This year, I attended CHIWORK 2024 at Northumbria University in Newcastle from June 25 to June 27 2024+.. As my first in-person conference, it turned out to be an incredibly rewarding and unforgettable experience for me.
Discovering Newcastle: My First Visit
To prepare for the full conference program, I arrived in Newcastle a day early and had the chance to explore its beautiful scenery. From the moment I arrived, the city’s unique blend of historical charm and modern vibrancy captivated me. The stunning architecture of landmarks like the Tyne Bridge and the beautifully preserved Georgian and Victorian buildings added a distinctive character to the cityscape. The Quayside, with its lively atmosphere and picturesque views of the Sage Gateshead and Millennium Bridge, quickly became one of my favourite spots. Wandering through the streets and capturing these sights in photographs, I felt a genuine connection to the city’s rich history and culture. Spending the evening in the city heightened my anticipation for the upcoming conference events.
Figure1. Photos I took on my first day in Newcastle.
Student Consortium: A fantastic opportunity to kick off the conference and network with other early career researchers
The first event I participated in CHIWORK was the student consortium, which took place on June 25 from 9:00 to 12:30. It was a great opportunity to meet other PhD students from all over the world and discuss each other’s research for peer feedback. I appreciated the well-organized activities during the Student Consortium, which included self-introductions, group discussions, one-on-one feedback session, and fireside chat with mentors. These activities made it easy for us to get to know each other and start conversations. The groups were divided based on research topics, facilitating the exchange of constructive feedback and ensuring that everyone could both provide and receive valuable insights.
I was part of the group focused on Innovative AI Applications and Assessment with three peers: Ruotong Wang from the University of Washington, who focuses on designing socially grounded AI applications to support team communication in remote work settings such as Zoom meetings and Slack chats; Teshan Bunwaree from Cardiff University, who works on the multidisciplinary assessment of bossware, aiming to provide recommendations for bossware technology in the workplace by integrating knowledge from law, organizational psychology, and technology; and Pranjal Jain from Swansea University, who researches capturing tacit knowledge, primarily through reflective technologies that enable digital systems to record and analyse experts’ decision-making processes.
During our discussions, we shared our research experiences and skills in conducting user studies. We also talked about the journey of a PhD student in different countries. I found these conversations very interesting and rewarding. Hearing about the diverse approaches and challenges my peers faced at their respective institutions broadened my perspective. We were also fortunate to be joined by two mentors, Dr. Advait Sarkar from Microsoft Research and Prof. Andrew Kun from University of New Hampshire. The exchange of ideas and methodologies with them helped me refine my current project. I gained valuable insights from their suggestions, particularly on how to utilize current AI models to build AI tools. Advait mentioned their paper about participatory prompting, which I will describe in more detail in the next section. This advice was especially relevant to my own PhD project, during which I plan to design a generative AI tool to help people review papers more effectively.
I also enjoyed my one-on-one chat with Ciabhan Connelly and the fireside chat with all the mentors. Ciabhan, from Georgia Tech, studies how to mitigate the spread of misinformation and hateful ideologies in online communities, particularly misogynistic ones. We talked about our studies in turn, and then discussed potential solutions and the mixed methods we use in our research. The fireside chat with all the mentors provided a wonderful closure to the Student Consortium. The fireside chat offered us the chance to ask questions and gain valuable advice from experts in both academia and industry. I found the advice on choosing between an academic or industry career and tips for finding academic positions particularly helpful to me. Additionally, learning about the differences in recruitment timing, reference letters, and language requirements between the US, UK, and Europe was incredibly informative.
Figure 2. Photo taken at the end of the Student Consortium. My supervisor, Prof. Duncan Brumby (centre of the picture), was one of the organisers of the CHIWORK 2024 Student Consortium. A heartfelt thank you to Duncan and all the organisers for such a fantastic event!
Panel and paper sessions: diverse topics on how we can better work
The Student Consortium was a delightful appetizer, and the subsequent panel and paper sessions were a sumptuous feast. CHIWORK 2024 featured six paper sessions, each offering diverse perspectives on work research: ‘AI & Wellbeing at Work,’ ‘Inclusive and Accessible HCI,’ ‘Future of Collaborative Work with(out) AI,’ ‘Task, Time, and Stress Management,’ ‘AI in Professional Growth & Workplace Support,’ and ‘Service Sector & Job Market Dynamics.’
