Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas is a scientist specialising in understanding how animals can control computer devices and use them to manage their environment and social connections. She is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the University of Glasgow, where she leads the Animal-Computer Interaction Lab.
Her team has created and deployed technologies for animals in homes and zoos internationally. Her work has secured over £1.4 million in research grants, including an ERC Starting Grant (2026-2030), and gained global recognition, featuring in Netflix documentary series ‘Future of‘ and a TED highlighted talk. She serves as an associate editor for IJHCS, is on the ACM ACI International Conference Steering Committee and collaborates and consults for industry. In 2026, due to Ilyena’s experience in animal technology, she was appointed to the Home Office-sponsored Animals in Science Committee, advising the UK Government on animal technology.
Designing for Individuals and Groups of Animals
LemurLounge, 2024
Animal Internet Devices
Parrot-to-Parrot Video Caller, 2023/2024
Supporting Animal-Human Relationships via Technology
DogPhone, 2021
Multimodality and Novel Input Methods for Animals
Giraffe Multimodal Audio Device, 2023
Ilyena publishes across computer and animal science, receiving paper awards at ACM CHI (one of the top Human-Computer Interaction venues), ACM ISS, and ACM ACI. She was the general chair of the ACM ACI Conference in 2024 hosted at Glasgow University and has given keynotes at ACM/IEEE HRI and ACM MUM in 2026. She is also an invited member of the Scottish Primate Research Group. Her research has global recognition, regularly featured in international news, TV, and radio, with over 6,000 articles online about her work, 550k+ views on YouTube talks and online presentations, and three features in The New York Times.
Ilyena has previously been awarded the prestigious Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Fellowship and has received funding from the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT), the Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SISCA), and the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW). She has consulted and published with industry, such as Snapchat, Microsoft Research and Samsung, contributing to executive reports and allocation of industry funds.
She has partnered with Blair Drummond Safari Park and Zoo, Edinburgh Zoo and with Korkeasaari Zoo. As part of this work, she has written on technology policy in zoos for the British and Irish Association of Zoos & Aquariums and spoken on the same topic for the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas
Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas 