Ambika Shahu is a postdoctoral researcher at the Intelligent User Interfaces group at Interdisciplinary Transformation University Austria. She pursued her doctorate in Human-Computer Interaction at TU Wien in the Artifact-based Computing and User Research Lab. 

Her research explores how virtual assistants can evolve from mere functional tools into engaging and supportive digital companions by addressing users' psychological needs, based on Self-Determination Theory. Through a mixed-methods approach, she investigates how autonomy, competence, and relatedness can be fostered using companion technologies, offering design guidelines for creating meaningful and adaptive interactions. 

With a background in Cognitive Science and Computer Science, she completed her Master's degree at IIIT Hyderabad, where she was awarded a full scholarship and received funding for her thesis from the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), India. 

She has extensive research and industry experience, having worked as a UX Researcher for projects for Google India, a UX Researcher at PEAT GmbH, and a Research Intern at Microsoft India. Her research has led to peer-reviewed publications in venues including CHI, MobileHCI, ACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies, and Mensch und Computer. 

She was awarded the INTERACT 2023 Reviewers’ Choice Best Paper Award and has served as an Accessibility & Diversity Chair for MUM 2024.

zuletzt geändert: Apr 2025