About Me
I’m a third year Ph.D. Candidate at Brown University studying Computer Science. I work in the Brown HCI Lab advised by Jeff Huang.
My research focuses on creating systems to enhance technology-driven accessibility in mental health support, legal aid, and public health information.
Previously, I worked as a software engineer at Pantera Energy and then as a Research Associate at HCI for Social Well-being Lab. I received my B.Sc. from NUCES in 2018, where I majored in Computer Science.
Updates
May 2023: I passed my comprehensive exams. I’m now a Ph.D. Candidate.
April 2023: I presented the Live Typing paper at CHI in Hamburg, Germany.
December 2022: My paper on collaborative tools for online presence was accepted to #CHI2023!
September 2021: I started my Ph.D. at Brown!
August 2021: I resigned from my position as a Research Associate at HCI for Social Well-being Lab at LUMS.
Research Projects
Sochiatrist: a social data extractor used to predict signals of interconnecteness and self-reflection from social messaging data [website]
Scalable CBT: an accessible chat-based platform that provides peer support through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) [website]
Live Typing: real-time typing indicators designed to increasing social presence for improved collaboration and task performance [code] [npm package]
Corona Assisted: Pakistan’s first chat-based platform that integrates eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) for fact-checking information on COVID-19 [website]
HumQadam (Securing Activists for Freedom and Empowerment]: Pakistan’s first question-answer system designed to educate women regarding legal actions that can be undertaken for violence and abuse [app]
Publications
HCI work I have published.
“Together but not together”: Evaluating Typing Indicators for Interaction-Rich Communication [pdf]
Zainab Iftikhar, Yumeng Ma, Jeff Huang
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI). Hamburg, Germany, 2023
Child-Computer Interaction in the Global South: Designing for Children on the Margins [pdf]
Suleman Shahid, Zainab Iftikhar, Rabiah Arshad, Omar Mubin, Abdullah Al Mahmud
In Interaction Design and Children, 2021.
Technology, Privacy, and User Opinions of COVID-19 Mobile Apps for Contact Tracing: Systematic Search and Content Analysis [pdf]
Mahmoud Elkhodr, Omar Mubin, Zainab Iftikhar, Maleeha Masood, Belal Alsinglawi, Suleman Shahid, Fady Alnajjar
Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) 23, no. 2 (2021): e23467.
Designing Parental Monitoring and Control Technology: A Systematic Review [pdf]
Zainab Iftikhar, Qutaiba Rohan ul Haq, Osama Younus, Taha Sardar, Hammad Arif, Mobin Javed, Suleman Shahid
Human-Computer Interaction–INTERACT 2021: 18th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Bari, Italy, August 30–September 3, 2021, Proceedings, Part IV 18
Blog
Fun things I develop and share with the internet.