School of Computer Science
 

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Horia A. Maior

Assistant Professor in Human-Computer Interaction. Member of the Mixed Reality Laboratory (MRL) and Brain Data Group https://brain-data-uon.gitlab.io/, Faculty of Science

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Biography

Horia A. Maior is an Assistant Professor in Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Nottingham where he co-leads the Brain Data Group, a SIG in the Mixed Reality Lab (MRL). His research sits at the intersection of brain-computer interfaces, physiological sensing, human factors, and responsible innovation, exploring how we can better understand and support users' cognitive and emotional experiences in real-world, interactive systems.

Horia's work bridges computer science, psychology, and design, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration. His research focuses on developing neuroadaptive and affect-aware systems using techniques such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), EEG, and multimodal physiological data. These systems aim to make user interfaces more intelligent and responsive, whether in the context of games, learning environments, or high-stakes safety critical systems. He is also passionate about Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), embedding ethical reflection and public engagement into the development of emerging technologies. Horia regularly collaborates with artists, policymakers, and educators to open up conversations about the future of human-technology interaction.

Horia is a trustee of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FST), supporting dialogue between science, policy, and society. Horia is also a co-founder, trustee, and current secretary of Inspire Foundation Nottingham, a charity supporting STEM education for young people through hands-on learning and mentorship.

Teaching Summary

At Nottingham, Horia teaches software engineering and Human Computer Interaction related modules and supervises MSc and PhD students across human-computer interaction, brain-computer interfaces, and… read more

Selected Publications

  • ZHAO, LINQI, KNIERIM, MICHAEL T, WILSON, MAX L, DICKINSON, PATRICK and MAIOR, HORIA A, Work Hard, Play Harder: Intense Games Enable Recovery from High Mental Workload Tasks
  • REYES-CRUZ, GISELA, BOUDOURAKI, ANDRIANA, PRICE, DOMINIC, PISKOPANI, ANNA-MARIA, BARNARD, PEPITA, CAMERON, HARRIET, MAIOR, HORIA, TRIGO, MARIA GALVEZ, REEVES, STUART, FISCHER, JOEL and OTHERS, 2025. Please follow me to the next stop: a case study of planning, deploying and researching a robot-guided tour in a museum in the uk
  • ODOH, GIFT, LANDOWSKA, ALEKSANDRA, CROWE, EMILY M, BENALI, KHAIRIDINE, COBB, SUE, WILSON, MAX L, MAIOR, HORIA A and KUCUKYILMAZ, AYSE, 2024. Performance metrics outperform physiological indicators in robotic teleoperation workload assessment Scientific Reports. 14(1), 30984
  • CAMERON, HARRIET R, CASTLE-GREEN, SIMON, CHUGHTAI, MUHAMMAD, DOWTHWAITE, LIZ, KUCUKYILMAZ, AYSE, MAIOR, HORIA A, NGO, VICTOR, SCHNEIDERS, EIKE and STAHL, BERND C, 2024. A Taxonomy of Domestic Robot Failure Outcomes: Understanding the impact of failure on trustworthiness of domestic robots In: Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems. 1-14

At Nottingham, Horia teaches software engineering and Human Computer Interaction related modules and supervises MSc and PhD students across human-computer interaction, brain-computer interfaces, and AI. He also leads workshops internationally, most recently in Kenya, Africa, with the African Brain Data Network, on fNIRS and responsible innovation in neuroscience technologies.

