Dr. Dena Al Thani

Dr. Dena Al-Thani is currently an assistant professor in the College of Science and Engineering at Hamad bin Khalifa University. Dr. Dena research areas of interests are inclusive design, designing for eHealth and users evaluation studies. Her academic and research vocation is to explore and demonstrate how HCI as a field of applied inquiry can contribute to building a more inclusive society. In 2016, Dr. Dena Al Thani was awarded her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Queen Mary University of London; her thesis is specialized in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and inclusive design.

Dr. Dena teaches two postgraduate courses: Advanced Data Structures and Algorithms and interactive design for healthcare. She is currently the Director of Interdisciplinary Programs. As part of this role she launched two new maters program: Masters of Data Analytics for Health Management and Master in Information System for Health Management. Dr. Dena also serves as the Chair of Outreach and partnership committee at College of Science and Engineering, where she works on the organization of partnerships with main stakeholders in Qatar and leads the organizing the College Research Open Day.

Dr. Al-Thani is now actively publishing papers in high ranked journals and international conferences and book chapters. Dr. Dena supervises three Ph.D. students and 5 MSc students. Most of her students work in the field related to assistive technology and health. As part of Research work at HBKU, Dr. Dena has received four national and internal grants.

Dr. Dena is keen to see the impact of her research on assistive technology research in Qatar and in the world. She is a part-time consultant for ICT Access Innovation Research in Mada Center, where she work with the Innovation and Research team. Dr Al-Thani actively participates as a keynote speaker and a panelist in key world forums that focus on accessibility and inclusive design. In February 2016, Dr Al-Thani took apart as a panelist in the annual meeting of the UN council working group on internet policy issues. Later that year, she was officially invited to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to speak in the UN Human Rights Social Forum. In April 2018, Dr. Al-Thani has chaired the scientific committee in the 2nd Gulf Region Education and Assistive Technology Conference (GREAT’2018). In World Health Innovation Summit (2018), Dr. Dena represented the State of Qatar in Human-centered Design Research group. In June of this year (2019), Dr. Dena participated as the main speaker in the panel discussion on how technology can help people with autism, on the sidelines of the 12 sessions of the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.