Breaking Down Barriers (PDF)

interfaces lead to forms of discrimination that are illegal under US law. Lazar has published more than 120 refereed articles in journals, books, and conference proceedings. He has also authored three books and edited three, including Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction (Wiley, 2010), Universal Usability: Designing Computer Interfaces for Diverse User Populations (Wiley, 2007), and Web Usability: A User-Centered Design Approach (Addison Wesley, 2006). He was awarded a 2011 University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Public Service, a 2010 Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award from the National Federation of the Blind for working towards achieving the full integration of the blind into society on a basis of equality, and a 2009 Innovator of the Year Award from the Maryland Daily Record for his work on improving the accessibility of web-based security features. He currently serves as chair of public policy for ACM SIGCHI (the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction).

Ann Heylighen is a professor in the Research[x]Design group of the Department of Architecture at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven). Her main research interests are situated at the interface of design studies and social sciences. She is particularly interested in issues concerning inclusivity and is currently leading several research projects on dialogues between architectural design and disability.

Ann was awarded several research grants, including a Starting Grant and Proof-of-Concept Grant of the European Research Council. She is a member of the editorial board of CoDesign, and a member of the KU Leuven Research Council.

Ann studied engineering/architecture at KU Leuven and ETH Zürich, and completed a PhD at KU Leuven. After conducting postdoctoral research at Harvard University and the University of California-Berkeley, she was appointed research professor in Leuven in 2006.

Hua Dong is Professor at the College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University. She had 12-year research and teaching experience in the United Kingdom (postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge and Royal College of Art, and senior lecturer at Brunel University, London).

Hua studied design at the College of Architectural Design and Urban Planning, Tongji University, with a BEng. in Industrial Design and MA in Architectural Design and Theory. She obtained her PhD degree from the University of Cambridge.

Hua has published over 100 papers, and has been a Principal Investigator for a number of research projects in the UK and China. She is directly involved in the teaching of design at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Hua founded the Inclusive Design Research Group at Brunel University and Tongji University. She is the international coordinator of the Inclusive Design Research Interest Group (InclusiveSIG), and serves as a council member of the Design Research Society (DRS).