Staff Profile

I am interested in the sensing, understanding, and actioning of digital health data to radically transform how people live their lives. My research interests lie in designing, developing, and evaluating secure health informatics and cybernetics platforms and ecosystem elements as a digital health infrastructure—crossing software engineering and pervasive technologies. This includes digital phenotyping, assistive and diagnostic healthcare technologies, and systems for healthcare professionals. I use co-design/creation methods to create solutions applicable to patients, service users, and health professionals. I have an interest in the ethical challenges of healthcare technologies and applying mixed methods to complex problems.

For a full list of publications, please see my ORCiD or Google Scholar profiles.

Roles within the School of Computing

• Deputy Head of School

Previously:

• Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) [2023 – 2026]

Projects

• IDEA-FAST (EU Horizon 2020 #853981) – Work Package Lead on "Digital Devices and Technology".
• NortHFutures (EPSRC) – Northern Health Futures ‘Digital Health Hub’, Translational Research Work Package.
• Generative AI in Computing Education – Integrating Generative AI into programming education.

Interests

My central interest lies in Digital Health; measuring, diagnosing, and supporting people. I have experience working towards identifying Digital Biomarkers of health conditions, co-designing and co-creating technologies, developing digital health platforms, as well as designing technology to support healthcare and medical professionals.

I also have interests in:

• Mixed/Augmented/Virtual Reality (especially in the health domain)
• Collaborative Software Engineering/Development
• Software Engineering Education

PhD supervision

• Daniyah Ahmed – Neonatal Nurse Experiences of Electronic Health Records
• Sami Alghamdi – Design Tools to Support Novice Programming Learners
• Nada Altwala – Conversational Agents to Support People with Dementia
• Chinomnso Ekwedike – Generative AI in Computing Education
• Jake Hobbs – Augmented Reality Surgical Applications for Operating Theatres
• Yiwen Shang – Impacts of Social Media on Mental Wellbeing
• Nick Smith – Reminiscence Therapy for People with Dementia Using Virtual Reality

Past PhD students

• Viana Zhang – Technology-based Interventions and Assistance for Maternal Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Remco Benthem De Grave – Digital Technology to Empower People in Making Healthy and Sustainable Food Purchase Choices

Taught Courses

I primarily teach Software Engineering. I have a particular interest in teaching collaborative Software Engineering, Generative AI-assisted Development, and reflective practice. The courses I am teaching are:

• CSC2031: Security and Programming Paradigms [2026-current]
• CSC3131: Development and Operations of Systems [2021-current]

Past taught courses:

• CSC2033: Software Engineering Team Project [2021-2026]
• CSC8428: Software Design Lifecycle [2023]

Projects (UG/PGT)

I also supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations in the following themes:

• Digital Healthcare
• HCI
• Software Engineering
• Generative AI Systems
• Computing and Software Engineering Education

External Examination Experience

• University of the Arts London - MSc/MA Computing and Creative Industry, at the Creative Computing Institute (2022-26)
• University of the Arts London - MA Internet Equalities, at the Creative Computing Institute (2024-26)

