Christopher Bull

I am a Senior Research Associate, and have a Ph.D from Lancaster University.

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My current research focus is in medical informatics, specifically the early detection of dementia through passive monitoring of elderly computer users. This is done by developing novel monitoring tools and performing various text and data mining on logged activity to ascertain any differences in user's patterns of usage over time. My PhD research is focused on exploring design studios in education (from a variety of areas: architecture, product design, art etc.), and how aspects of the environment can be transferred across to Computer Science education; this involves looking at co-located developers during design and implementation phases of software projects (inspired by my Masters Thesis — CoffeeTable). This also relates to my main broad interest of collaboration in software development teams. I was part of the first cohort of the HighWire DTC. My background is in Computer Science and Software Engineering, but have been immersing myself in the Design discipline and exploring how Design and Computing cross. I have a wide and varied interest in many areas of Computer Science including software engineering (in a broad sense), software project management, education in computer science/software engineering, HCI and web development. I have also dabbled in Management Science and Project Management.

Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University

September 2016 - Present | Lancaster

Project: Mobile Age. http://mobile-age.eu/ Mobile Age aims to ensure the inclusion of older adults in digital public services by developing user-friendly mobile applications based on open government data. To achieve this, Mobile Age is developing a platform to allow developers to more easily create apps aimed at older adults. It is also performing a series of co-creation activities to develop demonstrator apps to fulfil needs of the participants, whist demoing the functionality of the platform. Lancaster's specific aim is to improve independent living (through reducing social isolation and loneliness) - the first demonstrator app aims to improve social inclusion. My responsibilities on the project include: design and facilitation of co-creation activities with older adults; development of an analytics SaaS module for 3rd party developers to use when creating their own Mobile Age apps; development of demonstrator apps and RESTful services; liaise and coordinate with partner institutions; disseminating research outputs at conferences; and writing project deliverable reports. This project is funded by the EUs Horizon 2020 program.

Teaching Assistant at Lancaster University

October 2010 - Present | Lancaster

I have had a variety of responsibilities surrounding the education of undergraduate students. I have supervised and taught within practical sessions, helping with students coursework and generally "getting my hands dirty", and I also carry out some tutorials to entire year groups which vary between standard lectures and interactive sessions.

Research Associate at Lancaster University

March 2014 - August 2016 | Lancaster

Project: SAMS (Software Architecture for Mental health Self-management) http://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/sams/ Detection of early markers of mild cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, through participants' computer use. This is achieved through a variety of novel data capture techniques (for low-level mouse and keyboard interactions, as well as higher-level contextual information). This is then analysed to determine patterns of usage through data mining and natural language processing (NLP).

Developer at Cesagen, Lancaster University

July 2009 - September 2009 | Lancaster

Full-time temporary job between academic courses. This job placed me in an agile working environment, where I worked closely with another developer and designed and built interesting and inventive ideas. My role included web development for "The Research Desktop" (sociomics.lancs.ac.uk) and on distributed (and modular) computing.

Lancaster University

2010 – 2015

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Activities: Thesis: Studios in Software Engineering Education

Lancaster University

2009 – 2010

MRes Digital Innovation

Concentration: HighWire DTC (Computing, Managment & Design)

Activities: Thesis: CoffeeTable (highwire-dtc.com/coffeetable/)

Lancaster University

2006 – 2009

BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Software Engineering

Concentration: Computer Science