The SCHI 'sky' Lab Team
The SCHI Lab was created as interdisciplinary research team in spring 2015. Marianna Obrist has established a team consisting of postdoctoral research fellows and PhD students with a broad variety of backgrounds in computer science, psychology, neuroscience and interaction design. The team is completed with a research technician and welcomes visiting fellows who are interested in working on multisensory experiences for interactive technologies.
Marianna Obrist
Head of the Lab
Marianna Obrist is Professor of Multisensory Experiences and head of the SCHI ('sky') Lab. Her research ambition is to establish touch, taste, and smell as interaction modalities in human-computer interaction (HCI). Her research is mainly supported by an ERC starting grant. As part of her research, she developed a novel scent-delivery technology that was exhibited at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2019 and 2020 in Davos. Supported by an ERC proof-of-concept, this technology is now commercialised through OWidgets Ltd, a University start-up she co-founded in 2019. Before joining Sussex, Marianna was a Marie Curie Fellow at Newcastle University. She was selected Young Scientist 2017 and 2018 to attend the WEF in China, and become an inaugural member of the ACM Future of Computing Academy (ACM-FCA) in 2017. More recently, Marianna was appointed as a Visiting Professor at the Burberry Material Futures Research Group at RCA and spent the summer 2019 as a Visiting Professor at the HCI Engineering Group at MIT CSAIL.
Emanuela Maggioni
Research Fellow and RAEng Enterprise Fellow
Emanuela joined the SCHI Lab in February 2016 and is working on multisensory perception. She is passionate about olfaction and the design of olfactory interfaces. She received a PhD in Social, Cognitive, and Clinical Psychology in 2015, a MSc in Organizational Psychology and Consumer Behaviours (“Psychology of Thinking and Decisional Processes”) in 2009, and a bachelor in Psychology of Communication in 2007 at the University of Milano-Bicocca. She was visiting researcher at the University of Oxford and UCL. She is interested in understanding how multisensory interactions/experiences, with particular attention to olfactory stimulations, affect emotions and decision-making process from both theoretical and practical perspectives, using behavioral and physiological based methodologies. Recently, Emanuela was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Enterprise Fellowship 2019-2020.
Patricia Cornelio
Research Fellow
Patricia joined the SCHI Lab in September 2019. She completed a PhD in Informatics with supervision from Prof. Sriram Subramanian at the University of Sussex, a MSc in Electronic Engineering in 2014 and a bachelor in Electronic Engineer in 2010 at the National Institute of Technology of Mexico. Her research is focused on the field of Human-Computer Interaction and the Sense of Agency. She is interested in exploring how the experience of agency can be influenced by HCI paradigms such as touch-less systems, mid-air interfaces and Virtual Reality (VR), and how this experience can be quantitatively measured in novel application scenarios.
Dmitrijs Dmitrenko
Teaching Fellow
Dmitrijs joined the SCHI Lab in October 2015 as a PhD student working on Olfactory Interaction in Automotive Context. He received his MSc in Visual Computing from the University of Rostock, Germany (2010) and BEng in Computer Science from the Riga Technical University, Latvia (2007). In addition to his studies he has participated in courses on 3D Computer Graphics, Interaction Design and Game Development in Spain, Denmark and Greece. He started his professional career with an internship on Augmented Reality at Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology in Germany (2011). Before coming to Sussex he was employed in the German automotive industry with his core duties lying in the field of Software Development for VW and Audi. At the SCHI Lab he is combining his passion in HMI with his automotive experience to develop a novel interaction approach to be applied in modern vehicles. Since September 2018 he is a teaching fellow at the Department of Sussex.
Daniel Hajas
PhD Student
Daniel joined the SCHI lab as a PhD student in October 2017 researching multi-modal communication techniques for fundamental sciences. He obtained a M.Phys in theoretical physics from the University of Sussex earlier in 2017. Daniel has lost his sight in 2011 which alongside his studies in physics sparked his interest in multi-sensory HCI and its potential applications in communicating complex modern scientific principles using mid-air haptic technology to aid visual illustrations. Studying enhanced approaches to more interactive and engaging scientific demonstrations, science education, public engagement and outreach is what he aims to boost for both the sighted and partially sighted public. His masters research focused on studying tactile, auditory, and citizen science approaches to discuss non-visual representations to science phenomena. Whilst completing the masters, with fellow students and senior advice, he founded Grapheel, a Brighton based not for profit start-up organisation to assist inclusive science education for the partially sighted community. When not in the lab or practicing entrepreneurship, Daniel enjoys running on the seafront.
Giada Brianza
PhD Student
Giada Brianza joined the SCHI Lab as an intern in November 2017 and began her PhD with us working on body perception and smell in July 2018. She received her MSc in Clinical, Developmental Psychology and Neuropsychology in 2017 and her BSc in Psychological Science in 2015, both from the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy). During her internship here she developed an interest in how crossmodal correspondences affect the body perception. For her PhD, she is studying how multisensory stimulation (especially the sense of smell) can impact our body perception, exploiting various techniques such as Virtual Reality. Her ambition is to develop therapies and recommendations for body perception diseases.
