Human-Centric Computing (HCC) is a research area at the intersection of computing, interaction technologies, and human-centered design. It utilizes transdisciplinary approaches to critically research, design, develop, and evaluate both current and emerging technologies (as well as the behaviors, processes, models, practices, and experiences surrounding them) across human, artificial, and non-human actors, while assessing impacts on individuals, society, and ecosystems. The field draws on scholarship and practice from computer science, cognitive science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, media and the arts, design, education, ethics, public policy, and related areas.
Our research interests cover efficient, intelligent algorithms for smart spaces, usably and ad-hoc secure systems, Sentiment-aware systems, as well as understanding human actions and interaction from on-body and environmental sensors.
The Autotelic Interaction Research (AIR) group seeks to understand, model and support self-directed behaviour in AI, in people, and in their interaction.
Aalto Good Life Lab
The CAAI (Civic Agency in AI) project aims to understand citizens’ algorithmic literacy, agency and participation in the design and development of AI services in the Finnish public sector in order to advance more democratic and citizen-centric digital infrastructures.
We study computational models of human behavior and their applications in interactive and intelligent systems. Our models emulate human-like thinking and movements and can be used to produce predictions of human performance, ergonomics, as well as common errors. The primary application areas lie within human-AI interaction and human-computer interaction and include:
Human-robot interaction
Intelligent traffic systems
VR and AR interfaces
Graphical user interfaces
Web navigation and browsing
Information visualizations
We are the Computational Social Science research group in the Computer Science Department at Aalto University. We combine ideas and methods both from computer sciences and the social sciences to solve societally relevant problems. Our primary research interest lies in utilizing digital behavioral data to study our internet mediated lives. Through a blend of diverse data sources and research methods, we examine human behavior on the web and its influence on individual’s opinions, attitudes and behaviors both online and offline.
Our mission is to develop new methodologies and tools to quantify people’s behavior and turn these traces into insights about their mental and physical health and well-being. To this end, we run privacy-aware studies to collect digital traces from individuals and populations. These data may come from personal devices such as smartphones and fitness trackers or online traces such as web browser activity or social media. We develop new computational methods, stemming from different domains, from statistical and machine learning to natural language processing and large language models, depending on the needs of each project and the application domain.
We work on the intersection of information retrieval, artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction. In particular, we focus on all aspects of recommendation, user modelling and personalisation. We are part of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki.
The game research group works on gameplay innovation, understanding player experience, and developing novel game creation tools.
The HCHI group brings together research enthusiasts from various fields such as engineering, design, medicine, nursing and psychology.
Our research group focuses on
- Human-centred design of electronic health (eHealth) services
- Patient experience
- Usability of electronic health record (EHR) systems
- User experiences of health and social care professionals
- Usability in IT system procurement
The mc² –Mobile Cloud Computing group at Aalto University, founded in 2016, conducts experimental systems research on edge computing and services for cognitive manufacturing, autonomous driving and digital healthcare. With members from technically diverse backgrounds, the mc² group is active in multi-disciplinary research and industrial collaboration.
We study how people experience and respond to digital deception and manipulation, and how technology can support informed decision-making and user autonomy.
Semantic Computing Research Group (SeCo) researches machine-processable semantics related to, e.g., the Semantic Web. We are located at the Aalto University, School of Science, Department of Computer Science and HELDIG – Helsinki Centre for Digital Humanities, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Humanities. Our group consists of researchers both from the Aalto University, School of Science, Department of Computer Science and University of Helsinki, Department of Computer Science, and HELDIG.
Our goal is to improve spoken interaction, in applications such as telecommunication and speech interfaces. We develop methods which are efficient and sustainable with respect to resources and provide high sound quality and intuitive interaction while simultaneously retaining the privacy and trust of users. A particular area of interest is environments where multiple people interact with multiple devices, which requires advanced methods for communication, authentication, and processing.
The meeting point of social sciences and computing.
We conduct foundational research in the intersection of law, computer science, and complex systems. Driven by curiosity and inspired by the challenges we observe in the real world, we seek to understand the basic operating principles of legal systems, interpreted as complex information-processing systems. In parallel to developing our fundamental understanding, we systematically explore the design space of digitally native legal institutions, crafted to harness the benefits of complexity and computation while mitigating their risks.
The Technical Psychoacoustics research group works at the intersection of technical developments in virtual acoustics and spatial audio, the perceptual evaluation of these technologies, and their application in hearing science.
Designing AI systems for resourceful interaction and digital wellbeing
We are a research group focusing on usability and accessibility of eHealth services. Our aim is to ensure that all user groups have equal access to eHealth services in a way that meets their needs and enhances health and wellbeing.
The Virtual Acoustics Research Group is concentrating on room acoustics – how it could be measured, simulated, and auralized as well as how humans perceive different rooms, in particular the team is world-know on the research of concert halls.