Past Members: Please visit www2.ocadu.ca/research/acelab/team 

Tania De Gasperis 

Research Assistant

Tania De Gasperis is a multi-disciplinary designer and a member of the Adaptive Context Environments (ACE) Lab at OCAD where she completed her MDes thesis exploring an Agile, Foresight-Informed AI Governance Framework for Socially Responsible, Complex Adaptive Systems. Tania is also a research assistant in Extended IoT for ACE Lab. 

She also serves as a researcher and facilitator for the Montreal AI Ethics Institute and is the Co-Founder of OUIO, a Futures-Driven Innovation studio with an emphasis on responsible and inclusive practices for emerging tech. She is a graduate of the Y Combinator Startup School 2018 and alumni of the Imagination Catalyst Incubator. Tania was a 2017 Hult at OCAD U winner and regional representative. She has competed in the Reality Virtually Hackathon 2019 at MIT Media Lab where her team created Bodmo: a real-time motion capture app using computer vision in VR. In June 2019, she also competed in the CryptoChicks Blockchain + AI hackathon where her team won first place in the Business Track and XYO Network Bounty for their product Abstrakta: Empowering scholars by streamlining progress and innovation via an academic ledger.

Tania is passionate about Futures of responsible and inclusive emerging technology and strives to have her research knowledge applied to the practical world through her entrepreneurial work. She is also a member of the Association of Professional Futurists and a contributor to the CertNexus Certified Emerging Ethical Technologist Exam Blueprint and Courseware, a Coursera Instructor and an IEEE committee member.

Tania has been nominated for VentureBeat's Women in AI Award (2020 Leadership Awards) and Most Significant Futures Work Award 2020 for her work in Inclusive and Foresight-Driven Responsible AI.

Thesis - De Gasperis, Tania (2020) Futures of Responsible and Inclusive AI: How Might We Foster an Inclusive, Responsible and Foresight-Informed AI Governance Approach? [MRP] 

Manveer Kalirai

Research Assistant

Accessibility and conversational artificial intelligence and ethics related to conversational agents.

Nneka Nagbo Thesis Student

Nneka Nnagbo is a user experience designer and multidisciplinary writer. She is interested in the decolonization of design and helping to ensure that the next generation of emerging technology has diverse storytellers at the forefront, crafting solutions and experiences that are equitable, inspiring, and inclusive. Nneka is currently a graduate student in the Inclusive Design program at OCAD University. She holds a B.Soc.Sc. undergraduate degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Ottawa and a Public Relations diploma from Algonquin College. Her research is focused on the intersection of design equity, artificial intelligence (AI), and speech technology. Through an inclusive design lens, she explores the application of state-of-the-art AI solutions and interdisciplinary research and design approaches to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies. Her research aims to support the conversational goals and social inclusion of individuals who have complex communication needs (CCN) by helping them speak intelligibly and converse fluidly through AAC devices. Nneka combines her other passions of film photography and highlighting underrepresented artists in the Canadian music scene through her written work. Her writing has been featured in various music magazines and art/culture zines across Canada and the United States.

Dan Silveira

Thesis Student

Dan Silveira is a UX Designer, Writer, and Foresight Strategist. He currently works at IBM's Toronto studio, where he conducts user research, facilitates workshops, and designs user interfaces for the test products within their DevOps portfolio. As a passionate writer, Dan writes articles for IBM Design, Adobe XD Ideas, and UX Planet to help share his knowledge and experience with the greater design community. Dan is a Master of Design: Strategic Foresight and Innovation candidate at OCAD University, as well as a Steering Committee Lead for the Strategic Foresight Guild at IBM. 

Anantha Chickanayakanahalli,

Thesis Student

Anantha holds a B.Arch in Architecture from Bangalore University and an MDes in Interaction Design from the Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He is currently pursuing an MDes in Digital Futures at OCAD. He is passionate about Data Visualization, Graphics, Context-Aware Systems, AGI and Virtual Assistants. His thesis focuses on creating interactive mixed reality storytelling of folktales. Having worked as a product designer with organizations like Honeywell, Mindtree and Symantec Software, he brings with him competency in problem solving and translating a consistent brand language across various touch-points and listening in on user needs both spoken and latent.

