Associate Professor
Bernd Ploderer
Faculty of Science,
School of Computer Science
Biography
Dr Bernd Ploderer is a Human-Computer Interaction researcher investigating digital technologies that allow people to thrive. At Queensland University of Technology (QUT), he leads the Digital Wellbeing Lab, which envisages a future where all digital technology is designed in partnership with communities for their social, mental and physical wellbeing. Dr Ploderer designs and evaluates self-tracking and generative AI technologies, with projects spanning technologies for diabetes foot care, active play in families, and mental wellbeing.Currently, he is involved in the following projects:
- Digital Self-care with Generative AI (supported by the Digital Wellbeing Lab)
- Designing distanced intergenerational interaction with tangible technology (supported by ARC DP240102717)
- Understanding and Treating Videogame Addiction in Young People (NHMRC Ideas Grant 2011768)
Education: Dr Ploderer received his PhD degree in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Melbourne (2011), a MA degree in Communications from the University of Salzburg, Austria (2007), and a BSc (Hons) degree in Information Systems from FH Joanneum Graz, Austria (2003). Prior to joining QUT, he worked as a Research Fellow (2011-2013) and as a Lecturer (2013-2015) at the University of Melbourne. During this time he co-founded Quantified Self Melbourne, and he served as deputy director of the Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces at the University of Melbourne.
Service roles:
- Associate Chair for the AI and Design Committee at the ACM Designing Interactive Systems 2026 Conference
- Secretary for the Australian Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group
- Research Ethics Advisor for the School of Computer Science
Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor
Faculty of Science,
School of Computer Science
Keywords
Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Computer Interaction for Healthy Living, Digital wellbeing, self care, personal informatics, active play, intergenerational play, generative AI, companion AI
Research field
Human-centred computing
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (University of Melbourne)
Professional memberships and associations
ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI): Member
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
CHISIG - Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group: Secretary
Teaching
Bernd Ploderer received his PhD in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in 2011. He has been teaching HCI units each semester since 2013 at the University of Melbourne (2013-2015) and at QUT (since 2016). Dr. Ploderer has made contributions to the scholarship of learning and teaching in HCI through the “working field theories for design” method, which he developed through the advanced HCI unit at QUT (CAB310) to support IT students in the human-centred design process to better translate their fieldwork insights into technology designs. This method won an Honourable Mention Award at the prestigious ACM CHI conference in 2021, awarded to the top 5% of papers.
Dr Ploderer teaches and administrates the following human-computer interaction subjects:
- “CAB210 User Experience Fundamentals” (undergraduate) in-depth, qualitative user research through contextual inquiry, co-design, usability and user experience evaluation
- “CAB310 Interaction and Experience Design” (undergraduate) advanced human-computer interaction unit focussed on the theory, design, and evaluation of emerging technologies for human use
- “IFN637 Human-Centred Design of IT Systems” (postgraduate) introduction human-centred design of digital technologies in collaboration with industry partners, focussing on ethics, user research, and ideation and prototyping
Professional Development
- Dr Ploderer is a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy, which demonstrates his commitment to teaching, learning and the student experience.
- In 2017 he graduated with a Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (GCAP), QUT, Brisbane. GCAP is a continuing professional education course for staff working in higher education to develop knowledge, skills, and professional values in the key areas of: learning and teaching, research, and career planning and development.
Experience
Dr Ploderer is looking for Honours and PhD students with a background in HCI to collaborate on research projects listed above. If you are interested, please:
- Read through the proposed topics and recent publications
- Familiarise yourself with the PhD scholarships available, eligibility criteria, and the application process at QUT
- Prepare the following documents: (i) a brief research proposal, (ii) a CV and (iii) a transcript of your academic results
Publications
- Ploderer, B., Capel, T., Davaakhuu, N., Tung, N., Maichal, D., Kuzhiparambil, A., Mai, Q. & Reitberger, W. (2025). Maintaining Long-Distance Relationships with (Mediocre) LLM-based Chatbots: A Collaborative Ethnographic Study. CHI EA '25: Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/256430
- Capel, T., Ploderer, B., Bircanin, F., Hanmer, S., Yates, J., Wang, J., Khor, K., Leong, T., Wadley, G. & Newcomb, M. (2024). Studying Self-Care with Generative AI Tools: Lessons for Design. DIS '24: Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 1620–1637. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/250415
- Evans, K., Papinniemi, A., Ploderer, B., Nicholson, V., Hindhaugh, T., Vuvan, V., Cowley, N., Tariq, A. & Thomson, H. (2025). Impact of using an AI scribe on clinical documentation and clinician-patient interactions in allied health private practice: perspectives of clinicians and patients. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 78. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/257135
- Ploderer, B., Clark, D., Brown, R., Harman, J., Lazzarini, P. & Van Netten, J. (2023). Self-Monitoring Diabetes-Related Foot Ulcers with the MyFootCare App: A Mixed Methods Study. Sensors, 23(5). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/238240
