity. Our tool will assist anyone who is actively involved […]
