Some of our past Keynote Speakers

Venkatesh Rajamanickam is a Professor at the IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay. He is a HCI designer, educator and researcher. His Information Design Lab at IIT Bombay utilizes graphic design, interactive computer graphics, data-processing algorithms and emerging technologies to address challenging problems in data, design and art. His research focuses on data-based and visual understanding of a range of issues from public understanding of science, urban living, politics, education, transportation, to generative art. 

A pioneer in the research area of Child Computer Interaction, Janet is an academic within Computer Science where she has taught a range of subjects including HCI, Research methods for CS, User Centred Security, Interaction Design, and Mathematics.

Before joining academia, Janet spent ten years teaching secondary mathematics. Her PhD at UCLan was the first research to consider how handwriting recognition could be used to support children’s writing and this work brought her into the then-new community of academics looking at interactive technology for children. She hosted the first Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC) in Preston in 2003 and then repeated this in 2016, hosting it with the BBC. She founded the Fun and Games conference series at UCLan which later became the ACM CHIPlay conference series and has also hosted the British HCI conference. 

Richard Anderson is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, where he has been on the faculty since 1986, with brief leaves to Indian Institute of Science, Microsoft Research, and PATH. His research has focused on computing for the developing world since 2005, when he became involved with the Digital Study Hall project. In 2009, Richard spent a sabbatical year working with the Digital Health Solutions group at PATH, a global health NGO based in Seattle. This opportunity allowed him to increase his efforts on applying computing technologies to challenges in global health. While working with PATH, he co-founded the Projecting Health project, which used the Community-Led Video Education model to promote healthy practices in rural areas in India. His research interests in ICTD include technologies for behavior change communication, improving tools to support the use of data in strengthening health systems, and digital financial services. In 2020 he received the ACM Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics for contributions bridging the fields of computer science, education, and global health. 

Manohar Swaminathan is a Senior Principal researcher at Microsoft Research India. His current research in accessibility is built around Ludic Design for Accessibility a new methodology which puts play and playfulness central to all technology solutions for accessibility. He is also a founding co-convener of the Center for Accessibility in the Global South at the IIIT-Bangalore. Manohar is an academic-turned technology entrepreneur-turned researcher with a driving passion to build and deploy technology for positive societal impact. He has a PhD in CS from Brown University, was a Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, and has co-founded, managed, advised, and angel-funded several technology startups in India, including PicoPeta Simputers and Strand Life Sciences. 

Prof. Ben Shneiderman, a University Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, has a rich legacy in human-computer interaction. He founded the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and is an esteemed author known for "Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction," a book that remains a cornerstone in HCI courses.

His prolific career includes publications like "The New ABCs of Research: Achieving Breakthrough Collaborations," offering evidence-based research guidelines. Shneiderman's contributions led to his election into the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the reception of six honorary doctorates.

Focused on Human-Centered AI, his work emphasizes designing advanced systems with a balance between human control and automation. His upcoming book, slated for release in 2022 by Oxford University Press, tackles the convergence of ethics and practical AI design, advocating for technologies that elevate human capabilities rather than replacing them.

Shneiderman's research interests encompass Human-Computer Interaction, User Interface Design, Information Visualization, and Social Media. 

Prof. Petrie is Professor Emerita of HCI in the Department of Computer Science, University of York, having over 20 years of internationally-recognized research on technologies for people with disabilities and elderly people, aiming to improve their quality of life and well-being. She has been involved in over 30 British and international projects in these areas and has published widely.

She has received a Royal Television Society Technical Innovation Prize, a Social Impact Award from the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Royal National Institute for Blind People. She is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Her current interests lie in the areas of Inclusive and Usable Security in Computing, Sustainability through Interaction Design, Psychological aspects of the Introduction and Use of New Technologies and Supporting the elderly to live independently in their own homes for longer. 

Prof. Moore has over 40 years’ experience in Speech Technology R&D and, although an engineer by training, much of his research has been based on insights from human speech perception and production. As Head of the UK Government’s Speech Research Unit from 1985 to 1999, he was responsible for the development of the Aurix range of speech technology products and the subsequent formation of 20/20 Speech Ltd. Since 2004 he has been Professor of Spoken Language Processing at the University of Sheffield, and also holds Visiting Chairs at Bristol Robotics Laboratory and University College London Psychology & Language Sciences. He was President of the European/International Speech Communication Association from 1997 to 2001, General Chair for INTERSPEECH-2009 and ISCA Distinguished Lecturer during 2014-15. In 2017 he organised the first international workshop on ‘Vocal Interactivity in-and-between Humans, Animals and Robots (VIHAR)’. Prof. Moore is the current Editor-in-Chief of Computer Speech & Language and in 2016 he was awarded the LREC Antonio Zampoli Prize for “Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of Language Resources & Language Technology Evaluation within Human Language Technologies” and in 2020 he was given the International Speech Communication Association Special Service Medal for “service in the establishment, leadership and international growth of ISCA”. 

Prashant Shukla’s career over the last two decades spans successful leadership roles in marketing, sales, product management and software development in US and India.

Currently, Prashant is the Managing Director for Udemy (UFG) business for India and South Asia. Udemy, a San Francisco based company, is one of largest and most popular Online learning system offering 100,000 courses from leading experts in tech courses and soft skills courses to 37 million users worldwide through its online portal at www.udemy.com.

Earlier Prashant has had a long career with Microsoft. During his tenure as National Technology Officer for Microsoft India, he successfully drove the first TV Whitespace implementation to provide an alternative for rural internet, led Microsoft’s first Azure Blockchain implementation with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, drove the framework for the first Indian digital village at Harisal, helped implement UP 100 Emergency Response System, helped implement Azure based video surveillance for UP Elections among others.

Prior to this, Prashant has worked with Microsoft and Novell Inc in USA. Prashant has also worked in senior leadership positions in India that includes leading CMC, A TATA Enterprise, as its Chief Operating Officer and Tech Mahindra as its Senior Vice President. Raised in India, Prashant graduated from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Later he pursued his MBA degree from USA.