- Ploderer, B., Rodgers, S. & Liang, Z. (2023). What's keeping teens up at night? Reflecting on sleep and technology habits with teens. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 27(2), 249–270. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/227707
- Ploderer, B., Rezaei Aghdam, A. & Burns, K. (2022). Patient-Generated Health Photos and Videos Across Health and Well-being Contexts: Scoping Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(4). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/229905
- Ploderer, B., Lawrence Taylor, J., Muñoz, D., Bircanin, F. & Brereton, M. (2021). Diagramming Working Field Theories for Design in the HCI Classroom. CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths, 1–14. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/210406
- Munoz Saez, D., Ploderer, B. & Brereton, M. (2019). Position exchange workshops: A method to design for each other in families. CHI 2019 - Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–14. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128926
- Rodgers, S., Ploderer, B., Maloney, B. & Hang, J. (2019). Designing for wellbeing-as-interaction. CHI EA 2019 - Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–6. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128954
- Ploderer, B., Reitberger, W., Oinas-Kukkonen, H. & van Gemert-Pijnen, J. (2014). Social interaction and reflection for behaviour change [Editorial]. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 18(7), 1667–1676. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/93518
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Bernd, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/b.ploderer
Awards
- Type
- Committee Role/Editor or Chair of an Academic Conference
- Reference year
- 2026
- Details
- Associate Chair for the AI and Design Committee at the ACM Designing Interactive Systems 2026 Conference
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2025
- Details
- Steve Howard Award for the Best Student Paper at OzCHI '25 'Bleed Between the Lines: Barriers and Approaches to Personalisation in Menstrual Tracking for Marginalised Users' by Sambain, Capel & Ploderer
- Type
- Committee Role/Editor or Chair of an Academic Conference
- Reference year
- 2024
- Details
- Proceedings Chair for the 36th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (OzCHI 2024)
- Type
- Committee Role/Editor or Chair of an Academic Conference
- Reference year
- 2023
- Details
- Associate Chair for the Health Subcommittee at CHI 2023, the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- Honorable Mention award for my CHI 2021 paper "Diagraming Working Field Theories for Design in the HCI Classroom". The paper was ranked among the top 5% of all accepted submissions.
Selected research projects
- Title
- Designing Distanced Intergenerational Interaction with Tangible Technology
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP240102717
- Start year
- 2024
- Keywords
- Title
- Framing and Enabling Children's Active Play using Novel Technology
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP200100723
- Start year
- 2021
- Keywords
- Title
- Understanding and Treating Videogame Addiction in Young People
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- 2011768
- Start year
- 2022
- Keywords
- addiction treatment; behavioural intervention; randomised controlled trial; Addictive Behaviours; prospective cohort study
- Title
- Ambient Nature Network: New Technologies to Connect People to Nature
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP190101647
- Start year
- 2019
- Keywords
- Title
- Queensland Diabetes Footcare Hubs (Q DFootHubs)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- 2032912
- Start year
- 2025
- Keywords
- chronic leg or foot ulcers; wound healing; diabetic complications; health services research; implementation
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Looking for a postgraduate research supervisor?
I am currently accepting research students for Honours, Masters and PhD study.
- Supporting Boundary Management in Young People’s AI Companion Interactions
- Understanding and designing for digital self-care
- I want to move it, move it: framing and enabling children's active play using novel technology
You can browse existing student topics offered by QUT or propose your own topic.
Current supervisions
- Co-Designing Legowo-Informed Tangible Interactions to Support the Mental Wellbeing of Indonesian Students in Australia
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Daniel Johnson, Dr Tara Capel - The Next Best Thing: How Voice AI and TOLD Framework Could Transform Mental Health Support
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Laurianne Sitbon - Designing Tangible Interaction For Co-located Intergenerational Active Play
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Thea Blackler, Dr Nicole Vickery, Dr Dan Cook - Good Times for Emotional Closeness: Tangibles Designed for Distanced Intergenerational Interaction Within Daily Routines
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Thea Blackler, Dr Nicole Vickery - Playing Together Apart: Asynchronous Games for Social Connection in Fly-In/Fly-Out (FIFO/DIDO) Workers' Families
MPhil, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Cody Phillips
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Understanding Young Children's Musical Engagement with Interactive Digital Technologies (2026)
- Designing Elements of Tangible Embedded Embodied Interactions for Young Children's Physically Active Play (2025)
- Making a makerspace: Reimagining makerspaces for women's participation (2023)
- Co-Designing with Adults with Moderate to Severe Intellectual Disabilities to Enable Active Communication Technology Use (2022)
- Crafting and connecting: Co-designing technologies with older adult crafters to promote family connections (2022)
- Leveraging Social Media to Co-Design Support for Developing Life Skills Among Young Adults with Intellectual Disability (2022)
- Co-Design Beyond Words with Minimally-Verbal Children on the Autism Spectrum (2021)
- Development of Interfaces for Orthopaedic Surgeons to Control Minimally Invasive Surgical Robots During Knee Arthroscopy (2021)
- Relation-Centred Inquiry: Designing for Position Exchange in Families (2021)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.