I thoroughly enjoyed all the paper presentations; they were high-quality and engaging. I paid particular attention to the papers involving AI, as my own research focuses on generative AI in peer review work. One of my favourite examples was Feldman and Anderson’s (2024) “Non-Expert Programmers in the Generative AI Future,” which identified several barriers to effective use of Code LLMs, such as challenges in technical communication and prompt formulation. Another standout was Drosos et al.’s (2024) “It’s like a rubber duck that talks back: Understanding Generative AI-Assisted Data Analysis Workflows through a Participatory Prompting Study.” which explored the integration of generative AI tools into data analysis workflows, particularly for non-expert end-users. It highlighted how generative AI can streamline information foraging and sensemaking loops, underscoring its potential to support data analysis while also pointing out the need for better-designed prompts and strategies to mitigate the identified barriers. These papers gave me some inspiration on my own research topic: conducting user studies to investigate and evaluate how well a review supportive tool can help reviewers and rethink review workflows in the age of AI.
I also enjoyed my dear friend, Yoana Ahmetoglu’s presentation in the “Task, Time, and Stress Management’ paper session. Yoana’s work looked at how task management apps can incorporate strategies to mitigate the planning fallacy, a cognitive bias leading to underestimating task completion times. It informs the design of more effective task management tools that bridge the gap between psychological insights and practical application (Ahmetoglu, Brumby, & Cox, 2024)
Figure 3. Yoana presenting her paper.
Interspersed among the paper sessions were poster and demo sessions, where I had the opportunity to present my poster on my PhD project titled “How to Alleviate the Peer Review Crisis: Exploring Future Designs and Supporting Tools to Improve the Quality and Efficiency of Academic Peer Review.” I engaged in conversations with attendees about the expected outcomes of my research, my proposed solutions for enhancing academic peer review, and we exchanged ideas on whether designing AI tools for peer review is a viable and beneficial approach.
Figure 4. The digital version of my poster presented in CHIWORK 2024.
The panel sessions during the conference were also very insightful. We had a conversational panel at the first day, where my supervisors Duncan and Anna talked about the ChatTL;DR to get people to check the output of LLMs. We then had the Town hall at the last day, where the CHIWORK 2024 general chairs, Dr. Marta Cecchinato and Dr. Marios Constantinides, concluded this year’s conference. We also participated in a ‘co-writing’ session with the steering committee. Using a Miro whiteboard, everyone had the opportunity to contribute to the community values, express their ideas, and provide suggestions, further enhancing our sense of engagement and connection.
Figure 5. Photo taken during my secondary supervisor Prof. Anna Cox’ speech.
Finally, the closing keynote left a lasting impression. CHIWORK 2024 ended with the closing keynote, “The Future of Work: Can Workplace HCI Save (Us from) Generative AI?” delivered by Dr. Jackie O’Neill from Microsoft Research Africa. She presented research on designing worker-centric generative AI tools for gig knowledge workers. I particularly appreciated her discussion on the importance of designing AI systems as collaborators rather than competitors to humans. She emphasized the need to create interfaces and workflows that facilitate seamless human-AI interaction, ensuring that AI tools enhance collective intelligence within teams rather than isolating users from meaningful engagement with their work.
Feel engaged, Feel connected
Overall, my CHIWORK trip was fulfilling. The diverse and open exchanges during the conference truly made me feel engaged and connected. Daily coffee breaks and lunch conversations at the venue, as well as pub chats and dinners after the paper sessions, provided a relaxed environment for us to get to know each other better.
Figure 6. The beautifully designed conference agenda, note papers, and participant card for CHIWORK 2024 serve as memorable keepsakes from my in-person conference experience.
As a PhD student, CHIWORK made me feel fully involved, providing a fun, informative, and enjoyable experience. This wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of the organisers and volunteers. Thank you all! I look forward to meeting again next year in Amsterdam!-
