Our work is interdisciplinary and covers multiple basic and applied research areas:

Persuasive Design

We investigate theory-informed persuasive designs and their applicability on various domains and populations. We also research systematic methods to develop these solutions, test them and evaluate and mitigate their risks, including the ethical risks.

Intelligent Behavior Analytics

We develop novel solutions to capture data needed for behavior detection and modeling, utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced sensing and multimodal sensor data. We work on methods for analyzing the behavioral and emotional state of individuals, groups and collectives and draw patterns that can be then used in detecting deviation and important changes, responding to them in a proactive style. Application domains include security and safety, both in real-world and cyber spaces.

Digital Critical Literacy

We work on strengthening users' critical thinking and awareness concerning the online intelligent mechanics and persuasive elements used to grab attention and influence behavior and decisions. The aim is to create immunity in users to hasty online decisions, digital addiction, fake news, malicious online interactions, and social engineering.

Prosocial Online Behavior

While digital media is a medium for negative social phenomena, such as bullying, hate speech, and misinformation, it can still provide an unprecedented opportunity to foster the fight against them. We develop software-assisted interventions to promote healthy and civilized interaction on social media and test them via self-reporting, observing actual behavior, and objectively through affective computing techniques.

Supporting Developmental Disorder

We propose developing AI platforms developmental monitoring, screening for developmental delays and disabilities are all standard of care, as part of ‘well-baby’ and ‘well-child’ centers. Throughout childhood, there are multiple opportunities to support parents in providing a nurturing environment to promote child development and education, and to provide early interventions for the subset of children that require more intensive support and follow-up.

e-Learning

Gamification has been used to enhance willingness to learn and the pace of learning. Results in the literature were mixed with some claiming success even though they were based on short-lived studies. With AI, personalized feedback, self-monitoring and adaptive goal setting, become much possible. Advances in digital role playing, avatars and alternative reality, e.g. Metaverse, open an avenue for investigating whether we can increase and sustain the willingness to learn through an immersive online environment and furthermore detect learning difficulties and preferences and in a data-driven approach.

Digital Addiction and Digital Wellbeing

We study the role of technology design in triggering and in combating compulsive, impulsive, excessive and hasty usage styles, leading to harm on the individuals and their social circle. The aim is to empower users and increase their resilience so that they remain in control of their relationship with technology and maintain their digital wellness.

Ethical and Human-Centered AI

We investigate how diverse stakeholders perceive the outcome of AI models. Through user-centered approaches, we explore how better to present the outcome of AI models in a way that preserves the different explainability factors. AI and ethics in the Arab socio-cultural framework is a core topic that crosscuts all the aforementioned areas.