Nova Ahmed

Dr. Nova Ahmed is a computer scientist working as a Professor at North South University in Bangladesh. She has finished her PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA and came back to Bangladesh to make changes.  She used her experiences of working with sensors to fight social challenges such as systems to protect women from sexual harassment as she returned. She continued to use her work that could support marginal communities with low cost, locally available solution approaches. Her specific research interest lies in Feminist HCI and ICT for Development.

ACM Involvement

Nova has led the SIGCHI Dhaka chapter and has organized three Summer and Winter Schools that gathered researchers from South Asian region including India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh supported by SIGCHI development grant. She has participated in other SIGCHI sponsored events as a participant and as a speaker taking place in India and Sri Lanka. She organized a collocated event with Ubicomp to bridge researchers from developing country to join the conference titled Researchers Across the Border in 2018.

Nova has served as a member of SIGCHI Cares during the Covid-19 pandemic period, she had to leave when her close family member was terminally ill (who eventually passed away). He research work also focuses on social justice where technology can play a role for marginal communities her coauthored work received CHI best paper award, Impact Award, etc. She has served as a Chair for Alt.CHI for two consecutive years during the pandemic period. Apart from the traditional academic outlets, she engaged in writing in the student newspaper, coauthoring with a senior researcher (Elizabeth Churchill) to showcase the emerging women in computing stars in the ACM Student magazine: Crossroads. Her work shows her commitment to improving the space for women and marginalized communities. Her work has been funded by Google, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Global Development Network internationally, and by BRAC, North South University, United International University, Ministry of ICT nationally.

• Connecting Systems with Humans
  Over more than a decade long journey of research and exploration from a developing country, there has been challenges and opportunities where technology could be a vehicle to solve critical...