Speakers

Catherine Sarah Holloway

Place of Birth : Ireland
Position : Academic Director of Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub), Professor of Interaction Design & Innovation at UCL, United Kingdom
Field of study : Designing assistive and accessible technology and developing policy and tools to support disability innovation

Cathy is the Academic Director of Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub) and a Professor of Interaction Design and Innovation at UCL’s Interactions Centre (UCLIC). Cathy also co-leads the £50m UKAid’s flagship assistive technology program AT2030, which has been 100% match-funded, reaching 29 million people across 41 countries. Within AT2030, she has led innovation ecosystem development for assistive technology, including establishing Africa’s first assistive technology accelerator (innovate Now), developing an impact fund, and supporting ventures to enter global markets. Cathy leads work for the Asian Development Bank on financial inclusion and has previously worked with the World Bank on inclusive education whilst maintaining a technical research portfolio developing novel assistive technologies and researching innovation strategies and approaches. Cathy contributed to the WHO and UNICEF’s first Global Report on Assistive Technology as an author and via the Expert Advisory Panel and sits on the WHO Technical Advisory Group for Assistive Technology. Cathy has co-led the GDI Hub at UCL to be the first WHO Collaborating Centre on Assistive Technology. Cathy has supported UK policy through the Commission for Mission-orientated Policy and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Strategic Advisory Team for Healthcare Technology. She is the Program Committee Chair in AI and Assistive Technologies for the UNESCO Centre for Artificial Intelligence. Cathy has published over 190 papers on disability innovation alongside a recent book, Disability Interactions – Creating Inclusive Innovations.

• 2020 – Present Professor of Interaction Design & Innovation, UCL
• 2016 – 2020 Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor, name change 2018, UCL
• 2012 – 2016 Lecturer in Accessibility Engineering, UCL
• 2012 – 2016 PAMELA Research Manager & Accessibility Research Group Lead, UCL
• 2009 – 2011 Research Assistant, UCL
• 2004 – 2006 R&D Engineer, Medtronic, Ireland