Auste Simkute
Programme:
Design - MPhil/PhD
Start date:
Sep-19
Mode of study:
Full time
Research title:
Explainability Through Design in AI and Data-Driven Media
Biography
Auste is a PhD Candidate in Design, funded by the EPSRC and BBC. Her research explores the potential applications of design in explainable data-driven decision-making in media and other domains.
Before embarking on her PhD Auste received her MA in Psychology from the University of Aberdeen in 2019. During her Psychology studies Auste was heavily involved in research projects of the Aging Cognition and Emotion Lab where she explored aging effects on attention and sarcasm recognition. Auste aims to use her multidisciplinary knowledge and research skills for the development of effective human-centred explainability design guidelines.
Auste is also an editor of the Newsletter for Edinburgh Futures Institute's Postgraduate Researchers and a member of the AI Ethics & Society group.
Auste’s current research interests lie in the areas of explainability and human-in-the-loop. Her doctoral thesis investigates the role of explainability interface design in situations where data-driven tools are used to support decision-making. The project is a multidisciplinary study of design, cognitive psychology and human factors. Auste aims to combine the knowledge from these research areas to develop design guidelines for tailored explainability, that would enable experts to effectively use their naturalistic decision-making strategies. Her objective is to impact how explainability is used to support human expertise and agency in data-driven decision making across various domains.