Adit Verma

Thesis Student, Digital Futures

Young Zhang

Thesis Student, Digital Futures

Nneka Nagbo

Thesis Student

Nneka Nnagbo is a user experience designer and multidisciplinary writer. She is interested in the decolonization of design and helping to ensure that the next generation of emerging technology has diverse storytellers at the forefront, crafting solutions and experiences that are equitable, inspiring, and inclusive. Nneka is currently a graduate student in the Inclusive Design program at OCAD University. She holds a B.Soc.Sc. undergraduate degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Ottawa and a Public Relations diploma from Algonquin College. Her research is focused on the intersection of design equity, artificial intelligence (AI), and speech technology. Through an inclusive design lens, she explores the application of state-of-the-art AI solutions and interdisciplinary research and design approaches to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies. Her research aims to support the conversational goals and social inclusion of individuals who have complex communication needs (CCN) by helping them speak intelligibly and converse fluidly through AAC devices. Nneka combines her other passions of film photography and highlighting underrepresented artists in the Canadian music scene through her written work. Her writing has been featured in various music magazines and art/culture zines across Canada and the United States.

Shuting Zhou 

Thesis Student

Shuting holds a B.Sc. in design from the Ohio State University specializing in visual communication design and is currently pursuing an MDes in Digital Futures at OCAD. Her thesis focuses on creating shared mixed reality spaces for remotely located users. She is interested in integrating emerging technologies such as VR and AR in designing immersive experiences and narrating engaging stories. Her experience working in non-profits fuels her interest in design for social good.

Thesis - Zhou, Shuting (2023) Bonding Over Distances: Building Social Presence Using Mixed Reality for Transnational Families. Masters thesis, OCAD University. 

Preeti Mahajan 

Thesis Student

Preeti is an avid learner, strategist, and multidisciplinary designer whose current research explores methods of integrating technology as a problem-solving tool for underlying social issues. She is a Master of Design candidate in Digital Futures at OCAD, where she builds tools to enhance user experience and uses AR and VR to create immersive experiences. With over a decade of industry experience, she is also a part of DO School X UN Women Industry Disruptors. She has worked closely with brands to establish their identities, building applications that have been successfully launched and are working in total capacity. She is passionate about building immersive technologies responsibly and bringing inclusion through technology.

Thesis - Preeti Mahajan, Preeti (2023) Learning boundaries: An Exploration of using an Immersive Virtual Environment with a Conversational training tool to help Individuals Learn about Verbal Consent. Masters thesis, OCAD University. 

Ellie Huang 

Thesis Student

Ellie is a Master of Design student in Digital Futures at OCAD. She holds a BA in Studio Art and Italian from Mount Holyoke College and a MA in Applied Imagination from University of the Arts London. She is a designer with expertise in visual communication, UX, service design and 3D arts, alongside professional experience with NGOs and International Organization. Her research interests focus on wearable technology, virtual and augmented reality, interaction design and the health domain. She is passionate about applying her fortes to scaffold inclusivity and sustainability of existing social structures.

Thesis - Huang, Ellie (2023) Design of a Multimodal Mixed Reality Work Environment with Wearable Technology. Masters thesis, OCAD University. 

Shreya Chopra 

Thesis Student

Shreya is currently a Masters student in the Strategic Foresight and Innovation program at OCAD U and is set to graduate in 2022. With a bachelor's degree in engineering and experience with business development in India’s startup ecosystem, she also holds a Masters degree in Human centered design and relevant practical experience. In practice, she is a multidisciplinary design researcher and systems thinker from India passionate about decolonizing design futures in emerging technologies. She is currently interested in researching how different kinds of technologies empower individuals to challenge prevailing power dynamics.

Jigyasa Agarwal 

Mitacs Intern

Jigyasa is an undergraduate student from India majoring in Computer Science and a MITACS Globalink research intern at OCAD University. She has a passion for AR/VR, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing and UI/UX. She is always open to learning new things, and has worked on projects applying these skills to solve real-world problems. Currently, she is working on the development of Mixed Reality for Smart Environments in the Internet of Things, and doing research on XRI interactions, interfaces and embodiments to create more immersive smart environments.

