About me

Brief biography

I have completed my PhD at UCL Interaction Centre. My PhD research investigated how behaviour change apps could go beyond standard tracking and reminders to effectively facilitate the formation of medication habits by taking advantage of contextual cues and daily routines. My work was affiliated with the CHI+MED project that focused on improving the usability of medical devices.

I have an MSc in Human-Computer Interaction with Ergonomics from UCL and a BSc in Computer Science from AHE in Łódź, Poland. My previous work explored ergonomic issues related to the use of tablet computers in an office environment. I also have several years of industry experience. Before starting my PhD, I worked as a freelance UX Designer and Business Intelligence Analyst at a large media company. I also co-founded Knry, an innovation startup that worked together with firefighters to develop an interactive wearable safety system.

I read a lot, like to punch things (I have a black belt in Choi Kwang Do), lift heavy things (including myself on a pole), run, learn new languages, and eat unreasonable amounts of cake. I have multiple accounts on Mastodon, including one for work-related stuff and a personal one where I hang out most of the time and randomly post in Welsh. If you have a yellow dog, I want to be your friend. If you have a cat, I'm going to steal it.

Publications

You can find my full list of publications on the publications page or on Google Scholar.

Media presence

I'm happy to talk to media about technologies for behaviour change and habit formation, ethical design, and the dark side of digital health technology. Email me or message me on Mastodon.

Talks and presentations

I reguraly talk about my research at industry events and present my work to the public at festivals. Get in touch if you would like me to talk at your event.

Outreach and public engagement

Invited talks and seminars

Awards and Funding

2023 - Stawarz K. Smart Cues Toolkit: Supporting Physical Activity at Home with Interactive Contextual Cues. £626,833 awarded by EPSRC, New Investigator Award, grant EP/X036766/1.

2023 – Cherdantseva, Y., Theodorakopoulos, G., Stawarz, K., Edwards, T., Potoglou, D. An Information Rights Ethics Framework for National Highways. £109,805 awarded by National Highways.

2023 – Stawarz, K., Di Florio, A., Apsey, C. Gathering requirements for an app that supports menstrual and mood tracking. £3,902 awarded by Cardiff University’s Digital Transformation Innovation Institute.

2022 - Mao F, Stawarz K, Marrero S. GameBook: A beginner’s cookbook for designing serious games to support climate. £11,018 awarded by Cardiff University through the Innovation for All scheme.

2022 - Loizides F, Jones K, Stawarz K, Verdezoto N, Fuentes C, Hernandez JD, Rana O, Teehan C. Exploring Adoption and Acceptance of Co-Existence with Non-Uncanny Valley Robots, £6,200 awarded by Cardiff University through the Innovation for All scheme.

2021 - Mao F, Stawarz K, Marrero S. Co-developing opportunities of serious games in stakeholder engagement for climate change adaptation in the new normal (GamEngage). £7,980 awarded by Cardiff University through the Innovation for All scheme.

2021 - Stawarz K, Ahmed N, Sparkes V, Verdezoto Dias N. Developing affordable wearables for upper limb function rehabilitation in Bangladesh. £26,129 awarded by GCRF, Cardiff University.

2020 - Collins E, Stawarz K, Morgan P. Exploring the impact of lockdown and remote work on cybersecurity practices of office workers. £3,622 awarded by IROHMS, Cardiff University.

2019 - Stawarz K, Alexander L, Western M, Carlin A, Wijekoon A. Creating digital technology to support exercise snacking for pre-frail older adults in the home setting Prize awarded for £8,565 funded by the GetAMoveOn Network+ through EPSRC grant EP/N027299/1.

2019 - Forbes CC, Western M, Stawarz K, Harrison D. Using Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs) to understand the impact of wearable technology on physical activity initiation and habit formation among people living beyond cancer. Prize awarded for £5,755 funded by the GetAMoveOn Network+ through EPSRC grant EP/N027299/1.

2019 - Female Leadership Initiative (FLi). Funding to attend a series of workshops and networking events for women in academia.

2019 - GetAMoveOn Fellowship Programme. Funding to attend a series of workshops and networking events for researchers working in a digital health domain.

2018 – University of Bristol, Faculty of Engineering funding to support two summer interns (£3500 to support a 6-week and an 8-week internship)

2018 – EPSRC Workshop on Building a Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing Community

2015 – UBIHEALTH Research Visit Exchange Funding (€2000 for 2 months)

2014 – UBIHEALTH Winter School in Ubiquitous Computing Funding

Achievements

2021 - The ML4D project was the winner of The Engineer’s C2I2020 awards, Medical and Healthcare category. [paper about the project] [main findings]

2015 – Nominated for the UCL Student Choice Teaching Awards

2013 – Ulf Aberg Award for the best postgraduate student project in Ergonomics and Human Factors, CIHFE. [download dissertation] [more about the project]

2012 – Joint first prize for the best research project, Orange HCI-E MSc Project Prize 2011/12

2012 – Semi-finalist, CHI 2012 Student Design Competition: “Silka: A Domestic Technology to Mediate the Threshold between Connection and Solitude”. [more about the project]

2011 – Finalist, Institute of Human Factors and Ergonomics, Student Conference 2011: Mobile App Competition. [more about the app]

Teaching and supervision

Invited lectures

Modules and topics

I've been involved in teaching user-centred design to undergraduate Computer Science students. On the graduate level, I've been teaching ergonomics and human factors, HCI, prototyping and study/evaluation design.

I'm a module leader for Emerging Technologies module, which is part of the Applied Software Engineering course at National Software Academy, Cardiff University. I also deliver lectures on research methods as part of MSc Computing and MSc Computing & IT Management.

PhD supervision

My research interests include human-computer interaction, ubiquitous computing and designing interactive systems to support health and wellbeing. My current PhD students include:

MSc and BSc project supervision

I supervise projects related to the use of novel technologies for health and wellbeing. The projects mainly focus on (but are not limited to) healhty habits, behaviour change, physical activity and sports.

Summer internships

Occasionally I supervise interns working on projects related to health, wellbeing, habits, behaviour change. Recent projects include:

Academic service

Committees

Peer review

University service