Our research team, based at City, University of London, is a multi-disciplinary collaboration of journalists and human-computer interaction specialists.
Dr Colin Porlezza
Colin is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Journalism at City. His research focuses on data journalism, media accountability and transparency, as well as accuracy in digital journalism. His research so far has resulted in more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, including 15 journal articles and 15 book chapters, and two books with top publishers. He has given several invited talks at conferences and workshops, including keynotes on the future of journalism at the Swiss Federal Media Commission, at the Forum Alpbach Talks at Schloss Belvedere in Vienna, and the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce. He is a former Co-Chair of the journalism section and current Board member of the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research SACM and a founding member of the European Journalism Observatory. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Austrian National Study of Journalists as well as the international Network Innovamedia. He has featured on the the Swiss Public Service Broadcaster SRG SSR, Poynter, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Tages-Anzeiger and Corriere del Ticino. He is the PI of the project.
Dr Glenda Cooper
Glenda has been a journalist at national level for more than two decades, working as a staffer at the Independent, Daily Mail, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and Evening Standard. She was a health reporter for the BBC News Channel and a correspondent for BBC Radio 4’s World at One and PM programmes. A former columnist for the Sunday Telegraph, she still freelances. During her journalist career she reported on such stories as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and spent a month in New York in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks reporting for the Washington Post. She was the 2001 Laurence Stern Fellow at the Post and also the 2006-7 Guardian Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. In 2016 she defended her PhD thesis ‘From our own correspondents? How user-generated content has altered the power dynamics in reporting humanitarian disasters’.
Prof George Brock
Prof George Brock is a world-renowned expert on journalism and advises news media companies on strategy. His research interests include the ‘Right to be Forgotten’. He is a project partner in Inject, which received €1m Horizon2020 funding.
Dr Stephann Makri
Stephann is Senior Lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction and a member of the Centre for HCI Design at City. His research focuses on understanding how people interact with digital information and informing the design of digital information environments. He has published 15 journal articles and co-edited the book Accidental Information Discovery. His has featured on the BBC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Times. He will lead UX development. Stephann was Principal Investigator of an ESPRC/Innovate UK funded project, in collaboration with Cubic Transportation Systems, that involved creating a digital tool for information-seeking and discovery for transport passengers.
Dr Andrew MacFarlane
Andy is a Reader in Information Retrieval, a member of the Centre for HCI Design and the BCS Information Retrieval Specialist Group. His research involves designing and evaluating information retrieval systems to support search in creative domains including journalism. He led an EPSRC/TSB-funded project (PhotoBrief) on image-based search for journalists. He will lead development of the software tool.
Dr Sondess Missaoui
Sondess is a research fellow in Information Retrieval in the DMINR project and a member of the Centre for HCI Design at City. Her research focuses on machine learning, information retrieval, and information filtering systems. She is interested in designing and evaluating personalised and context-aware search systems that enable to improve the user experience while maintaining the retrieval accuracy.
Dr Marisela Gutierrez Lopez
Marisela is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for HCI Design at City, University of London. She is currently focused on organising field studies and design engagements with journalists. She has previously worked on two large European research projects projects (FP7 and H2020), applying a variety of design methods and tools to design interfaces and experiences for creatives and radio makers.
Tomo Komatsu
Tomo is pursuing the Masters of Science in Human-Computer Interaction Design at City, University of London. Her research interest lies in understanding people’s beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviours pertaining to emerging technology. Tomo joins as a user researcher, investigating professional values held by journalists to inform the design of journalist-facing AI technologies.