Judith Good’s research focuses on how best to enable and empower people through the design of innovative and inclusive digital technologies. Her approach is user-centred and participatory, aiming to work with the users of the technologies being designed from the very start. Her specific areas of interest are in learning (including game-based learning, and game creation for learning), and in developing technologies which can enhance the lives of disabled people (including autistic individuals). Such technologies can take multiple forms, including virtual and augmented reality as well as mobile, tangible and sensor-based applications. 

As an UvA professor in this new chair, Good will focus on developing impactful technologies which start from a true understanding of users and their needs, and make use of the latest advances in Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things, etc., but which aim to be deployable in real settings because of their ease of use and low cost. As such, the chair will play a bridging role between the four research themes of the Informatics Institute: Artificial Intelligence, Computational Science, Data Science, and Systems and Networking. 

In addition to carrying out research, Good will teach in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes in Information Studies, Computer Science and AI, develop courses in human computer interaction, and supervise students in their research.

About Judith Good  

Since 2005, Good has worked at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, and was professor of Interaction Design and Inclusion there since 2017. She previously worked as an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico in the United States and was a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh. 

Good has been involved in several software and game development projects, including the African Farmer Game, an educational simulation that allows future policy makers to experience first-hand the complex decisions and uncertainties faced by small-scale farmers living in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has also published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals and conferences, including the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, the ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference, the Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, and the International Journal of Human Computer Studies.