dr.ir. C. Zaga | People Pages: Find employees & contact details

Dr. ir. Cristina is an assistant professor of Human-Centred Design group and DesignLab at the University of Twente.

Cristina holds a Ph.D. (cum laude) in Computer Science and a double MSc (cum laude) in Cognitive Science and Human-Media interaction. She carried out her doctoral thesis on "robothings" with Prof. Vanessa Evers (Human-Media Interaction group, University of Twente) and with Prof. Malte Jung (Robots in Groups Lab (Cornell University, USA).

With colleagues at DesignLab of the University of Twente, she co-develops Responsible Futuring, a transdisciplinary approach to tackle societal challenges with academic and non-academic communities. To this end, Cristina merges critical theories, speculative and post-human/more-than-human design, creating methods and tools to make thoughts, ideas, and reflexivity from concrete to tangible through visual scenarios and prototypes and, in so doing, challenging status-quo.

Cristina also leads the Social Justice and AI networks, a Dutch network of academics, students, and activists committed to mitigating and overcoming the dehumanizing and oppressive effects of AI and embodied AI technology and fostering social and environmental justice.

Her award-winning work has received many accolades, including the NWO Science Prince for DEI initiatives (2022), the Dutch High Education Award (2022), and the Google Women Techmaker Award and scholarship (2018). She is regularly invited as a speaker at events (e.g., TEDx), symposia, and international conferences. Cristina regularly publishes papers in top-tier conference venues (CHI conference, HRI conference, DIS, CSCW conference) and is heavily involved in academic service for ACM SIGCHI and Design Research Society.

Organisations

Cristina's research is committed to developing methods, tools, and technology that support societal transitions towards futures of justice, care, and solidarity between communities, nature, and artificial agents. Cristina focuses on developing methodology inspired by design research that can support societal transitions through transdisciplinarity, considered a value-driven, pluralistic approach that promotes emergent embodied social learning between communities to tackle societal challenges and bring out social change. With colleagues at DesignLab of the University of Twente, she co-develops Responsible Futuring, a transdisciplinary approach to tackle societal challenges with academic and non-academic communities. To this end, Cristina merges critical theories, speculative and post-human/more-than-human design, creating methods and tools to make thoughts, ideas, and reflexivity from concrete to tangible through visual scenarios and prototypes and, in so doing, challenging status-quo. Her research's main fields of application are societal challenges related (health)care and technology, the future of work in times of automation and digitalization, health-transitions and technology.

Publications

2024

First International Workshop on Worker-Robot Relationships: Exploring Transdisciplinarity for the Future of Work with RobotsIn HRI '24: Companion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 1367-1369). ACM Press. Zaga, C., Lupetti, M. L., Forster, D., Murray-Rust, D., Prendergast, M. & Abbink, D. A.https://doi.org/10.1145/3610978.3638156

2023

A Responsible Futuring Approach to Create Spaces of Transdisciplinary Co-Speculation (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Matos-Castaño, J., Zaga, C., Visscher, K., Baibarac-Duignan, C., Wildevuur, S. & van der Voort, M.https://jfsdigital.org/a-responsible-futuring-approach-to-create-spaces-of-transdisciplinary-co-speculation/Towards Transdisciplinary and Futuring Tools for DEI and Social Justice in HRIIn DEI HRI Workshop - ACM/IEEE HRI Conference (pp. 1). ACM SigCHI. Zaga, C., Lupetti, M. L., Cila, N., Lee, M., Huisman, G., Fosch Villaronga, E. & Arzberger, A.Do Not Believe the Hype: Critically discussing the role and pedagogical implication of generative AI in Human-Centred and Transdisciplinary Design EducationIn The 7th International Conference for Design Education Researchers (Accepted/In press). Toso, F., Zaga, C., den Haan, R.-J. & Aizenberg, E.https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2023.035

2022

Children’s meaningful participation in AI:: Co-design scenarios with culturally diverse children toward intercultural, children-centric AI. La Fors, K. & Zaga, C.2^ndInternational Workshop on Designerly HRI Knowledge: Reflecting on HRI practices through Annotated Portfolios of Robotic ArtefactsIn 2022 17th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) (pp. 1269-1271). IEEE. Lupetti, M. L., Zaga, C., Cila, N., Luria, M., Hoggenmuller, M. & Jung, M. F.https://doi.org/10.1109/HRI53351.2022.9889569Diversity Equity and Inclusion in Embodied AI: Reflecting on and Re-imagining our Future with Embodied AI . 4TU.Federation. Zaga, C. & Lupetti, M. L.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036553599Motherhood: Monuments for future: artificial wombs and our reproductive futures. University of Twente. Mandemaker, L. & Zaga, C.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036554893Workshop YOUR study design! Participatory critique and refinement of participants' studiesIn 2022 17th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) (pp. 1281-1283). IEEE. Mohan, M., Neerincx, A., Zaga, C. & Fitter, N. T.https://doi.org/10.1109/HRI53351.2022.9889396