• Articles

  • Graeber J, Warmerdam E, Aufenberg S, Bull C, Davies K, Döhring J, Emmert K, Judd C, Maetzler C, Manyakov N, Reilmann R, Ng W, Macrae V, Maetzler W, Kaduszkiewicz H. Technology Acceptance of 2 mHealth Apps During an Observational Technology Evaluation Study: Qualitative Results of a Mixed Methods Study. JMIR Human Factors 2026, 13, e70873.
  • Kharrufa A, Alghamdi S, Aziz A, Bull C. LLMs Integration in Software Engineering Team Projects: Roles, Impact, and a Pedagogical Design Space for AI Tools in Computing Education. ACM Transactions on Computing Education 2026, 26(2), 20.
  • Maetzler W, Avey S, Pilotto A, van der Woude CJ, Lamb CA, Reilmann R, Ahmaniemi T, Ammour N, Aufenberg S, Avedano L, Basu N, Beniston S, Bonomelli S, de Bot ST, Branco D, Bruce I, Bull CN, Chareh N, Chatterjee M, Chinoy H, Chisholm J, Connolly H, Cormack F, Guedes LC, Cowhig C, De Sousa D, Del Din S, Devillers M, Dias IM, Dodds CB, Doona M, Dvinskis A, Ferreira JJ, Fourlakis K, Funken U, Goulden K, Graeber J, Gordon MG, Graßhoff H, Guerreiro T, Hagen-Hurley T, Hansen C, Harney S, Hart A, Hinchliffe C, Hinz S, Hovsbakken MA, Jackson M, John L, Kaduszkiewicz H, Kalifa J, Kelly N, Kennedy N, Kennedy N, Kortelainen JM, Kuijper LCM, Labrecque S, Laidler Y, Lange T, Lauvsnes MB, Limdi JK, Lirani-Silva E, Macrae V, Maetzler C, Marín M, Masullo D, Nightingale T, Padovani A, Parkes M, Paulides E, Pinaud C, Pios Z, Pitzalis C, Prodan A, Rehman RZU, Riemekasten G, Rizzardi A, Roche MW, Rochester L, Romijnders R, Schreiber S, Schwarzová K, Selinger C, Seppi K, Stockley L, Subramanian S, Sun K, Taptiklis N, Tiongson G, van der Zwaan KF, van Veen EB, Warren L, Wenn D, Witkowski G, Yarnall A, Baribaud F, Van Gassen G, Manyakov NV, Ng WF, IDEA-FAST PC. IDEA-FAST clinical study protocol: Identifying digital end-points of fatigue, sleep quality and daytime sleepiness in N = 2000. DIGITAL HEALTH 2026, 12.
  • Hobbs J, Bull C, Claisse C, Elameer M, Davison R. Role of Augmented Reality in Tertiary Care: Qualitative Investigation Using Thematic Analysis. JMIR XR and Spatial Computing (JMXR) 2025, 2, e68810.
  • Hobbs J, Bull C. Designs and Interactions for Near-Field Augmented Reality: A Scoping Review. Informatics 2025, 12(3), 77.
  • Benthem de Grave R, Bull CN, Souza-Monteiro DM, Margariti E, McMurchy G, Hutchinson JW, Smeddinck JD. Smartphone Apps for Food Purchase Choices: Scoping Review of Designs, Opportunities, and Challenges. JMIR 2024, 26, e45904.
  • Bull C, Kharrufa A. Generative AI Assistants in Software Development Education: A vision for integrating Generative AI into educational practice, not instinctively defending against it. IEEE Software 2024, 41(2), 52-59.
  • Graeber J, Warmerdam E, Aufenberg S, Bull C, Davies K, Dixon J, Emmert K, Judd C, Maetzler C, Reilmann R, Ng W-F, Macrae V, Maetzler W, Kaduszkiewicz H. Technology acceptance of digital devices for home use: Qualitative results of a mixed methods study. Digital Health 2023, 9.
  • Clay I, Peerenboom N, Connors DE, Bourke S, Keogh A, Wac K, Gur-Arie T, Baker J, Bull C, Cereatti A, Cormack C, Eggenspieler D, Foschini L, Ganea R, Groenen PMA, Gusset N, Izmailova E, Kanzler CM, Leyens L, Lyden K, Mueller A, Nam J, Ng WF, Nobbs D, Orfaniotou F, Perumal TM, Piwko W, Ries A, Scotland A, Taptiklis N, Torous J, Vereijken B, Xu S, Baltzer L, Vetter T, Goldhahn J, Hoffmann SC. Reverse Engineering of Digital Measures: Inviting Patients to the Conversation. Digital Biomarkers 2023, 7(1), 28-44.
  • Nobbs D, Piwko W, Bull C, Cormack F, Ahmaniemi T, Holst SC, Chatterjee M, Maetzler W, Avey S, Ng WF, IDEA-FAST C. Regulatory Qualification of a Cross-Disease Digital Measure: Benefits and Challenges from the Perspective of IMI Consortium IDEA-FAST. Digital Biomarkers 2023, 7(1), 132–138.
