U-RISE – Professor Luigina Ciolfi: Unconventional Intersections — Designing Human-Centred Technology with Care for Humanity as its Core

By Fawzia Kara-Isitt

The guest of this month’s U-RISE is Professor Luigina Ciolfi, who integrates compassion into the equation of creating technology functionality. For Professor Ciolfi, computing has never been about technology in isolation. It has always been about people and their practices, their relationships, their cultures, and the often-invisible ways technological tools shape everyday life. The main driver of her work is this mission to keep technology human-centred and designed for those who use it.

Professor Luigina Ciolfi is one of the world’s most respected voices in human-computer interaction (HCI) and collaborative technologies, a scholar whose work consistently asks not just what technology can do, but for whom, how and in what context. Some of Professor Ciolfi’s successes include the following:

SHU Research Excellence Award (2018)
MUSSI Visiting Research Fellowship (2020), Maynooth University, Ireland, Honorary research fellowship.
ACM Distinguished Speaker (2021–2027)
Associate Editor, CSCW Journal (Springer)
Senior Member of the ACM, ACM CSCW and EUSSET, European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies and the British Psychological Society
Co-Principal Investigator, Lero – the Research Ireland Centre for Software
Over 60 invited presentations and keynote addresses in 15+ countries
Authored over 100 scholarly publications, including two monographs on flexible work, cultural heritage technologies, digital participation, and more
Visiting Scholarship at the University of Copenhagen (SCIENCE Faculty) for 2026 — supported jointly by DIKU (Department of Computer Science) and SNM (Natural History Museum Denmark)

Now on sabbatical leave from University College Cork, Professor Ciolfi finds herself reflecting not only on where her work has taken her, but on where she came from and how she has worked: empathically and collaboratively, with a focus on interdisciplinarity, and a consistent concern for care and responsibility from each angle and every aspect. Her route into HCI was never linear, nor narrowly technical. Instead, it unfolded through projects, partnerships, and questions that sat squarely at the intersections of her research endeavours with research projects from different, varied disciplines.

“What’s always been central for me is making sure that technology remains grounded in human experience and everyday practice.”

Human-Centred at Every Turn right from the First Step

Professor Ciolfi’s journey in computer science did not follow a single, prescribed route. Her path opened gradually, through curiosity, conversation, and collaboration. Early in her career, just purely by luck, she became part of large European research projects that brought together computer scientists, psychologists, designers, social scientists, and industry partners, where ideas were exchanged across boundaries rather than confined by them. Being in those rooms felt instinctively right.

She participated in the first project of this kind as a communication research student, guided by the encouragement of mentors and a measure of good fortune. But it was at that very first research project meeting, surrounded by scholars speaking different disciplinary languages yet grappling with very similar questions, that ignited something lasting. At that moment, she realised she was glimpsing the shape of her future work. She would place people, place, and meaning at the centre of what she did and still does, insisting they remain inseparable from systems and code. By turning a wide-angle lens toward the intersections between disciplines, she moved closer to the heart of what technology should truly mean in real life.

“I realised very early that I wasn’t interested in technology in isolation. I was interested in how it fitted into people’s lives, organisations, and cultures. Technology doesn’t exist in a vacuum — it affects people’s lives, sometimes in profound ways.”

Her ambition was never simply to build more technology, but to make technology work gently and purposefully for those who use it. That meant questioning assumptions, considering multiple perspectives, and approaching problems through many schools of thought, and that commitment naturally led her to interdisciplinarity. Rather than feeling constrained by disciplinary boundaries, Professor Ciolfi found freedom and purpose in crossing them. She describes her route not as a departure from computing, but as its expansion and widening the frame to include the social, the cultural, and the human.

“Being at the intersections — between disciplines, between theory and practice — is where I felt most comfortable and where I think my work has had the most meaning.”

