Rate My Professor Patrick Oliver

Patrick Olivier is Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the Department of Human Centred Computing, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. He also holds the position of Professor of Digital Health in the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia. Olivier earned his BA in Natural Sciences (Physics) from the University of Cambridge in 1989, Postgraduate Diploma in Computing from the University of Bradford in 1990, MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Wales in 1991, and PhD in Language Engineering from the University of Manchester in 1998. Early in his career, he served as Lecturer at Aberystwyth University and the University of York, advancing to Senior Lecturer, Reader, and Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at Newcastle University, UK, where he founded the Open Lab research group. He co-founded Lexicle Ltd. in 2001, pioneering the first commercially deployed 3D synthetic character for automated customer service, and Axivity Ltd. around 2013, which provides the most widely used physical activity monitor in global clinical studies. At Monash, he established Action Lab: Australia, expanding it to Malaysia and Indonesia, focusing on multidisciplinary research intersecting communities, technology, and social innovation. Previously, he was Principal Investigator for the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Civics (supervising 57 PhD students) and the EPSRC Digital Economy Research Centre (20 Research Fellows) in the UK, and he coined the term and field of Digital Civics around 2013.

His research specializations include digital health, co-design, implementation science, technology-enhanced learning, collaborative computing, social computing, and human-computer interaction. Olivier has garnered significant recognition, including best paper awards at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2020, and is the most-published researcher at CHI with 83 papers. Notable publications encompass "Empowering Parents of Adolescents at Elevated Risk of Suicide: Co-Designing an Adaptation to a Coach-Assisted, Digital Parenting Intervention" (2025), "A coach-assisted, online parenting programme to support parents of adolescents who refuse school: evidence of acceptability and feasibility" (2025), "Adapting Co-Design for Crisis Contexts: Lessons Learned Engaging Nonprofits" (2025), and contributions to experience-centered design in collaboration with Peter Wright and John McCarthy. His work has profoundly influenced human-centred design methods, digital health interventions, and civic technologies, fostering greater community participation in public services such as education, health, and social care through innovative technology applications.