Stephen Elms
Doctoral Student at UCL Institute of Education
Stephen Elms has built a diverse career in design and management over the last two decades. After amassing an impressive list of backstage production credits on Broadway, marketing and ad campaigns in New York City and London, Stephen has returned to academia working toward his PhD in Culture, Communication, and Media at University College London (UCL).
Building on the industry work he’s done on user experience (UX) and human-centered design, his research will examine online learning platforms and how they will retrain workers soon to be displaced by Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. As part of the Knowledge Lab, within the UCL Institute of Education, he is exploring the convergence of Human–computer interaction (HCI), Educational technology (EdTech) and AI .
Independent of his studies, he currently serves as the Vice President of the Columbia University Club of London (CUCL) alumni association with over 5,000 members. Stephen is an active member with the London chapters of Interaction Design Foundation (IDF) and the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). In 2020, he joined the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and its special interest group on computer–human interaction (SIGCHI).
Stephen holds a B.F.A. from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, an M.F.A. from Columbia University in the City of New York. In the summer of 2019 he completed a MicroMasters with the University of Michigan’s School of Information on User Experience Research and Design.
Education
University College London | Institute of Education
PhD, Culture, Communication, and Media
2020- In Progress
PhD, Culture, Communication, and Media
2020- In Progress
Doctoral advisors: Professor Allison Littlejohn, Professor Kaśka Porayska-Pomsta
Columbia University in the City of New York | School of the Arts
MFA, Theatre Management & Producing
2005 – 2008
MFA, Theatre Management & Producing
2005 – 2008
University of North Carolina School of the Arts | Design & Production
BFA, Lighting Design
1994 – 1998
BFA, Lighting Design
1994 – 1998
University of Michigan | School of Information
MicroMasters, User Experience (UX) Research and Design
2018 – 2019
MicroMasters, User Experience (UX) Research and Design
2018 – 2019