2021

Activated: Decentering activism in and with academiaIn CSCW 2021 - Conference Companion Publication of the 2021 Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (pp. 343-346). Association for Computing Machinery. Lee, M., De Castro Leal, D., Krüger, M., Strohmayer, A. & Zaga, C.https://doi.org/10.1145/3462204.3481723Human-Machine Partnerships in the Future of Work: Exploring the Role of Emerging Technologies in Future WorkplacesIn CSCW 2021 - Conference Companion Publication of the 2021 Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (pp. 323-326). Association for Computing Machinery. Cheon, E. J., Zaga, C., Lee, H. R., Lupetti, M. L., Dombrowski, L. & Jung, M. F.https://doi.org/10.1145/3462204.3481726Learning from robotic artefacts: A quest for strong concepts in Human-Robot InteractionIn DIS 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Nowhere and Everywhere (pp. 1356-1365). Association for Computing Machinery. Cila, N., Zaga, C. & Lupetti, M. L.https://doi.org/10.1145/3461778.3462095Conversational futures: Emancipating conversational interactions for futures worth wantingIn CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths, Article 298. Association for Computing Machinery. Lee, M., Noortman, R., Zaga, C., Starke, A., Huisman, G. & Andersen, K.https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445244Designerly ways of knowing in HRI: Broadening the scope of design-oriented HRI through the concept of intermediate-level knowledgeIn HRI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Article 3444668 (pp. 389-398). IEEE. Lupetti, M. L., Zaga, C. & Cila, N.https://doi.org/10.1145/3434073.3444668The Design of Robothings: Non-Anthropomorphic and Non-Verbal Robots to Promote Children’s Collaboration Through Play. University of Twente. Zaga, C.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036551380

2020

Expressive/Sensitive: Full day workshop at DIS 2020In DIS 2020 Companion - Companion Publication of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (pp. 421-424). Association for Computing Machinery. Vroon, J., Kortuem, G., Zaga, C., Rozendaal, M., Lupetti, M. L. & Van Beek, E.https://doi.org/10.1145/3393914.3395919Setting the Stage for Responsible DesignIn Proceedings of DRS 2020: Volume 2: Synergy (pp. 713-730). Design Research Society. Eggink, W., Ozkaramanli, D., Zaga, C. & Liberati, N.https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2020.116

2019

Designing the future of education: From tutor robots to intelligent playthings, 5. Human Factors NL. Zaga, C.https://www.humanfactors.nl/tijdschrift/download/nummer-3-oktober-2019/190

Research profiles

Affiliated study programs

Courses academic year 2023/2024

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2022/2023

Current projects

Social Justice in AI

Finished projects

Squirrel

(Clearing Clutter Bit by Bit)

DEI for Embodied AI

The DEI4 Embodied AI initiative focused on broadening participation in the development of AI in computer science (i.e., who takes decisions about what to develop, how to develop, who takes a particular perspective, and which values to embed) and on changing current practices in an open societal conversation. The initiative is sponsored by the Diversity Fund of NIRICT, 4TU Federation. We are a collective of researchers and students of the University of Twente, Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University, and the University of Leiden. We applied for the 4TU Netherlands Institute for Research in ICT (NIRCT) Diversity Fund to work on an initiative alongside our research duties called DEI4Embodied AI. The initiative focuses on broadening participation in embodied AI, critique, raising awareness about common issues related to gender, race, and ableism in Embodied AI, and providing tangible resources for practicing diversity, equity, and inclusion when developing embodied AI. With a relatively small grant, we realized four workshops and produced open-access resources readily available for the academic and societal community in embodied AI. The workshops reached more than 200 participants from the four technical universities and beyond, and they included international guests that helped us attract attention to the matter. We produced an open-access booklet, a syllabus, and a series of videos available to the national and international community.

Address

University of Twente

Horst Complex (building no. 20), room W239
De Horst 2
7522 LW Enschede
Netherlands

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University of Twente

Gallery (building no. 17)
Hengelosestraat 500
7521 AN Enschede
Netherlands

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