Collaboration as a Practice, not a Buzzword

Long before “human-centred design” was a buzzword, Ciolfi was asking human-first questions. What value does technology add to people’s lives? How does it mediate relationships, routines, and routines of work and play? This philosophy is evident in Professor Ciolfi’s work, much of which is grounded in real-world contexts such as museums, heritage sites, and everyday public spaces. These environments, she explains, are rich with social meaning: as people bring their identities, emotions, and expectations to these settings.

“People bring emotion, memory, identity, and expectations with them. Working in those contexts forces you to think carefully about how technology fits into existing practices.”

At the heart of Professor Ciolfi’s work is a simple but powerful question: how does technology actually live in the world with people? This question has guided some of her most influential and internationally recognised projects.

One such project is meSch, Material EncounterS with digital Cultural Heritage (https://www.mesch-project.eu/), which explored how tangible technologies can enhance experiences in museums and cultural heritage spaces. Rather than asking visitors to adapt to technology, ‘meSch’ co-created ways to design for how visitors experience these environments. The aim was not to overwhelm visitors with screens or devices, but to design subtle, thoughtful digital interactions that support curiosity, memory, and shared experience. In doing so, meSch has become a reference point for how technology can be woven gently into cultural spaces without disrupting their meaning.

Professor Ciolfi is widely recognised for her contributions to Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) — a field that studies how people collaborate, communicate, and work together using technology. CSCW looks beyond individual users to focus on teams, communities, and organisations: how decisions are made, how knowledge is shared, and how technologies can either support or hinder cooperation. Ciolfi’s work highlights that work is never just technical but that it is social, relational, and deeply human. For example, her Nomadic Work/Life project explored how highly skilled professionals work and live in mobile, technology-mediated contexts and the implications for gender, mobility, and work patterns.

She also led CultureLabs, a project funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme that explored how cultural institutions (such as libraries, museums, and theatres) can use digital platforms to support social inclusion and community participation, especially for migrants, refugees, and diverse local communities. CultureLabs did not simply digitise cultural content; it rethought how cultural heritage could foster dialogue and sharing across communities with differing histories and identities. In the same fashion, the Shared Worlds and NomadS projects examined how people interact with technology in public spaces (airports, markets, malls) and how mobile artefacts could adapt to different places and activities.

Across these varied endeavours, a consistent thread emerges: Ciolfi does not simply act on deploying a technology; she asks the essential questions first: What will the technology do to the human experience? How can it amplify agency? How can it be shaped with the people whose lives it touches?

Across all her projects, the same principle holds that technology must be accountable to the people and communities it affects. It is this steady commitment to human-centred values, across international collaborations and decades of research, that has made her work resonate far beyond academia. For Ciolfi, collaboration is not an optional feature layered onto work; it is its fundamental condition. Technology, she argues, does not sit in silos; it is embedded in social practices, organisational cultures, and human relationships.

“People don’t work in isolation, even when technologies are designed as if they do.”

Importantly, her work resists fast-paced competitive technological solutionism. Instead, it insists on care, context, and responsibility and designing systems that acknowledge the richness of human experience and the realities of working, living, and remembering together.

Yet she notes that academic systems still struggle to properly value slower and more collaborative labour. Individual achievement remains the dominant metric, even though many of the most meaningful insights emerge through shared problem-solving.

“Collaboration is often talked about but unfortunately not always practically practised and rewarded.”

Responsibility, Care & Ethical Practice

In recent years, Professor Ciolfi’s work has increasingly focused on responsibility in software and systems design. For her, responsible computing goes far beyond the ethics checklists.

“It’s about embedding care, reflexivity, and accountability into everyday practice.”

In her current work on the “Responsible Software Engineering” project, she is particularly concerned with how responsibility is distributed into socio-technical infrastructures: who makes decisions, who is accountable, who it serves and who bears the consequences when technologies fail. This concern extends inward, to academia itself. Professor Ciolfi questions productivity-driven cultures that prioritise speed and output over depth, sustainability, and wellbeing.

“A slower, more caring approach to research isn’t a weakness; it is essential!”

