CS Special Seminar: Deepika Yadav "Designing Digital Tools for Supporting Learning and Awareness in Health"

Designing Digital Tools for Supporting Learning and Awareness in Health

Deepika Yadav
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
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Abstract: Access to quality health information and services is a universal concern, yet people’s understanding of their bodies is deeply shaped by individual, political, and socio-cultural contexts in which they live. Working at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction and women’s health, my research explores how digital technologies can help people understand their bodies and health in ways that are rooted in their lived experiences, body knowledge, and local contexts.  

I will share highlights from my current work, including the design of touch-based technologies for intimate body literacy, qualitative insights into the use of intimate health technologies in public settings, and field-based research on low-cost, community-oriented solutions for maternal and child health education. Through these projects and future interests, I will reflect on the broader potential of redefining personal health by designing digital tools that foster deeper connections—with one’s own body and with others.

Bio: Deepika is a postdoctoral researcher in the Division of Media Technology and Interaction Design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Her research lies at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and health and wellbeing, with a focus on designing, developing, and studying digital tools that support learning and awareness in health. She is interested in how technology can empower individuals to better understand their bodies and health by creating tools that are accessible, contextually grounded, and that open up new possibilities for embodied knowledge.

Deepika has extensively worked on designing and field-deploying mobile learning tools for community health workers in India, a project that was awarded the Grand Challenges Award (Round 20) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and received an Honorable Mention for the ACM India Doctoral Dissertation Award. Her current work focuses on intimate health, including the qualitative examination of intimate care technologies and the design of tools for intimate body awareness. She was previously a Digital Futures Fellow at Stockholm University and holds a PhD from the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIIT-Delhi), India.