Clara Mancini, Why We Need to Design Technology For and With Animals

February 22 2025, 17:00 BST/ 12:00 EDT/ 09:00 PST (5pm BST/ 12am EDT/ 9am PST)

Why We Need to Design Technology For and With Animals

Historically, much of human technology has advanced our interests by making it easier for us to outcompete and exploit other animals. With computing technology, animals are increasingly impacted by interventions which remain mostly human-centered.

Instead, the growing field of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) focuses on the nexus between animals and technology from an animal-centered perspective. In 2011, the Animal-Computer Interaction Laboratory was founded to advance the art and science of designing animal-centered interactive systems for a multispecies society, by:

• Studying different kinds of interaction between animals and technology within their habitual contexts;

• Designing computing technology to improve animals' welfare, support animals' activities, and foster intra- and interspecies relationships;

• Developing animal-centered approaches to design technology for and with animals, as legitimate stakeholders and co-designers.

In this lecture, Clara will discuss some of the projects her laboratory has worked on - with cats, dogs, tigers, elephants, and parrots - to illustrate the principles, methods, ethics, and politics informing the design of animal-centered interactive systems. Mancini argues that, beyond yielding design outcomes and processes that improve animals' lives and human-animal relations, ACI fosters attention, sensitivity, and empathy towards other beings, helping us reimagine multispecies relations for a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future.

About the Speaker 

Clara Mancini is a Professor of Animal-Computer Interaction and founding Head of the Animal-Computer Interaction Laboratory in the School of Computing and Communications at The Open University, UK. Her work investigates the interaction between animals and technology, and the nexus between technology, animal wellbeing and justice, and human-animal relations. Her research spans the theory, methodology, practice, and ethics of designing animal-centered interactive systems for and with animals. Clara's work has been published in the leading peer-reviewed computing, interaction design, animal-computer interaction, animal behavior, and welfare venues, and has appeared in international print and broadcast media. She has lectured and refereed worldwide, promoting animal-centered research and design for a multispecies world.

Watch the lecture’s recording below.