A photo displays the 2025 SW UK pre-CHI committee standing together in a row. Above is the event's logo, and text overlaid on the photo reads South West UK Pre-CHI, 14th & 15th April 2025 in Bristol'. Below are the logos for the University of Bristol, Bristol Interaction Group, and pro2 network.

Held annually in the spring, CHI is the world’s foremost conference on Human Computer Interaction (HCI). This year the event, which is organised by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), took place from the 26th of April to the 1st of May in Yokohama, Japan.

For some time now there has been a growing tradition of holding ‘pre-CHI’ events ahead of the official conference. These smaller events provide an opportunity for local HCI communities to gather and strengthen regional relationships while also providing a greener, low-cost alternative to international travel for some. Another benefit is the chance for early career researchers to participate in a doctoral consortium, enabling them to improve their presentation skills and build the confidence needed for speaking at larger events.

Carrying on this tradition, Bristol saw its second annual South West UK Pre-CHI on the 14th and 15th of April, 2025. The event welcomed 80 attendees from across southern England and Wales, representing a variety of institutions including the universities of Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, and the West of England (UWE), as well as some further afield like Lancaster, Birmingham City University, and UCL. Some members of industry also attended from institutions including Microsoft Research, ForrestBrown, and MyWorld, a centre for creative technology innovation.

 

It was important to the organising committee to ensure that the event was accessible to as many people as possible. In addition to being free to attend, food and refreshments were provided as well as a travel fund sponsored by the pro2 network. The latter covered the costs for travel and accommodation for those who might otherwise have struggled to attend.

This year the South West UK Pre-CHI was held at the University of Bristol and sponsored by the university’s School of Computer Science, Bristol Interaction Group, and the pro2 network+. On the programme were four workshops, including one on Designing for Neurodiversity in Academia which later took place again at the CHI 2025 Yokohama Special Interest Group. Another workshop, entitled ‘Prototype 2 Production’, was organised by the pro2 network’s Research Associate, Rory Clark. It offered attendees a chance to creatively explore elements of device design while learning the basics of ‘isotyping’, or the process of creating prototype copies known as ‘isotypes’ for testing and refinement purposes.

Also on the programme were poster and demo sessions, and talks around themes such as Emotions and Play in Interaction Design, Technologies of Care, Self-Management and Lived Experience, and Rethinking Inclusion in Design. The Doctoral Consortium took place on the second day of the event with presentations given on topics like Health, Games, Music & Art, and Human AI.

The event also welcomed talks on award-winning CHI papers, including:

BEST PAPER AWARDS

  • “It Helps Us Express Our Feelings Without Having To Say Anything”: Exploring ‘Accompanying Social Play Things’ Designed With and For Neurodiverse Groups of Children – Brooke Morris, Hayati Havlucu, Alison Oldfield, Oussama Metatla (presented at CHI on Mon, 28th April, 11:10 – 12:40 Room G414+G415)
  • How should we design technology with diverse stakeholders who wish not to attend design activities together? – Otuu Obinna Ogbonnia, Deepak Sahoo (presented at CHI on Tue, 29th April, 4:56 PM – 5:08 PM Annex Hall F203)

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

  • RetroSketch: A Retrospective Method for Measuring Emotions and Presence in Virtual Reality – Dominic Potts , Miloni Gada , Aastha Gupta , Kavya Goel , Klaus Philipp Krzok , Genevieve Pate , Joseph Hartley , Mark Weston-Arnold , Jakob Aylott , Christopher Clarke , Crescent Jicol , Christof Lutteroth (presented at CHI on Wed, 30th April, 4:20 PM – 5:50 PM Annex Hall F205)
  • Rethinking Lived Experience in Chronic Illness: Navigating Bodily Doubt with Consumer Technology in Atrial Fibrillation Self-Care  – Rachel Keys, Paul Marshall, Graham Stuart & Aisling O’Kane (presented at CHI on Wed, 30th April, 5:20 PM – 5:32 PM G401)

The South West UK Pre-CHI gave out its own awards as well to the following individuals:

Also in attendance at the event were team members from the pro2 funded project, ‘Multi-modal XR Prototypes for Stakeholder Interactions and Testing.’ Led by Chris Snider of the University of Bristol, the project aims to improve the way stakeholders feedback on device prototypes by leveraging XR (augmented, virtual, and mixed reality) technology.

A table at the pre-CHI event holds VR headsets, 3D printed prototypes of electric drills, and two laptops. To the right a large white banner reads 'The Future of Prototyping'.

Grace Stangroome served as this year’s South West UK Pre-CHI chair alongside a committee that included Tegan Roberts-Morgan, Brooke Morris, Alex Tcherdakoff, Paul Goddard, Cameron Steer, Juan Fernando Maestre, Maisie Palmer, Jack Burnett and Adwait Sharma. Eszter Vigh provided IT support and the event was well-served by a team of student volunteer helpers.

Nine members of the South West UK Pre-CHI committee stand in the great hall at the University of Bristol underneath a large screen displaying the name of the event.

Regarding the event, Stangroome said, “It was a huge honour to chair the South West UK Pre-CHI this year, and I really hope the next committee can take it even further, and make a caring and fulfilling community out of the South West England and De Cymru HCI Community (SWEDC-HCI)!”