Guest Speaker on Animal-Computer Interaction

Staff and students at the Forres campus were delighted to welcome our first visiting guest speaker of the 2025-26 session. Based in the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, Dr Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas specialises in “Animal-Computer Interaction”,  designing, building, and investigating ways in which animals can interact with and through computer technology.

Working with domestic pets including dogs and parrots, as well as zoo animals such as monkeys, chimpanzees and lemurs, Ilyena presented a range of fascinating projects which aim to enrich the lives of animals by giving them control over their environment, and to provide new opportunities for social interaction, much as humans do with video-conferencing.

The talk, promoted by the MDes programme in Design Innovation and Interaction Design, is framed by the programme’s approach to IxD, with a special focus on the interaction between humans and nature through digital technologies, as well as raising awareness of nature sensing and more-than-human approaches to design.

Chris Hand, Subject lead, MDes Design Innovation and Interaction Design