Meet The Committee

Professor Jeni Paay has a unique academic background that spans architecture, computer science, and HCI. She completed her PhD in "Indexing to Situated Interactions" at the University of Melbourne, which was a cross-disciplinary study bridging the gap between digital interaction and physical architecture. Her research centres on the user experience (UX) of emerging technologies, design methods for HCI, and contextual/urban computing—essentially looking at how to overlay digital interactive layers onto the physical built environment. Professor Paay is a key figure in the "Human-Wine Interaction" research space. She is the initiator and co-author of the wine and HCI workshop series from OZCHI16, OZCHI18, OZCHI19 and OZCHI23.

Paul Dourish is Chancellor’s Professor and the Steckler Endowed Chair of Information and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine, where he directs the Center for Responsible, Ethical, and Accessible Technology. He is also an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne. His work links Human-Computer Interaction and Science and Technology Studies, with an emphasis on the social and cultural embeddings of technology and its narratives. His work is largely ethnographic but he often finds himself a reluctant methodologist.

Dr Esther Wilding is a lecturer, researcher and the Discipline Coordinator for UX Interaction Design in the School of Design and Architecture (SoDA) at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne. She has over 10 years of industry experience as the co-owner of a design studio. Since 2014, Esther has taught in undergraduate and postgraduate levels of higher education at Swinburne and RMIT Universities across a wide variety of design subjects. Esther completed a PhD in communication design, examining the role of maps for indoor wayfinding in hospitals. In 2023 she worked as a Senior Scientist at the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Salzburg.  Her research interests include human-computer interaction, information design, evidence-based design and assistive technologies. 

Professor Simone Taffe is an internationally recognised communication design researcher specialising in co-design methods. With 15 years’ industry experience, Simone brings her user-centred design expertise to her research in participatory and inclusive design methods. Author of CoDesign: People, Participation and Practices (Routledge, 2025) and over 40 peer-reviewed papers, Simone has secured significant external funding, for research projects in health, fire safety, aging, and science communication. Simone is a multi-award-winning educator, with an Australian University Teaching Award. She has won several good design awards for data art projects and currently leads Swinburne’s Future Living Program within the Innovative Planet Research Institute. 

Professor Rachael McDonald is an occupational therapist, health researcher and innovation leader specialising in assistive technology and healthcare innovation. Her research brings together design, engineering, allied health, industry and people with lived experience to co-design technologies, services and systems that improve health, participation and quality of life for people with disability, older adults and other underserved populations. Her work spans inclusive design, rehabilitation engineering, implementation science, health service innovation and research translation. Rachael is Professor of Practice and Director of MedTechVic at Swinburne University of Technology, where she leads multidisciplinary collaborations across universities, health services, government and industry to accelerate the development, evaluation and implementation of innovative medical and assistive technologies. 

Professor Jesper Kjeldskov is Professor of HCI and Deputy Dean (Research) at Monash University’s Faculty of Information Technology. For the last decade, his research has predominantly addressed challenges of sustainability,
including water and electricity consumption in private households, and telepresence technologies for reducing travel. He has also led a large project on sound zone technology in collaboration with Bang & Olufsen. He has more than 200 publications, over 8400 citations, and has attracted over $14 million in funding. Prior to Monash, he was Research Director of Data61's Cyber Physical Systems program, and Head of Department of Computer Science at Aalborg University.