We have dedicated a section on our IRENE website to promote successful researchers and innovators under 40 years of age.
In this article, we feature Mathias Sand Kristensen, a talented researcher from Aalborg University in Denmark who focuses on Human-Machine Interaction. Read his interesting testimonial about his participation in projects focused on how to use data visualization to help setting goals for care quality in hospitals.
Where do you come from and what was your motivation to focus on stroke
rehabilitation?
Attending Medialogy at Aalborg University, Denmark, I grew a passion for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), a field which combines user-centered design, computer science, and evaluation of interactive technologies in a scientific setting. I was exposed to stroke rehabilitation research in my 2nd semester of my Master’s Degree in 2020 by Dr. Hendrik Knoche, Associate Professor at Aalborg University. I have since worked in the field, and wrote my Master's thesis on research done in collaboration with RES-Q, focusing on how to use data visualization to help setting goals for care quality in hospitals.
What is interesting about Medialogy as an education?
Aalborg University teaches problem based learning, where students in groups work on
projects tying to real world problems. In these project groups, each student gets to wear
their own “hat”, whether they like programming, research, and/or design – giving the students a unique insight into collaboration. These groups aim to simulate how companies work outside of the university. For me, the interesting part about Medialogy is how we can use technology to improve the lives of people. By exploring user needs through research, and then developing novice systems, or improving existing interactive systems for the end-user in a meaningful way.
What are your activities on RES-Q?
For my Master’s thesis, I studied the needs of the doctors and other healthcare professionals
that used RES-Q. Based on my findings, I utilized data from RES-Q to try out new ways of
facilitating comparisons to motivate and help hospital managers set new goals for care
quality. The research provided RES-Q with ideas on how to re-design and improve the user
experience of their dashboards.
Currently, I am analyzing qualitative data from interviews with stroke patients and general
practitioners with a particular interest in stroke. The goal is to develop a mobile application to
improve quality of life for stroke patients in their first three months back home Post-discharge.
Which of your publications can you recommend us to read if we want to know more
about your work?
I don’t have any concrete publications yet, but I am working on two scientific papers, which
are branches of my Master’s thesis and continued work with RES-Q. I’ve submitted the first
abstract to the 8th ESOC conference, which got accepted as an E-Poster for Lyon, 4-6th of
May 2022. Moreover, I am co-author of a publication waiting to be accepted at IEEE Access,
which focuses on how we can design enjoyable game-based Brain-Computer Interface (BCI)
experiences for rehabilitation in stroke care.
What are your plans for the future?
I really enjoy working on improving meaningful systems that help the user experiences and
improve their quality of life. My hope is to make a difference for a broad spectrum of people.
I’m excited to see where that takes me.
Commenti