Nadine Lessio Team Member

Nadine is an artist and technologist interested in where context and criticism overlap with the internet of things. She is currently an MDes candidate in OCADU's Digital Futures program, where her focus has been on personal assistants, and how our expectations of consumer devices can be directly oppositional to our lived experiences concerning these products. By mixing programming, humour, and critique Nadine’s work considers the interplay between our everyday behaviours and how they relate to the technology we bring into our lives, sometimes with amusing or unexpected results.

 Jad Rabbaa Thesis Student

Jad Rabbaa is a multidisciplinary digital designer, multimedia strategist, and editor. His interdisciplinary background is the combination of his passion for communication aesthetics and his interest in digital technology.

Jad’s exposure to different fields keeps expanding, spanning over three different continents, two majors, and five languages. Over the past decade, he has worked for a wide array of clients around the world, ranging from TV channels to SMEs and even the public sector. Lately, he has been involved with the United Nations working as a UX designer and strategist at the peacekeeping mission UNIFIL. His experience covers interactive design through web and mobile, incorporating illustrations, animations, and video to serve a seamless user experience and communication.

Jad’s research at the Masters of Digital Futures at OCAD focuses on the use of the state-of-the-art Augmented Reality HMDs as a futuristic wayfinding tool within complex spaces and how the User Interface and User Experience will develop within the realm of MR and AR.

Roxanne Rachelle Henry Thesis Student

Roxanne is interested in researching human-computer interaction from both a developer's perspective and as a user. What ways can computers adapt to users' needs and what are those needs anyways? Recently, Roxanne has been focused on making sense of 3D virtual environment interactions, in both artificial and virtual reality.

Yiyi Shao Research Assistant

Yiyi Shao considers herself as a young and promising digital artist who is looking to promote Chinese culture as part of her proud heritage through merging traditional Chinese arts with current technology. Her initial forte was in oil painting and graphic design, however, she ventured into interactive and digital arts during her stint as a student in the United Kingdom. Her current research intent at OCAD is to venture into areas of wearable technology and IoT to improve the shared social awareness in mixed reality experiences. 

Savaya Shinkaruk Thesis Student

Savaya Shinkaruk is a grad student in the Digital Futures program. Savaya's research is focused towards AR, AI, UX/UI, and interactive installations in all things fashion. Specifically looking to work with research questions revolving around body image in the fashion industry, and how the technology Savaya is looking to create can help and assist anyone to dress comfortably. Interested in potential collaborative projects!

Maryam Mohamedali Thesis Student

Maryam is a grad student in the Strategic Foresight and Innovation program. Her former training in philosophy and bioethics left her looking to ground those theories and concepts in the practicalities of human experience. Her general research interests are in the role technology plays in impacting that experience. She is currently researching how collaborative VR platforms impact how we make and what we make in order to understand how we might meaningfully design those platforms. She has additional experience teaching 2D game creation to Toronto’s youth and designing interfaces. 

Olivia Prior Research Assistant

Prior is a first year graduate student in OCADU’s Digital Futures program. She is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and web developer currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. Her work focuses on the intersections of public and virtual interactions in public space. Her research goals involve creating interactive public spaces through participatory design methodologies that engage with communities.

Peiheng Zhao Thesis Student

Peiheng is a designer, writer and curator. He graduated with a bachelor of visual and communication design (user experience design).  He has worked in the publishing company, magazine and contemporary art museum in Shanghai for the last several years. As a first year graduate student in Digital Futures program, his research field is to explore the digital experience design on museum, and try to eliminate the barrier of art education for people by digital tools such as mixed reality experience design.  

Jingpo Li Thesis Student

Jingpo is an advertising art director and a profit driven designer. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree at Syracuse University in 2018. She and her copywriter, Emily, become first undergraduate university advertising students to win a Cannes Future Lion in 2018 at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in Cannes. There were over 2,000 competition participants from 386 schools across 55 countries in 2018, but only five Future Lions are awarded worldwide each year. She also won Graphis New Talent Annual Gold Award in 2018. As an art director, she has many ideas; as a Digital Futures student in OCAD University, She aims to make them work.

