I’m a Design Researcher who is interested in the partnerships people build with autonomous agents.

Nazli Cila_BW.png

I’m currently an Assistant Professor at Delft University of Technology, Department of Human-Centered Design. My work combines interaction design with humanities, where I integrate empirical work (i.e., experimentation, future modelling, and prototyping) with practical and ethical issues surrounding collaborations with agents. At TU Delft, I co-direct the AI DeMoS Lab.

My academic background is in industrial design. I hold a PhD degree from TU Delft. I also worked as a Researcher/Lecturer at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and as a Research Assistant at Middle East Technical University. I have been teaching courses on Design Research and Interaction Design, coaching students during their graduation, and co-founded a Master program on Digital Design. I publish regularly in human-computer interaction journals and conferences; and lecture on the above topics at (inter)national events.

Research interests

Currently, I’m interested in three big questions:

(1) How to design the collaborations with agents? Designing collaborations with agents requires investigating carefully when to delegate to them, how to train them with the art of diplomacy and social grace, and how to negotiate with them when the intentions are not aligned. As the agents are capable of learning and evolving, it is also required to understand the changing dynamics of the collaboration through longitudinal interaction.

(2) How to make the collaborations meaningful? While AI and robotics researchers primarily work with well-defined problem specifications, interaction design necessitates putting humans in the loop. The development of agents should seek not to advance autonomy per se, but rather to enable sustainable and fruitful collaboration. It is crucial that human values and experience inform and shape the algorithms.

(3) What does this new framing mean for interaction design? Having to deal with new forms of agency and intelligence opens up a new design space and brings new challenges for interaction designers. It requires understanding how to work with data and AI as new materials in the HCI practice, and re-imagining interaction as collaboration with humans.

Projects