Introduction

I’m Dr Nicolas (Nick) Hine.

My love of teaching and thirst for understanding has, until recently, taken me to Goldsmiths, University of London where I was a Senior Lecturer in Computing. I was the Programme Lead for the MSc in User Experience Engineering Programme, and taught various modules such as Human Factors, Computing the User Experience and Applied Topics.

I was, until June 2016, Head of the Technology at Nash College, part of Livability, a charity providing a variety of services for people with disabilities. This was an opportunity to apply technology to the needs of the students to enable them to engage with the college curriculum and to live with greater independence, as well as to ensure that staff and students had access to the technology mediated services that they required.

Before that, for over 25 years I was a lecturer and researcher at the School of Computing at the University of Dundee and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) in Belgium. Previously I ran a training group that worked with disabled adults to prepare them for the world of work, focussing on the use of ICT.

My vocation is to seek to optimise the fit between technology and people. At a professional level I seek to apply the best academic and technical knowledge so that technology can enhance the lives of people. At an academic level that has led me to explore fundamental aspects such as how people with disabilities, older people and children can use technology, and what technology can do for them. I have undertaken these explorations in context of education, telecare and rehabilitation technology. In my early days this domain was referred to as Human Factors. Nowadays it falls within User Experience Engineering,.

Outside work, my passion is travelling in order to discover the world through the lens of a camera, in particular the country of Colombia, the homeland of my wife. I enjoy cooking, particularly exploring the way it represents an artefact of the culture of people. I also collect LEGO, and one day want to find a way to use it as a vehicle for storytelling for young pre-literate children.