Disability Interactions

Cathy Holloway is a Professor of Interaction Design & Innovation at University College London's Interaction Centre, as well as a co-founder and the Academic Director of the Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub). Cathy co-directs the World Health Organization's (WHO) only Collaborating Centre on Assistive Technology at UCL. She graduated from the National University of Ireland, Galway in Industrial Engineering (design stream) before embarking on a brief career as an R&D Engineer with Medtronic. She left Ireland to pursue her career in assistive technology and disability at University College London (UCL). This began with a Ph.D. that explored the biomechanics of wheelchair propulsion. During her Ph.D., years she hung out in equal measures at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, the Accessibility Research Group, and Science and Technology Studies. During this time, she developed her interest in the intersectionality of technology, disability, and poverty-and ultimately power within societies. Cathy went on to run the UCL Pedestrian Accessibility Movement Environment Laboratory and learned a lot about UCL, academia, port, and life from her mentor and boss Prof Nick Tyler CBE. In 2016, she transferred her academic post from Accessibility Engineering to UCLIC as she began the journey to start the Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub)with her co-founders and friends Victoria Austin and Iain McKinnon. UCLIC is the base from which Cathy has found her vision and purpose, and the GDI Hub journey has allowed Cathy to realize her childhood dream to work in all areas of the globe and with people who are marginalized. She feels grateful and privileged each day for the opportunities she is afforded in her roles at UCL. Cathy's research will continue to try and advance the possible with technology while searching for social justice. Currently, this is achieved though her formal roles with the World Health Organization, in her teaching and research, and by mentoring and leading a wonderful team.Giulia Barbareschi is a Research Fellow in Disability and Assistive Technology Innovation at the Keio School of Media Design in Yokohama and the Global Disability Innovation Hub in London. She received her Ph.D. in 2018 from University College London, a Specialist Diploma in Medical Device Science from the National University of Galway in 2014, and a B.Sc. in Physiotherapy from the University of Genoa in 2008. From 2018 to 2021 she was a research fellow at the UCL Interaction Centre. Her research interest centers on the design, development, and evaluation of new and existing technologies to empower people with disabilities living in different parts of the world. This has included work on exploring the use of mobile phones by people with disabilities, developing and evaluating assistive technologies for mobility such as wheelchairs and lower limbs prosthetics, understanding how orientation and mobility skills support navigation for individuals with visualimpairments, and evaluating the use of accessible technologies for improving access to inclusive education. A recent focus has been on how assistive technology influences self and external perceptions of disability across different cultures. Throughout her career Giulia has collaborated with several academic institutions across the world, start-ups and private ventures, NGOs, DPOs, and UN agencies.