Lab Associates
Carlos Velasco
Visiting Research Fellow
Carlos was a visiting research fellow at the SCHI Lab from February to April 2015 and rejoined again in April 2017. He has a special research interest in taste/flavour-vision correspondences and their applications to multisensory experience design. He successfully completed his PhD at the Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, at the University of Oxford in spring 2015. See more information on his website.
Chinmay Rajguru
PhD Student
Chinmay started his PhD in February 2019 with both the SCHI lab and AURORA lab. Previously he was working for a year as a Pipeline Engineer and Render Manager at 8i Labs in Los Angeles, USA. In December 2017 he received his MSc in Computer Science from Southern Illinois University, USA. His ambition is to find new ways to give an additional dimension to digital media through Human-Computer Interaction. As a part of both labs, he wants to explore the effect on human perception by changing physical conditions.
Dario Pittera
PhD Student
Dario Pittera joined the SCHI Lab in October 2015 as a PhD student in Emotions and embodiment mediated through mid-air haptics. He received his MSc in Clinical psychology, developmental psychology and neuropsychology in 2014 and his BSc in Communication and psychology in 2011, both from the Università di Milano-Bicocca, Italy. He was a visiting researcher at the University of Birmingham (2014) and he previously worked as a neuropsychologist trainee at the Ospedale Policlinico di Milano (2013). Here at the SCHI lab, he is interested in finding new ways to deliver emotions through mid-air haptics, or tactile feedback and to study the embodiment in combination with mid-air haptic devices in VR and multimedia. Since November 2019 he is a Haptics Research Engineer at Ultraleap.
Damien Ablart
PhD Student
Damien joined SCHI Lab as a PhD student in November 2015, working on the integration of Touch and Taste in interactive media. He obtained his MSc in Human-Computer Interactions and Computer Sciences in September 2015 and his BSc in Computer Sciences in 2012, both from the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III – France). During his MSc, he joined SCHI Lab from March to August 2015 as an intern. During his M.S., he joined the SCHI Lab from March to August 2015 for a research internship. During this time he investigated the use of mid-air haptics for augmenting movie and art experiences. Most notably, he was working on the Tate Sensorium project— the creation of a multisensory art display in Tate Britain. In November 2015, he then started his PhD at the SCHI Lab investigating the integration of touch and taste into media, fostering our understanding around emotions and the senses.
Alumni
Jesse Josua Benjamin
Visiting Research Student
Jesse is a PhD student in Philosophy of Technology at the University of Twente, he joined the SCHI Lab as a visiting doctoral researcher from March 2020 until January 2021. In his doctoral research, he studies the particular and peculiar effects of AI technologies on technological mediation based on empirical-analytical case studies, joining post-phenomenology and process anthropology. At SCHI Lab, Jesse explored how to develop multisensory Research-through-Design artefacts for qualitative studies in order to reflexively revisit and refine his theoretical concepts. Having previously studied Interaction Design, Jesse received his Master of Research in Arts and Cultural Research from the University of Brighton.
Robert Cobden
Software developer and Technician
Rob was a member of the SCHI Lab from February 2017 till March 2020. He received a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Sussex in July 2016 and is passionate about virtual reality technologies and video games. His work in the SCHI team is focused towards the standardisation of olfactory interfaces and their influence on people in the automotive and VR sectors. His favourite number is 11.
Ahmed Younes
Research Intern
Ahmed joined the SCHI Lab as a research intern in October-November 2019. He completed an MSc in Data Science under the supervision of Dr. Julie Weeds at the University of Sussex, a Bachelor in Computer Science in 2016 at Helwan university. His research is focused on the field of Human-Computer Interaction and the language of smell. He is interested in exploring how the language that is used to describe olfactory experience could be used to categorise these experiences and explore potential applications from the language of smell that can orient the community of HCI.
Nicolò Dozio
Erasmus Student
Nicolò joined the SCHI Lab from April 2019 to September 2019 as an Erasmus student after receiving his MSc in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology in 2018 and his BSc in Psychological Science in 2016, both from the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy). He previously worked as a neuropsychologist trainee at the Ospedale Valduce - Villa Beretta Rehabilitation Centre (2018-19). He is interested in new technologies that include multisensory feedback in order to create new rehabilitation methods for neuropsychological disorders.
Minghao Liu (Andrew)
Research Student
Minghao Liu joined the SCHI Lab in September 2018 until February 2019 as a research student working on Olfactory and Gustatory integrations for an Interactive Design Framework in Virtual Reality. He received his MSc in Computing with Digital Media (2017) and BSc in Games and Multimedia Environments (2016) from the University of Sussex. He is passionate about novel interaction technologies and, in the SCHI Lab, he is motivated to explore the meaningful use of smell and taste when interacting with technology.
