Dr Caluã de Lacerda Pataca
Caluã is a Lecturer in Computer Science at Birmingham City University. His research draws from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and computing accessibility, with a particular focus on improving access to spoken communication for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) individuals.
He is best known for his work on expressive captioning systems that move beyond word-for-word transcription to represent tone, emotion, and other non-speech information through visual and multimodal design strategies. This work combines machine learning, interaction design, and user-centred evaluation to explore how captions can better reflect the richness of speech.
He completed his PhD in Computing and Information Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology (USA), where his research received recognition at leading international venues including ACM CHI and ACM ASSETS. His work has been nominated for Best Paper awards and has received Honourable Mentions.
Before academia, he worked for several years as a designer and co-founded a design-centred software studio in Brazil, leading multidisciplinary teams on educational and digital platforms.
His broader research interests include multimodal interfaces, haptic interaction, emotion-aware systems, and inclusive design.