Elizabeth Ankrah

Hi It’s Liz

As a fourth-year Ph.D. Candidate, she co-designs with brilliant individuals including children, teens, young adults, researchers, and community partners to discover possibilities.

Currently, her work aims to answer:
How might we design sociotechnical interventions that support the successful transition of adolescent and young adult (AYA) childhood cancer survivors?

Attending the University of California, Irvine in the Department of Informatics, Liz is advised by Dr. Gillian Hayes and is a member of the STAR Lab and affiliated with the Steckler Center for Responsible, Ethical, and Accessible Technology (CREATE), and CERES however you can often find her in Laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing and Interaction (LUCI) space.

Research Area of Interest:
Her research lies at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), user-centered design and Health Informatics, Health Equity, and community-based participatory research. She is interested in understanding to co-design sociotechnical systems, processes, and interventions in support of successful collaboration.

Research Approach:
Liz loves the process of learning through actions. She is a design and qualitative researcher. She employs action research principles, working to address identified problems with community partners (i.e. patients, clinicians, community non-profits, and other researchers) through the co-design of socio-technical interventions. Liz uses methods such as interviews, focus groups, co-design workshops, diary studies, digital health interventions, and more!

• Writing Dissertation Proposal: Planning final study
• Data Analysis
• Writing research papers for publication
• CERES Retreat – Visiting CICESE at Ensenada, Mexico (Upcoming)

Memorable experiences

• Attended CERES Fall Intensive (Sept ’22)
• Netflix Internship (June – Sept ’22)
• Visit Capetown, South Africa to conduct Research (May 22)
• Present Virtually for CHI 20022

• ICS Innovation Fellowship, 2021
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, 2021
• Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR) Summer Immersion Program, 2020
• University of California Irvine, Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, 2019