Chi Thanh Vi
Research Fellow
Chi was a member of the the SCHI Lab from July 2015 to July 2018 as a Research Fellow in Multisensory Experiences. He received his PhD in Computer Science in 2014 and MSc in Advance Computing: Internet Technologies with Security in 2008, both from University of Bristol, UK. He received his BSc in Electronics and Telecommunications at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam in 2006. His research interest falls into the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) multidisciplinary domain, where there is a cross feeding between Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Psychology. More specifically, he is interested in using different brain sensing methods (for example EEG and fMRI) to understand the neural basis of different user states and investigating how it can benefit to HCI users. More information.
Idil Bozkurt
Visiting Artist
Idil joined the SCHI Lab as a visiting artist in October 2017 until January 2018. She was a multimedia artist living in Brighton who also worked as a freelance lens-based media producer. Her artwork takes a critical view of social-gender politics, identity, urban spaces and explores the varying relationships between popular culture and multimedia experiences. She completed her MA in Film Studies at the University of Sussex in 2016
J. Luis Berna Moya
Research Technician
Luis joined the SCHI team as a research technician from October 2015 to September 2017, having received a BSc in electrical/ electronic engineering from Sussex University in July 2015. With a passion for electronics and building embedded devices. Recently he rediscovered electronics by applying them to HCI building test devices in the SCHI team. Luis has an extensive background in the power distribution industry from his native country of Spain as well as auto-mechanical engineering.
Angélique Montuwy
Visiting PhD student
Angélique was visiting the SCHI Lab for the month of July 2017 and is a PhD student in Human Factors at Telecom ParisTech (Paris, France). She is interested in sensory modalities used to provide navigation information to older pedestrians via mobile and/or wearable devices. She has studied Computer Sciences and Digital Culture at University of Rennes and has previous working experiences in designing websites, apps and learning contents.
Elia Gatti
Research Fellow
Elia was a post doctorate fellow in Multisensory Experiences and part of the staff working at the SCHI Lab from September 2015 until April 2017. He received a PhD in Design in 2014, a MSc in Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics in 2015, another MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience in 2010, and a bachelor in psychology in 2008. He was visiting researcher at the University of Oxford, ETH in Zurich, and Oslo Business school. He worked as research intern at Oculus Research, WA. His research at the SCHI lab focuses on applying insights from psychophysics and computational neurosciences to HCI. He is particularly interested in emotion communication through simple sensory stimuli and object perception in virtual reality. He works in collaboration with University of Birmingham, UK, and Oculus research, WA. His favorite color is blue.
Elena Calzolari
Research Assistant
Elena is a visiting fellow at the SCHI Lab from July 2016 to September 2016 investigating the communication and mediation of emotions through different sensory modalities (e.g., vision, audition and touch). She received a PhD in Experimental Psychology, Linguistics and Cognitive Neuroscience in 2016, a MSc in Clinical Psychology, Developmental and Neuropsychology (with specialism in Neuropsychology of adults and elderly people) in 2010, and a bachelor in Psychology 2008. She was a visiting researcher at Birkbeck, University of London. She is interested in neuropsychology (in particular unilateral spatial neglect), spatial and bodily representations and their link with physiological parameters, and touch perception.
Afia Massod
Research Assistant
Afia joined us in July & August 2016 to explore the electrophysiology of awe-filled experiences with relevance to the field of Human Computer Interaction. Prior to joining Sussex, she designed and developed an online Peer Assisted Learning programme (University of Leicester), worked on several research projects in the areas of neuroscience and neuropsychology (University of Birmingham) whilst also mentoring students with Mental Health & Learning Disabilities in Higher education. Afia has a M.Res in Cognitive Neuropsychology & Rehabilitation (2010). Her primary interest is in sensory motor neuroscience and rehabilitation of movement disorders using interactive technology.
Olivia Jezler
Visiting Fellow
Olivia was a visiting fellow at the SCHI Lab from October 2015 to February 2016 investigating the interaction opportunities around smell. She has a professional background in the fragrance industry in New York and Sao Paulo. Her experience spans from working with global fmcg companies such as Johnsons, Beiersdorf, Unilever, Victoria’s Secret, to niche luxury brands as well as in house at Natura in Brazil. Throughout the years she has also worked with perfumer Christophe Laudamiel on projects including scent experiences for the World Economic Forum, Harvard University and Weizmann Institute of Science. Her interest lies in odor delivery and detection applications that impact perception and behavior change. She holds a BA from Parsons School of Design in New York.
Carly Brownbridge
Research Fellow
Carly joined the SCHI Lab in April 2015 for a six-month industry project exploring the future of olfactory interfaces for the automotive context. She holds a degree in Theatre Studies from Bath Spa University. Carly produces research showcase films and design fictions. Examples of her previous films on multi-sensory experience research can be found here.
