HCI & Design
X
Social Justice & Sustainability
I am currently a PhD candidate in Digital Media at Interactive Technologies Institute, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, and as an affiliated PhD student at CMU/HCII within the scope of CMU Portugal. Adviced by Prof. Nuno Jardim Nunes (Ulisboa), and co-adviced by Prof. John Zimmerman (CMU), and Prof. Valentina Nisi (Ulisboa), my doctoral research investigates the dynamic relationship between design activities and labour. I focus on the gig economy and platform work, employing ethnographic methodologies to locate, interpret, and debate the pivotal role of workers and labor in the design process. I’m particularly interested in exploring how HCI and design strategies can enhance the living experience of marginalized working communities and advocate for worker justice. Prior to my PhD, I’m a service and interaction designer with a Master’s Degree in Arts in Design from Tongji University, Shanghai, China. In addition, I hold a keen interest in sustainability and have previously engaged in projects related to sustainability and digital social innovation, collaborating with Prof. Francesca Valsecchi (Tongji Ecology and Cultures Innovation Lab).
I’m glad to discuss research projects and academic topics. Please reach out via imshuhao.ma@gmail.com
Selected Projects and Publications
C – Conference; J – Journal; W – DC/WS/WiP
2021 – 2025 PhD Project: Design, Labour, and Worker
- W – Shuhao Ma. 2024. DIS 2024 Doctoral Consortium. Advancing HCI and Design Methods to Empower Gig Workers.
- C – Shuhao Ma, John Zimmerman, Sarah Fox, Valentina Nisi, and Nuno Jardim Nunes. 2024. “My Sense of Morality Leads to My Suffering, Battling, and Arguing”: The Role of Platform Designers in (Un)Deciding Gig Worker Issues. In Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (Copenhagen, DK) (DIS ’24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA.
- C – Shuhao Ma, Valentina Nisi, John Zimmerman, and Nuno Jardim Nunes. 2023. Mapping the Research Landscape of the Gig Work for Design on Labour Research. In Proceedings of IASDR 2023: Life-changing Design (Milan, Italy) (IASDR ’23). Design Research Society. DOI
- C – Shuhao Ma, Paulo Bala, Valentina Nisi, John Zimmerman, and Nuno Jardim Nunes. 2023. Uncovering Gig Worker-Centered Design Opportunities in Food Delivery Work. In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) (DIS ’23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 688–701. DOI
2021 – 2022 Memex Project: Migrant-centered Design Link
- C – Cesário, Vanessa, Paulo Bala, Shuhao Ma, and Valentina Nisi. 2023. Fostering social inclusion: empathic approaches for Migrant-Centred Design. In Proceedings of IASDR 2023: Life-changing Design (Milan, Italy) (IASDR ’23). Design Research Society. DOI
2020 – 2022 Mare Project: Crowdsensing-based Service Design for Students Link
- J – Valentina Nisi, Catia Prandi, Shuhao Ma, Marta Ferreira, Hugo Nicolau, Augusto Esteves, and Nuno Nunes. 2023. The design of Tecnico GO!: catering for students’ well-being during the COVID-19 pandemics. Multimedia Tools and Applications. DOI
- C – Shuhao Ma, Valentina Nisi, Augusto Esteves, Catia Prandi, Hugo Nicolau, Gianni Tumedei, Joao Nogueira, Francesco Boschi, and Nuno Nunes. 2021. Crowdsensing-enabled service design for floating students during the covid-19 pandemic. In Congress of the International Association of Societies of Design Research, pp. 943-959. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. DOI
Research Experience
- 2024 October – 2025 April Visiting PhD Student, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, CMU, USA
- 2020 September – Present Research Assistant, Interactive Technologies Institute, LARSyS, Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal
- 2016 – 2019 Research Assistant, Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability Lab, Tongji University, Shanghai, China (now Ecology and Cultures Innovation Lab)
- 2018-2019 Visiting Studnt in Interaction Design, University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Austria
Academic Sevice
- DIS Zine Chair: 2025
- CSCW Associate Chair: 2025 (July and October Cycle)
- CHI Reviewers: 2024*, 2025*
- CSCW Reviewers: 2024
- DIS Reviewers: 2024*
- IASDR Reviewers: 2021, 2023
- * Special Recognition for Outstanding Reviews
Teaching Experience
- 2021 – Spring/BA TA in Environmental Ethics (CIEE Shanghai, Pennsylvania State University and Rutgers University)
- 2021 – Spring/BA TA in Sustainability and Anthropocene (CIEE Shanghai, Pennsylvania State University)
- 2020 – Fall/BA TA in Sustainability and Anthropocene (CIEE Shanghai, Babson College and Syracuse University)
- 2019 – Fall/MA TA in Data Visualization (Tongji University)
Awards
- 2021 CMU Portugal Affiliated Ph.D Scholarship (Portugal)
- 2018 OeAD Ernst Mach Grant for studying at an Austrian university of applied sciences (Austria)
Industry Experiences
- 2018 Interaction Designer Internship @WeChat / Tencent, Guangzhou, China
- 2017 – 2018 UX Product Manager Internship @PinAnTech, Shanghai, China
Education
- 2021-2025 PhD in Digital Media, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
- 2016-2019 MA in Design, College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
- 2012-2016 BE in Industrial Design, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China