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Marie-Monique Schaper focuses on design research in the intersection of interaction design, embodiment and emerging technologies (AI, AR, IoT, e-textiles). She is an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) and Serra Húnter Fellow at the Department for Computer Engineering and Digital Design, Universitat de Lleida in Spain. Her work explores novel educational strategies and digital tools for learning about emerging technologies through the lens of Computational Empowerment. She is particularly interested in critical approaches that address intersectional perspectives on embodiment, gender, and ethnicity.  

Previously, Dr. Schaper was Post-Doc Researcher at the Center for Computational Thinking and Design at Aarhus University (Denmark) and Guest Professor at University Viena (Austria) at the Center for Teacher Education. She has also collaborated in research projects and as a lecturer with Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain), Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and ELISAVA – Barcelona School of Design and Engineering (Spain). Furthermore, Dr. Schaper is one of the co-founders of COSICOSA, a cultural association focused on creative, participatory and reflective methodologies for educational exhibitions, learning experiences and didactic materials that promote a critical and committed vision to train future generations as thoughtful users and responsible designers.

Dr. Schaper holds a PhD in Information and Communication Technologies and a Master of Science degree in Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain). She was visiting researcher at the Institut for Communication and Culture – Participatory Information Technology of Aarhus University (Denmark) to deepen and share her knowledge about Participatory Design practices for learning experiences in Cultural Heritage. During her undergraduate studies in Design from the HAWK University of Applied Science and Arts (Hildesheim, Germany), Marie collaborated in different projects at international partner universities such as Kymmenlaakso Polytechnic Kouvola (Finland), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE (Australia). Her work has been published in international conferences, international journals and German design magazines (PAGE). Before returning to academe, Marie spent five years in the industry working as a designer.

Currently, Dr. Schaper collaborates in the project #ACTFEM which addresses the need for social inclusion strategies and the creation of professional opportunities for young vulnerable women at risk of exclusion. The project bridges approaches in performative arts, digital technologies, and feminist education.

Previously, Dr. Schaper was a researcher within the CEED project at Center for Computational Thinking and Design at Aarhus University (Denmark) that explored how to understand and approach emerging technologies from a human-centred perspective enabling children and educators to actively engage with these in secondary education. It addressed the need for understanding both the computational premises and qualities for AI and IoT and their integral relation to everyday and automated decision-making, personal and societal impact.

In the past years, she was involved in several research projects focused on the exploration and development of novel co-design strategies and research methods for the user experience of educational technologies at the Full-Body Interaction Lab at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Further, she collaborated in the project RavalSTEAM and Makers a les Aules in the context of the María de Maeztu Strategic Research Program at Universitat Pompeu Fabra to provide teaching support in STEAM related educational activities for local schools in Barcelona in the context of social inclusion.

She has organised and conducted workshops both with children, teenagers and adults in the field of design thinking, STEAM, maker technologies to promote critical thinking in digital fabrication, co-creation of interactive narratives based on Augmented Reality and co-design of interactive experiences for educational and disruptive technologies (American Space Barcelona, RavalSTEAM, Makers a les Aules, Library Montserat Abelló,  Library Carles Rahola GironaBarcelona Activa, Art al Barri). Dr. Schaper has also carried out workshops in the context of interactive experiences for public spaces (e.g. Barcelona Design Week 2015; Week Experimenta ELISAVA 2019) and cultural institutions such the theatre school Plàudite Teatre) and the Barcelona History museum MUHBA.

In addition, Dr. Schaper has been involved as a volunteer in teaching design and emerging technologies. She has volunteered for GirlsInLab in Barcelona and the programme GirlsTech from Universitat Pompeu Fabra which offered free educational and hands-on STEAM workshops for young girls to promote their interest in technology. At an international level, she provided support for the job creation project Ubunye Beadworks in social entrepreneurship, brand building, brand promotion and social media activities that was organised by The Homestead, a non-profit organisation for street children and their families in Cape Town, South Africa.