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Graduate
SIAT graduand Katerina Stepanova leverages modern technology to foster embodied connections
Katerina Stepanova graduates this week with a PhD in Interactive Arts and Technology. Her doctoral research focused on designing immersive technologies, such as virtual reality, to cultivate feelings of embodied connection in users.
After completing a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science, Katerina joined the School of Interactive Arts & Technology’s iSpace Lab to pursue a Master of Science. Following the completion of her master’s degree, Katerina continued on academically to SIAT's doctoral program and recently completed her PhD dissertation titled “Intercorporeal Design: Staging Mediated Embodied Interactions to Dissolve Self-Other Boundary to Support Felt Connection” under the supervision of professor Bernhard Riecke.
Katerina, who had always been passionate about creative and embodied practices, chose SIAT for her graduate studies because she was looking for an interdisciplinary program that would allow her to continue exploring her curiosities about the human mind, while also adding an additional practical element—technology.
“SIAT offered a unique, interdisciplinary environment where I could keep pursuing my divergent interests in an integrated manner,” she says.
Katerina credits SIAT’s interdisciplinarity as a highlight of her graduate career.
“The best part of my graduate career at SIAT was the opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary team of colleagues,” she says. “SIAT brings together students from a vast range of backgrounds, from architects to composers, engineers, nurses, dancers, psychologists, and computer scientists. This allowed me to work on complex transdisciplinary projects benefiting from the synergy of everyone’s skills and perspectives.”
Katerina’s doctoral research at SIAT explored how designers and researchers can design immersive technology, such as virtual reality, to cultivate feelings of embodied connection that users of the technology can form with themselves, with others, and with the world around them.
One research project that Katerina was involved in at SIAT explored designing an art installation that guides immersants to synchronize their breathing with other users to develop an intimate embodied connection (JeL project).
Another project addressed the missing tactility in many teleconferencing and virtual reality applications by employing pseudo-haptic illusions. These pseudo-haptic illusions involved integrating audio-visual cues to elicit the illusion of tactile sensation that allowed users to touch, play, and dance together in a virtual environment over distance (Embodied Telepresent Connection project).
At SIAT, Katerina also had the opportunity to be a part of several international visits. She received a research grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst; DAAD) to conduct a research project in Germany. She was also the recipient of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant that helped to fund a research visit to Sweden with her external supervisor, professor Kristina Höök.
Supported by these two grants, Katerina spent ten months in Europe experiencing and learning from other research environments while working on her projects.
“On these trips I also came to appreciate SIAT more, as I could not only see how the research environment at SIAT differs from other institutions, but I have learned how respected our program is abroad, as most people I talked to knew and admired many of SIAT faculty,” says Katerina.
Katerina graduates this October with a PhD in Interactive Arts & Technology. She has been awarded the prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship and, following graduation, Katerina will be going to Sweden to work on a project designing technologies that allow users to feel a connection with nature.
When asked about her advice to current or future SIAT students, Katerina advises new students to take advantage of available opportunities to learn and to not be afraid of failure.
“Being a graduate student is a privileged time where we can be driven by our curiosities and take time to develop new skills, knowledge, and experiences with a minimal cost of failure,” she says. “Trying and failing provides us with valuable insight in our learning journey as graduate students.”
Learn more about Katerina's research at the SIAT iSpace Lab.