We are absolutely thrilled and immensely proud to announce that Dr. Katerina Stepanova, a former PhD stu­dent from our research group, has been awarded the pres­ti­gious ACM SIGCHI Outstanding Dissertation Award for 2025! This recog­ni­tion show­cases Katerina’s excep­tional talent, ded­i­ca­tion, and ground­break­ing research in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. See https://medium.com/sigchi/announcing-the-2025-acm-sigchi-awards-17c1feaf865f for details on the award.

Her dis­ser­ta­tion intro­duces Intercorporeal Design, a novel frame­work trans­lat­ing inter­cor­po­re­al­ity into a prac­ti­cal design approach for fos­ter­ing human con­nec­tion through tech­nol­ogy. Employing soma design and autoethnog­ra­phy, her work explores inno­v­a­tive VR and embod­ied inter­ac­tion applications.

The award cita­tion high­lights the remark­able depth and clar­ity of Katerina’s work, stating:

“Dr. Katerina Stepanova’s beau­ti­fully writ­ten dis­ser­ta­tion pio­neers Intercorporeal Design, a ground­break­ing frame­work that trans­lates inter­cor­po­re­al­ity into a prac­ti­cal design approach for fos­ter­ing gen­uine human con­nec­tion through tech­nol­ogy. Masterfully bal­anc­ing theory and prac­tice, she applies soma design and autoethnog­ra­phy to explore truly inno­v­a­tive appli­ca­tions of VR and embod­ied inter­ac­tion. Her boundary-pushing projects chal­lenge the field’s fix­a­tion on visual real­ism, high­light the power of inter­dis­ci­pli­nary research, and demon­strate excep­tional the­o­ret­i­cal depth, cohe­sion, and clar­ity. The results are never short of inspir­ing.”

Katerina’s research chal­lenges con­ven­tional approaches, moving beyond the pur­suit of visual real­ism to explore the pro­found poten­tial of embod­ied expe­ri­ences. Her inter­dis­ci­pli­nary approach and rig­or­ous method­ol­ogy have pro­duced truly inspir­ing and impact­ful results.

It has been an honour to have been part of Katerina’s remark­able jour­ney. Witnessing her intel­lec­tual growth and the devel­op­ment of her ground­break­ing ideas has been a privilege.

Congratulations, Katerina! Your achieve­ments are truly well-deserved, and we are excited to see the con­tin­ued impact of your work. We know you will con­tinue to inspire and inno­vate in the years to come.