BIO

Prof Anna L. Cox is a Professor of Human-Computer Interaction and Vice Dean (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences. Her research ambition is to systematically establish the relationships between the design of information and communications technologies (ICTs) and behavioural outcomes, and leverage these relationships in the design of novel interfaces and systems to support people with their work and wellbeing. She has served in senior roles on the programme and organising committees of a number of top-tier HCI conferences, including as technical programme chair for CHI2018 and CHI2019 and general chair of CHI PLAY 2015 and 2016. She is a member of the CHI steering committee. She was Specialist Advisor to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee at the House of Commons for their 2019 inquiry into immersive and addictive technologies. She is a 2021 Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow at University of Melbourne. She co-edited one of the key texts for early career researchers in HCI Research Methods for Human Computer Interaction.

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TALK

Games for Surviving Your PhD

The life of a PhD student seems to be increasingly shaped by metrics that measure how many studies we’ve run, how many chapters and papers we’ve written, how many talks we have given and how many job offers we’ve collected. The pressure that comes from being placed on these leaderboards has contributed to the high rates of mental ill health amongst PhD students. In this talk, Professor Anna Cox will describe how we can use our knowledge of the science and application of games to improve our own lives and those of our colleagues. Drawing on her research on work and wellbeing in the digital age, she will describe how we can use games to build communities, develop trusted teams and enhance our work-life balance.