I study how people communicate using technology, and turn those insights into things that matter. At Microsoft Research I direct programs on human–AI collaboration, meeting intelligence, and AI systems as tools for thought.
I am part of the People-Centric AI team, developing knowledge, model capabilities, and experiences that enable human agency, support creativity and collaboration, and ensure equitable participation. I lead the Intentional Meetings workstream, investigating how to evolve purposeful meeting systems, behaviours, and cultures with Generative AI.
I run cross-org initiatives, shape strategy, and spend energy making research legible to the people who can act on it—whether that’s a product team, an executive audience, or a public one. Our New Future of Work thought leadership has reached well beyond Microsoft, into industry and policy conversations globally.
My training is in qualitative sociology but have now used/managed numerous methods to understand how choices that people make about communicative purpose intersect with the choices designers make about technology design. I'm also now exploring how AI can augment human sensemaking for research, and how vibe-coding resources can change research practice. I've mentored researchers, postdocs, and PhD through Honours students, and partnered closely with product, design, and policy leads to bring research to life.
I have co-led research that transferred to Microsoft Teams (Companion Mode, Spatial Audio). I've delivered evidence-backed decision presentations and prototypes, and managed initatives to present those of others, to shape the Teams meetings strategy. I've driven AI-driven experiences both internally and open-source (such as Promptions to help users steer AI). As part of the Tools for Thought project, I've delivered educational presentations on AI usage to multiple organisational groups.
Explore how 30 years of research evolved through four major threads—from identifying challenges in remote collaboration to designing AI systems that augment human intentionality. The portfolio traces the progression from problem identification through controlled validation to scaled deployment.
Partner Investigator, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quality Work in the Digital Age (2026–2032).
Previously Lecturer in Strategic Communication, The University of Queensland.
PhD Sociology (Communication), University at Albany, SUNY, 2010. Chaired by Professor Emerita Anita Pomerantz.
MA English, The University of Queensland, 2000.
BA (Hons) English, The University of Queensland, 1995.