John Vines
Faculty
Prof John Vines is Chair of Design Informatics in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, and co-directs the Institute for Design Informatics.
John’s research is in the fields of human-computer interaction (HCI) and design research, and focuses on how people experience and use digital and data-driven technologies in their everyday lives. His projects often take a participatory and research through design approach, involving designing prototypes with people, users and stakeholders and studying the use of new technologies in real world contexts. He has specific expertise on the design of data-driven systems in application areas such as care in later life and health ageing, financial services (especially in relation to financial inclusion, vulnerable populations and “alternative” currencies), and civic and “public interest” technology. He has a strong interest in exploring the value and reach of participatory approaches to designing digital technologies and how users, citizens, publics may have greater control over the design, adoption and use of new systems in society. Recently he has developed this into a growing interest in how participatory methods might be used to design collaborations between people and AI-based systems, and also how participatory approaches might be embedded within the regulatory and governance processes of AI within organisations and user communities.
As well as co-directing the Institute for Design Informatics, John co-directs the Centre for Investing Innovation and the UKFin+ Network Plus, and has been directly responsible for over £11m of research council (EPSRC, ESRC, AHRC, Innovate UK and Dstl) funding. He has published over 140 papers in the fields of HCI and design, including receiving 2 Best Papers and 7 Honourable Mentions at the ACM CHI conference. He is also the current Programme Director for the MSc and Advanced MSc in Design Informatics.
