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Directors

Portrait of Lisa Given

Professor Lisa Given is Director of the Centre for Human–AI Information Environments (CHAI) at RMIT University, where she also leads the Social Change Enabling Capability Platform and is Professor of Information Sciences. An internationally recognised scholar, she examines how people engage with information and technology, with expertise in user experience, information behaviour, societal research impact, and community engagement.

Her work is highly interdisciplinary, exploring the social construction of knowledge, research engagement and impact, user technology assessment, information literacy, and the information dynamics of higher education. She conducts research across a wide range of topics in information behaviour and technology use, applying qualitative and mixed-method approaches — including grounded theory, discourse analysis, web usability, and other interpretive and evaluative methods.

Lisa has held senior research leadership roles in Australia and Canada, including at Swinburne University of Technology, Charles Sturt University, and the University of Alberta, and previously served on the Australian Research Council’s College of Experts. Her work is supported by funding from major national research agencies across both countries, advancing human-centred and socially responsible approaches to information and technology.

Portrait of Falk Scholer

Professor Falk Scholer is a Professor of Information Access and Retrieval in the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University and Director of the Centre for Human–AI Information Environments (CHAI). His research examines how search engines, recommender systems, chatbots and large language models support people’s information needs, focusing on how these systems function, how their effectiveness can be measured, and how they can be designed to better serve users. Working at the intersection of computing, information science and social science, Falk also investigates fairness, accountability, transparency and ethics in automated systems through the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, and misinformation, fake news and fact-checking through RMIT’s FactLab.

Falk’s work spans human–AI information interactions, responsible and ethical AI, misinformation and fact-checking, and the design of fair and transparent algorithmic systems. He also contributes to research integrity and governance as Chair of the RMIT Human Research Ethics Committee and serves on the RMIT Academic Board and its Research Committee.

Executives

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Damiano Spina

STEM Computing Technologies
Portrait of Damiano Spina

Dr. Damiano Spina is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University. He is an Enabler Co-Lead at CHAI, an Associate Investigator at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S), the RMIT Research Lead at the Australian Internet Observatory (AIO), a member of the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE), and an ACM Distinguished Speaker. He received his PhD in Computer Science from UNED (Spain) in 2014.

His research focuses on Information Retrieval (IR), Text Analytics, and Human-AI interaction, with particular emphasis on interactive IR (including conversational assistants and Retrieval-Augmented Generation) and the evaluation of information access systems, encompassing both effectiveness measures and fairness-aware evaluation. Dr. Spina has authored over 90 peer-reviewed publications in leading conferences (ACM SIGIR, ACM UbiComp, ACM CIKM, ACM SIGIR CHIIR, ECIR, CLEF) and journals (ACM TOIS, IP&M, JASIST). His contributions have been recognized with awards such as Best Evaluation Paper (ECIR 2019), Best Short Paper (ECIR 2020), and Best Poster Award (UbiComp 2023). He has also received the ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA, 2020 - 2023) and the 2021 RMIT Award for Research Impact (Technology). His team won the 1st place at the international SIGIR 2025 LiveRAG Challenge organised by the Technology Innovation Institute (TII).

Beyond academia, Dr. Spina is known as Mestre Camaleão in the Capoeira community, teaching the Afro-Brazilian martial art at Associação de Capoeira Descendente do Pantera (ACDP), and performs samba music with the Melbourne-based band Wombatuque.

Dana Mckay

STEM Computing Technologies

Fabio Zambetta

STEM Computing Technologies

Haytham Fayek

STEM Computing Technologies
Portrait of Haytham Fayek

Jessica Balanzategui

DSC Media/Communication
Portrait of Jessica Balanzategui

Jenny Zhang

STEM Computing Technologies

Johanne Trippas

STEM Computing Technologies

Dr Johanne Trippas is a researcher working at the intersection of conversational systems, interactive information retrieval, human-computer interaction, and dialogue analysis. Trippas has held research roles across leading institutions and collaborates widely with international partners in both academia and industry. Since 2015, they have authored more than 75 publications and delivered 32 invited talks. This work has been recognised with 17 prizes, honours, and awards.

Trippas is particularly interested in how conversational systems can revolutionise information seeking, especially through generative interactive information retrieval and novel interfaces beyond traditional text search. Collaborations span more than 25 industry partners and over 80 academic researchers at institutions such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Ambulance Victoria.

Trippas actively contributes to the research community by chairing 19 research and conference committees, including serving as Vice Chair of the ACM SIGIR Artifact Evaluation Committee and as a local organiser of the A*-ranked ACM SIGIR conference. These contributions reflect a strong commitment to advancing the field of interactive information systems through research, leadership, and service.

Lawrence Cavedon

STEM Computing Technologies

Business Manager

  • Carolyn Robinson - STEM  Leading Research Centre

Members

  • Kate Anderson - STEM Computing Technologies
  • Daniel Beck - STEM Computing Technologies
  • George Buchanan - STEM Computing Technologies
  • Jeffrey Chan - STEM Computing Technologies
  • Nicola Henry - DSC Global, Urban & Social Studies
  • Danula Hettiachchi - STEM Computing Technologies
  • Allison Jin - STEM Computing Technologies
  • Jonathon Kolieb - CoBL Law
  • Sarah Polkinghorne - DSC Global, Urban & Social Studies
  • Alexa Ridgway - DSC Global, Urban & Social Studies
  • Lida Rashidi - STEM Computing Technologies
  • Yongli Ren - STEM Computing Technologies
  • Allison Jin - STEM Computing Technologies
  • Lauren Saling - STEM Health & Biomedical Sciences
  • Mark Sanderson - STEM Computing Technologies
  • Nicole Shackleton - CoBL Law
  • Senuri Weijenayake - STEM Computing Technologies
  • Oleg Zendel - STEM Computing Technologies

PhD Students

  • Joann Cattlin - DSC Global, Urban & Social Studies
  • Mary Greenshields - DSC Global, Urban & Social Studies
  • Zhidian Lin - STEM Computing Technologies
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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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