She is very interested in environmental sustainability. As companies and advertising encourage people to spend, governments stimulate economic growth, overconsumption should be revisited in the context of sustainable development. The increase of per capita consumption will increase the impact on the environment. She is currently working on an AR sustainability project that can give people options to rent, tell them how maintain to use longer, and educate them how to recycle.

Georgina Yeboah Research Assistant

Georgina Yeboah is a new media artist, designer, researcher and creative coder who works with projections, tangibles and a variety of input methods such as sensors to create interactive installations. She has experience in web-design and physical computing and uses her skill sets to bridge connections with her audience within physical and digital spaces. 

Yeboah was born and raised in Toronto Ontario, Canada. She graduated from Ryerson University in 2015 with a BFA in New Media. Soon after, she became an RA at the Synaesthetic Media Lab in downtown Toronto that specializes in designing many forms of interactive data visualizations and story telling methods. Yeboah works in a team that builds and designs hybrid virtual reality systems with physical object integrations that aims to help train cognitive spatial awareness in STEM learning practices. The lab is in collaboration with Ryerson, Georgia Tech and the University of Toronto.

Yeboah currently attends OCAD University in Toronto and is under-going her MDes in Digital Futures. She aspires to design interactive systems that create more intuitive and stronger communications between the user and the interactive system they are involved with to enhance meaningful experiences. Yeboah also enjoys photography, illustration and creates webcomics in her spare time. She is the author of her second webcomic  "Over 8 Miles" which is currently ongoing on Tapas and her the comic's main Wordpress site. 

Amna Azhar Research Assistant

As a graduate student in Inclusive Design at OCADU, Amna is interested in doing multidisciplinary projects for the design and development of novel applications focused on assistive technologies. She holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science with a focus on HCI and has previously developed extended reality immersive experiences in VR, AR and Hologram exhibits in Pakistan's National History Museum. Amna is also a self taught artist who enjoys photography and digital painting in her spare time.

Tanner Serson Thesis Student

Tanner holds a BA in Art History and Economics. He is a graduate student in New Media Art History at OCAD U. His research interests focus around cultural policy, transnational popular content, and predictive data analytics. He is interested in integrating system dynamics modeling with Python data analysis to describe and understand complex nonlinear systems.

Arsalan Akhtar Thesis Student

Arsalan is a digital advertising and interactive installation artist interested in where the branded content, experiences and internet of things merge to tell a story. Previously, he has been pursuing digital marketing for CPG companies along with other advertising agencies.

He is currently pursuing an MDes in OCADU's Digital Futures program where his focus is on reflecting the status of people in terms of wellbeing, emotions and cultural aspects by using advertising, interactive installation and IoT.  By amalgamating creativity, culture and technology, his endeavor is to nurture policies of local city government toward reflecting a more close and tangible reflection of how its inhabitants feel.

Grace Yuan Thesis Student

Grace Yuan is an interdisciplinary designer with expertise in user experience design, interior architecture, and 3D visual arts. She is a graduate student in the Digital Futures program at OCAD University. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Interior Design from California College of the Arts. Grace is interested in the intersection of digital technologies and futuristic theories. As a designer, her works often engage colorful visual components, immersive experience, and innovative storytelling. Her graduate study focuses on AR, VR, UX/UI, education, games, and space design. In her spare time, she creates CGI renderings to explore and express creative ideas.

Bernice Lai Thesis Student

Bernice is a Toronto-based animator and graphic novel artist from Taiwan. She is currently a graduate student in Digital Futures at OCAD U and she holds a BFA in Drawing and Painting: Digital Painting expanded animation from OCAD U. Her research interests are focusing on storytelling, socially taboo, and benefiting mental health. She is working with both 2D and 3D animation; digital and traditional paintings. Her graduate study research is focused towards AR and VR, which aims to create an escapism digital environment and immersive storytelling.