Professor Luigina Ciolfi is a Professor of Human Computer Interaction in the School of Applied Psychology, and member of the People and Technology Research Group. She is a Co-Principal Investigator of Lero - the Research Ireland Research Centre for Software.

Professor Ciolfi holds a Laurea (BA+MA) summa cum laude from the University of Siena (Italy) and a PhD from the University of Limerick, both specialising in Human-Computer Interaction. She has extensive work experience in academia internationally. Professor Ciolfi previously held the post of Professor of Human Centred Computing at Sheffield Hallam University (UK), Lecturer and Senior Researcher at the University of Limerick, and held visiting roles at Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute and at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

At UCC, Professor Ciolfi is currently Vice-Head of the School of Applied Psychology and co-convenor of the Digital Cultures, New Media and Cultural Analytics research cluster (Future Humanities Institute). She was Chair of the Academic Council Research and Innovation Committee from 2022 to 2025.

Professor Ciolfi’s core research interest is the human experience of and practices around digital technologies, particularly when collaboration, cooperation and coordination are involved. As well as HCI, she contributes to the field of CSCW - Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Her research connects social sciences, computing and design. She is very interested in participatory approaches and methodologies and in studying the process of how technology is collaboratively designed, used, and evaluated.

Professor Ciolfi has worked on many national and international research projects and have been PI/named investigator on successful grant proposals for a total value in excess of €8M. She has published extensively in her field and led several research teams and academic committees. She has delivered over fifty invited talks and fourteen keynotes in sixteen countries, and served as an expert reviewer for many universities and for national and international agencies, including the European Commission. Professor Ciolfi actively contributes to international organisations in her field, such as ACM SIGCHI and EUSSET, and has held scientific leadership roles for conferences such as CHI, ACM CSCW, ECSCW, ACM TEI. She is an Associate Editor of the CSCW Journal.

Human-Computer Interaction, socio-technical systems, design methods, qualitative research methods, CSCW/social computing. Currently teaching on BA Psychology & Computing, BA Applied Psychology, MA Applied Psychology, MA Work and Organisational Psychology/Behaviour.