Abigail Sellen is a Principal Researcher and Deputy Director at Microsoft Research Cambridge in the UK. She also manages the Human Experience & Design (HXD) group, an interdisciplinary group with a focus on the human perspective in computing. HXD is interested in learning from everyday life to inform the design of systems which are both useful and compelling, and in designing technologies which work in partnership with people.
Abigail joined Microsoft in June 2004 from Hewlett Packard Labs, Bristol. She spent 6 years at HP researching many different kinds of topics ranging from appliance design to Web use to mobile technologies. Prior to HP, she spent 7 years at Xerox’s research lab in Cambridge UK (EuroPARC), was cross-appointed to the MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge, and was a Research Fellow at Darwin College, University of Cambridge. Before moving to England, she also worked for other corporate IT labs such as Xerox PARC, Apple Computer, and Bell Northern Research.