Faculty of Medical Sciences

Staff Profile

Professor Patrick Olivier

Professor of Human-Computer Interaction

Background

I am Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the School of Computing Science, Newcastle University. I founded and currently lead Open Lab, Newcastle University's centre for cross-disciplinary research in digital technologies (previously called the "Digital Interaction Group" but renamed when we moved out of Culture Lab in May, 2015). My particular research interests include the application of social and ubiquitous computing to education, health and wellbeing, as well as the development of new approaches for interaction (such as novel sensing platforms and interaction techniques) and human-centred design methods. 

I am Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Civics (55 PhD students over 8 years, from 2014-2022). The CDT is supported by a £4.7m award from the EPSRC and seeks to train the next generation of researchers in the design, deployment and evaluation of digital community and local government services. I am also Principal Investigator and Director of a new £10.4m Digital Economy Research Centre in Digital Civics (25 postdoctoral researchers, 2015-2020) supported in part by a £4m award from the EPSRC. In both these initiatives we are working closely with our local government partners: Newcastle City Council, Gateshead Council and Northumberland County Council. 

To get a more detailed idea of my research interests, take a look at my Google Scholar page.

Publications