Dr Jo Briggs Reader, User Experience

Dr Jo Briggs

My multidisciplinary research investigates socio-digital aspects of design for interaction and experience. Another vital interest is cocreative methodologies; increasingly necessary in understanding emergent, difficult-to-articulate digital experiences and wider phenomena. Recent work includes using ‘data narratives’ and ‘gamified’ methods that enable research into ‘post-digital’ experiences, meanwhile embedding knowledge exchange into research processes.

I took a MSc (Multimedia Systems TCD –1999/00) to learn how nascent digital tools at that time could be exploited to create interactive, non-linear and collaborative narrative experiences. Following some years teaching interactive media I returned to learning via an early AHRC collaborative doctoral award (Ulster). My thesis investigated the notion of digital cultural literacies in ‘post conflict’ Northern Ireland enabled through collaboration with the Nerve Centre digital hub in L/Derry.

Postdoctoral experience included as researcher on EPSRC Digital Originals, based in Culture Lab, Newcastle and research fellow at Northumbria University. During my fellowship I focussed on grant applications, winning AHRC and ESRC awards as Principal Investigator and contributing to others as Co-investigator. My contributions have enabled more than £3m (fEC) of grants of which around £750,000 has gone to my institution.

I publish across Design and Human Computer Interaction and, given the multidisciplinary nature of my research, the ‘hard’ computer sciences (most recently, Computer Vision), law and the social sciences. The most readily accessible and comprehensive list of my outputs (publications and artefacts) is on ResearchGate (https://www.researchgate.net).

I am a Peer Review College member for AHRC (Strategic reviewer) and ESRC and occasionally sit on award panels. I also work with the Daphne Jackson Trust evaluating applications for awards that support returners to research.

Other external roles include Oxford Internet Institute (visitor/second PhD supervisor) and Queen’s MediaLab Belfast (programme evaluator and External Examiner).