Who we are

University of Bari

Maria Francesca Costabile - Principal Investigator
Maria Francesca Costabile is Professor at the Computer Science Department of the University of Bari, Italy, where she teaches human-computer interaction and other courses for the computer science curricula. She is also the Director of the IVU (Interaction Visualization Usability & UX) Lab. Her current research interests are in human-computer interaction, in particular interaction design, mobile systems, usability engineering, information visualization, end-user development. She has published about two hundred papers in scientific journals, books and proceedings of international conferences on the above topics, and edited seven books, published by ACM Press and Springer. She is senior member of IEEE and member of ACM. She started the Italian Chapter of ACM SIGCHI, and served as first Chair from 1996 to 2000. In 2018 she got the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Service Award. 

Rosa Lanzilotti
Rosa Lanzilotti is Full Professor at the Computer Science Department, UNIBA. She is a co-founding member of the IVU (Interaction, Visualization, Usability & UX) Lab of the UNIBA. At IVU, she coordinates the research on Usability Engineering and UX to promote the use of usability and UX practices in industry and public institutions, and the research on Human-Centered Artificial intelligence to foster a new vision of human-centered intelligent systems. She is a member of ACM, ACM SIGCHI, and SIGCHI Italy. She is also a member of the Gruppo di Lavoro per l’Usabilità (GLU), set up by the Italian Ministry of Public Administration, to spread the culture of usability and user experience. She is a co-author of about 115 papers published in journals, international conferences and collections.

Antonio Piccinno

Antonio Piccinno is Associate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) at the Computer Science Department of the University of Bari Aldo Moro (UNIBA). He is a founding member of the IVU (Interaction, Visualization, Usability & UX) Lab of the University of Bari, where he coordinates research on the interplay between Human-Computer Interaction and Software Engineering through techniques of End-User Development. He is, or has been, involved in the design, development and evaluation of software frameworks and methodologies for applying End-User Development in various domains and contexts, recently in ambient intelligence applied to the smart home. He is a co-author of about 115 papers published in journals, international conferences and collections.

Maria Teresa Baldassarre

Maria Teresa Baldassarre is Associate Professor at the University of Bari, Italy, and a member of the Software Engineering Research Laboratory. Her research interests are empirical software engineering, human factors in software engineering, software measurement, and quality assurance. She is a partner of the SER&Practices spin-off. She is actively involved in research projects and collaborations with international partners. She is a representative of UNIBA in the International Software Engineering Research Network (ISERN) and is involved in program committees related to relevant software engineering and international empirical software engineering venues.

Giovanni Dimauro

Giovanni Dimauro is Full Professor at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, where he carries out teaching activities for the degree courses in Computer Science, and coordinates the research area “Software Engineering for Health Care” of the laboratory Software Engineering Research LABoratory (SERLAB). He teaches in Programming and Multimedia Systems courses. His research area is in e-health, multimedia systems, medical informatics, pattern recognition, and machine learning with applications in medicine, such as new technologies for the diagnosis and monitoring of anemia and Parkinson’s. He has published about 200 scientific articles, holds 2 patents, and has developed some software systems for medical diagnostics.

Andrea Esposito

Andrea Esposito is a Research Fellow and Ph.D. student at the Department of Computer Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy. He is a member of the Interaction Visualisation Usability (IVU) and UX Laboratory. His interests lie in Human-Computer Interaction, eXplainable Artificial Intelligence, and Human-AI Interaction. He is committed to advancing the field of Human-Centred AI, working to improve the interaction between humans and AI systems.

Maristella Matera - PoliMI research unit coordinator

Maristella Matera is Professor at the Dep. of Electronics, Information, and Bioengineering (DEIB) of the Politecnico di Milano. Her research focuses on the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Model-driven Web Engineering (MDWE). On these topics, she has published about 200 scientific papers and three monographic books and participated in the organization of international conferences. From 2018 to 2022 she was Chair of SIGCHI Italy (https://sigchitaly.eu/), and she currently serves as vice-chair. 

Mark J. Carman

Mark J. Carman is Associate Professor at the Dep. of Electronics, Information, and Bioengineering (DEIB) of the Politecnico di Milano. His research interests lie in the areas of information retrieval and machine learning, with expertise in rank learning techniques for Web search engines, statistical modelling of text for sentiment and sarcasm detection, models of user expertise online, and an extensive experience working with and/or extending a large variety of machine learning techniques. 

Francesco Ermanno Guida

Francesco Ermanno Guida is Associate Professor at the Department of Design of the Politecnico di Milano. He holds a PhD in Design and Technology for the Enhancement of Cultural Heritage and has a 30 years long experience as a graphic design consultant. He publishes contributions on visual communication and other related issues in journals, books and conference proceedings. Previous board member of AIAP (Italian Association of Visual Communication Design), he is the scientific coordinator of the Graphic Design Documentation Centre.

Dina Riccò

Associate Professor at the Department of Design (Politecnico di Milano). Graduated in architecture, PhD in Industrial Design, her main subject of study is applied synaesthesia to design, multimedia, accessibility of audio-video contents. She is the author of over 120 publications in books, journals, national and international conferences. Director of international cultural projects of the Center Artecittà International Foundation of Synesthesia, Science and Art of Granada.She was co-chair of the 7th International Congress “Synaesthesia: Science and Art. The digital / physical challenge” (October 2022).