Dr Jennifer Cearns
Senior User Experience Researcher
Jennifer Cearns is an Anthropologist who has conducted ethnographic research in Brazil, Cuba, the U.S., Guyana, Panama, Mexico, Spain, and the U.K.
As Fellow in Public Anthropology at the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain & Ireland, she produces and hosts a podcast highlighting current anthropological research, and recently co-curated an exhibition of anthropological research through illustration with Laura Haapio-Kirk.
She also applies her research skills in the private and public sectors as a UX Researcher, and has worked in government and diplomacy, healthcare, publishing, education, and tech/ product design, advocating for people-centred design and policy.
She is currently a Senior UX Researcher at Doctor Care Anywhere, and is researching the role of digital tools in the provision of mental healthcare support.
Affective Algorithms: Designing Empathy in Digital Mental Healthcare
In this talk I will highlight the ways in which digital technologies such as AI, machine learning and algorithms are increasingly being used to identify and signpost patients to the ‘correct’ mental healthcare tools and strategies. Alongside a sharp increase in remote and virtual healthcare provision during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has also been a proliferation of apps and online services offering digital diagnostics, mood-tracking, and even AI-mediated therapy and ‘friendship’.
I will conclude by briefly talking through some of the cultural and ethical issues that arise from the use of these technologies, and how I, as both a cultural anthropologist and a UX Researcher working within digital healthcare, am navigating these issues in my own work.