  • Stringer G, Couth S, Heuvelman H, Bull C, Gledson A, Keane J, Rayson P, Sutcliffe A, Sawyer P, Zeng XJ, Montaldi D, Brown LJE, Leroi I. Assessment of non-directed computer-use behaviours in the home can indicate early cognitive impairment: A proof of principle longitudinal study. Aging & Mental Health 2023, 27(1), 193-202.
  • Meira L, Liu L, Amyot D, Yu E, Alshammari M, Baslyman M, Bjarnason E, Bull C, Duarte CHC, Groen EC, Jantunen S, Kopczynska S, Lessard L, Richardson I, Weber J, Wei Z. Requirements Engineering for Well-Being, Aging, and Health: An Overview for Practitioners. IEEE Software 2021, 38(3), 7-12.
  • Sutcliffe A, Sawyer P, Stringer G, Couth S, Brown LJE, Gledson A, Bull C, Rayson P, Keane J, Zeng X, Leroi I. Known and unknown requirements in healthcare. Requirements Engineering 2020, 25, 1-20.
  • Helal S, Bull C. From Smart Homes to Smart-Ready Homes and Communities. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders 2019, 47(3), 157-163.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Shang Y, Ge Y, Robinson LJ, Wang E, Claisse C, Bull CN, Kirk D. Understanding AI-Mediated Emotional Support in Mobile Social Media Use: A Technology Probe Study. In: International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction (MobileHCI). 2026, Swansea, Wales, UK: ACM. In Press.
  • Haag D, Kumar D, Gruber S, Sareban M, Treff G, Niebauer J, Bull C, Smeddinck JD. The Last JITAI? Exploring Large Language Models for Issuing Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions: Fostering Physical Activity in a Prospective Cardiac Rehabilitation Setting. In: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '25). 2025, Yokohama, Japan: ACM.
  • Alghamdi S, Bull C, Kharrufa A. Thematic Analysis of Self-Regulation Narratives in Textual Posts by Informal Programming Learners on Social Media. In: 2024 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC). 2024, Liverpool, UK: IEEE.
  • Altwala N, Bull C, Kirk D. Exploring the Potential of AI Chatbots for Supporting Individuals with Dementia: Thematic Insights from User-Centered Workshops. In: 12th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (HAI '24). 2024, Swansea, UK: ACM.
  • Alghamdi SS, Bull C, Kharrufa A. Exploring the Support for Self-Regulation in Adult Online Informal Programming Learning: A Scoping Review. In: ITiCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1. 2023, Turku, Finland: ACM.
  • Rainey J, Verweij D, Dodds C, Graeber J, Farhadi F, Ali R, Zhang V, Bull CN, Smeddinck JD. Data Contribution Summaries for Patient Engagement in Multi-Device Health Monitoring Research. In: Adjunct Proceedings of the 2021 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2021 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers (UbiComp-ISWC ’21 Adjunct). 2021, Virtual, USA: ACM.
  • Honary M, Lee J, Bull C, Wang J, Helal S. What Happens in Peer-Support, Stays in Peer-Support: Software Architecture for Peer-Sourcing in Mental Health. In: IEEE 44th Annual Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC). 2020, Madrid, Spain: IEEE.
  • Hutchinson W, Helal S, Bull C. GP Benchmark: Engineering a Crowd-Sourcing Platform for Real-Time Understanding of Personality and Cognitive Biases in Clinical Error. In: IEEE First International Workshop on Requirements Engineering for Well-Being, Aging, and Health (REWBAH). 2020, Zurich, Switzerland: IEEE.
  • Knowles B, Bull C, Davies N, Simm W, Bates O, Hayes N. Examining Interdependencies and Constraints in Co-Creation. In: DIS '19: Proceedings of the 2019 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference. 2019, San Diego, CA, USA: ACM.

• Editorial

  • Smeddinck JD, Hussein R, Bull C, Foley T, van Gils M. Editorial: Supporting sustainable behavior change and empowerment in ubiquitous and learning health systems. Frontiers in Digital Health 2024, 6, 1367567.