Claiming her Unique Space & Visibility

Alongside intellectual endeavours, Professor Ciolfi has navigated the lived realities of gendered academic spaces. She recounts moments of invisibility that, while not dramatic in isolation, accumulate over time. She recalled an incident from her very first inaugural lecture. Smiling gently, she said:

“I did get ‘mansplained’ at my inaugural lecture, when a complete stranger came up to me afterwards and explained how ‘he’ would have done my own research instead.”

She explained how such moments sharpen awareness of how gender, age, spoken accent, and presentation intersect. Seniority does not make these assumptions disappear; it simply changes how one responds to them. Professor Ciolfi added a very powerful reminder then, during the interview, when she paused and stated:

“You learn that visibility isn’t guaranteed — you often have to claim it.”

Her experiences have shaped her approach to leadership and mentorship, making her even more empathic and attentive to whose voices are heard and whose are overlooked, and she uses those insights to mentor others with compassion and clarity.

Redefining Success & Supporting Others

As a professor, Professor Ciolfi is acutely aware of the responsibility that comes with seniority. Like the quiet wisdom behind Spider-Man’s famous lesson from his Uncle Ben, she gently reminds those who hold influence that:

“Visibility and power come with obligation.”

Her mentoring philosophy resists singular definitions of success. Instead, she emphasises attentiveness, listening, and recognition of different life circumstances.

For women navigating unconventional paths into computing, Professor Ciolfi offers reassurance grounded in experience.

“Your experiences — even those that feel disconnected from computing — shape how you think and what you bring to the field.”

She goes on to add that those experiences would help approach technological problems with a unique and fresh perspective. Confidence, she argues, does not have to be loud or performative. It can be thoughtful, reflective, and quietly assured. She also stresses how much support networks matter, and no one should feel they have to navigate these paths alone, nor be forced to choose one.

“There isn’t a single model of success, and it’s important not to impose one.”

The Road Ahead

Asked about what comes next, Professor Ciolfi resists the idea of a single destination. Instead, she describes an ongoing commitment to working differently: questioning dominant narratives of innovation, making space for care, and resisting narrow definitions of success. Her commitment to remain true to how she works: thoughtfully, inclusively, and with considerate attentiveness.

“Making space for reflection, care, and integrity is, in itself, an unconventional choice.”

In doing so, she reminds us why unconventional routes matter: they introduce questions, perspectives, and values that enrich the field in ways a straight path never could. In that sense, her route into computing, shaped by collaboration, compassion, human-centred inquiry, and ethical care, continues to rise upwards, not by following the expected path, but by redefining what the path can be – straight from the heart.

Final Advice to the Readers of ACM-W

As our conversation drew to a close, Professor Ciolfi returned to a question she believes women should ask themselves again and again, as they want to find their fit (conventionally or unconventionally) in this technologically advancing world:

“What do I want my story to be?”

For her, this question cuts through the noise, expectations, and comparisons. Careers, she reminds us, are not scripts to be followed but narratives we actively author—shaped by values, curiosity, and care. Rather than moulding oneself to fit technology, disciplines, or institutions, she encourages women to choose paths, no matter how simple, that feel meaningful, coherent, and true to who they are, as they do contribute uniquely.

Asking what one wants one’s story to be is an act of agency. It allows space for change, for interdisciplinarity, for uncertainty and for purpose. It gives permission to design a career that reflects not only what you can do, but what you care about and how you want technology to exist in the world. In Professor Ciolfi’s work, and in her words, the message is clear: the most powerful routes into computing are not the most conventional ones, but the ones written with intention and humanity.

Thank you, Luigina Ciolfi, for making tech so approachable. She can be found here:

LinkedIn: Luigina Ciolfi

Bio: https://luiginaciolfi.net/, https://research.ucc.ie/en/persons/luigina-ciolfi/

Passion: meSch and Responsible Software Engineering and AI

Books: Human-Computer Interactions in Museums and Made To Work: Mobilising Contemporary Worklives

Keep walking your winding route, keep writing your code, and keep inspiring the next generation – may your U-RISE be the next one we share.