Russell Beale is Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, University of Birmingham and Director of the HCI Centre which exists to promote leading-edge research and development in theories, designs, methodologies, and systems to support people in whatever they want to achieve.

The group acts as a focal point for research, development and expertise in anything that has the user at the core. This includes:
• mobile computing: laptops, handhelds, tablets, phones
• internet-based systems: e-commerce, web design, shared spaces, communities
• new media and new technologies
• ambient computing: ad-hoc interaction with the environment, other users, other systems
• intelligent agents: entities acting for or on behalf of the user
• usability and design: theories and methodologies to promote effective, usable, enjoyable systems
• visualisation, virtual and augmented realities: the representation of complex information in effective ways
• gaming, edutainment
• interaction technologies: speech, gesture, vision

Russell’s interests range broadly across the border between interactive systems and society, with a particular focus on using artificial intelligence in interactive systems. They include: Theories of interaction; Usability; Mobile and pervasive computing; Intelligent agents; Genetic algorithms; Neural networks; and e-learning and HCI education.