  • REYES-CRUZ, GISELA, BOUDOURAKI, ANDRIANA, PRICE, DOMINIC, PISKOPANI, ANNA-MARIA, BARNARD, PEPITA, CAMERON, HARRIET, MAIOR, HORIA, TRIGO, MARIA GALVEZ, REEVES, STUART, FISCHER, JOEL and OTHERS, 2025. Please follow me to the next stop: a case study of planning, deploying and researching a robot-guided tour in a museum in the uk
  • TANG, HUIMIN, BENERRADI, JOHANN, MAIOR, HORIA A, PIKE, MATTHEW, LANDOWSKA, ALEKSANDRA and WILSON, MAX L, 2024. Exploring the impact of verbal-imagery cognitive style on web search behaviour and mental workload In: Proceedings of the 2024 conference on human information interaction and retrieval. 303-316
  • WILSON, MAX L, SHABAN, JWAN, MAIOR, HORIA A, SCHNEEGASS, CHRISTINA and COX, ANNA L, 2024. The CHI’24 Workshop on the Future of Cognitive Personal Informatics In: Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1-6
  • ABIOYE, AYODEJI O, LANDOWSKA, ALEKSANDRA, HUNT, WILLIAM, MAIOR, HORIA, RAMCHURN, SARVAPALI D, NAISEH, MOHAMMAD, BANKS, ALEC and SOORATI, MOHAMMAD D, 2024. Adaptive Human-Swarm Interaction based on Workload Measurement using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.07834.
  • HU, JUNRUI, REYES CRUZ, GISELA, FISCHER, JOEL and MAIOR, HORIA ALEXANDRU, 2024. Telepresence robots for remote participation in higher education In: Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction for Work. 1-14
  • CAMERON, HARRIET R, CASTLE-GREEN, SIMON, CHUGHTAI, MUHAMMAD, DOWTHWAITE, LIZ, KUCUKYILMAZ, AYSE, MAIOR, HORIA A, NGO, VICTOR, SCHNEIDERS, EIKE and STAHL, BERND C, 2024. A Taxonomy of Domestic Robot Failure Outcomes: Understanding the impact of failure on trustworthiness of domestic robots In: Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems. 1-14
  • SEABROOKE, TINA, SCHNEIDERS, EIKE, DOWTHWAITE, LIZ, KROOK, JOSHUA, LEESAKUL, NATALIE, CLOS, JEREMIE, MAIOR, HORIA and FISCHER, JOEL, 2024. A survey of lay people's willingness to generate legal advice using Large Language Models (LLMs) In: Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems. 1-5
  • ODOH, GIFT, LANDOWSKA, ALEKSANDRA, CROWE, EMILY M, BENALI, KHAIRIDINE, COBB, SUE, WILSON, MAX L, MAIOR, HORIA A and KUCUKYILMAZ, AYSE, 2024. Performance metrics outperform physiological indicators in robotic teleoperation workload assessment Scientific Reports. 14(1), 30984
  • PÖHLMANN, KATHARINA MARGARETA THERESA, MAIOR, HORIA A, FÖCKER, JULIA, O'HARE, LOUISE, PARKE, ADRIAN, LADOWSKA, ALEKSANDRA and DICKINSON, PATRICK, 2023. I think I don’t feel sick: Exploring the Relationship Between Cognitive Demand and Cybersickness in Virtual Reality using fNIRS In: Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1-16
  • TRIGO, MARIA J GALVEZ, REYES-CRUZ, GISELA, MAIOR, HORIA A, PEPPER, CECILY, PRICE, DOMINIC, LEONARD, PAULINE, TOCHIA, CHIRA, HYDE, RICHARD, WATSON, NICHOLAS and FISCHER, JOEL E, 2023. “They’re not going to do all the tasks we do”: Understanding Trust and Reassurance towards a UV-C Disinfection Robot In: 2023 32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN). 2140-2147
  • REYES-CRUZ, GISELA, PHYPERS, ISAAC, BOUDOURAKI, ANDRIANA, PRICE, DOMINIC, FISCHER, JOEL, REEVES, STUART, GALVEZ TRIGO, MARIA and MAIOR, HORIA, 2023. Augmented robotic telepresence (ART): A prototype for enhancing remote interaction and participation In: Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems. 1-6
  • SCHNEEGASS, CHRISTINA, WILSON, MAX L, MAIOR, HORIA A, CHIOSSI, FRANCESCO, COX, ANNA L and WIESE, JASON, 2023. The Future of Cognitive Personal Informatics In: Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction. 1-5
  • WILSON, MAX L, MIDHA, SERENA, MAIOR, HORIA A, COX, ANNA L, CHUANG, LEWIS L and URQUHART, LACHLAN D, 2022. SIG: Moving from Brain-Computer Interfaces to Personal Cognitive Informatics In: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts. 1-4
  • PARSA, SORAN, MAIOR, HORIA A, THUMWOOD, ALEX REEVE ELLIOTT, WILSON, MAX L, HANHEIDE, MARC and ESFAHANI, AMIR GHALAMZAN, 2022. The impact of motion scaling and haptic guidance on operators’ workload and performance in teleoperation In: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts. 1-7
  • MARTINEZ, WENDY, BENERRADI, JOHANN, MIDHA, SERENA, MAIOR, HORIA A and WILSON, MAX L, 2022. Understanding the ethical concerns for neurotechnology in the future of work In: Proceedings of the 1st Annual Meeting of the Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction for Work. 1-19
  • WILSON, MAX, MIDHA, SERENA, MAIOR, HORIA, CHANG, LEWIS, COX, ANNA and URQUHART, LACHLAN, 2022. Moving from brain-computer interfaces to personal cognitive informatics In: CHI'22 Extended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1-4
  • MIDHA, SERENA, MAIOR, HORIA A, WILSON, MAX L and SHARPLES, SARAH, 2021. Measuring mental workload variations in office work tasks using fNIRS International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. 147, 102580
  • MAIOR, HORIA A., RAMCHURN, RICHARD, MARTINDALE, SARAH, CAI, MING, WILSON, MAX L. and BENFORD, STEVE, 2019. fNIRS and Neurocinematics In: Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. LBW2522:1-LBW2522:6
  • BENERRADI, JOHANN, A. MAIOR, HORIA, MARINESCU, ADRIAN, CLOS, JEREMIE and L. WILSON, MAX, 2019. Exploring machine learning approaches for classifying mental workload using fNIRS data from HCI tasks In: Proceedings of the Halfway to the Future Symposium 2019. 1-11
  • ALSURAYKH, N. H., MAIOR, H. A., WILSON, M. L., TENNENT, P. and SHARPLES, S., 2018. How stress affects functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measurements of mental workload
  • MURALIDHARAN, AMRUTHA, MAIOR, HORIA A and RAO, SHRISHA, 2018. A self-governing and decentralized network of smart objects to share electrical power autonomously Sustainable Cloud and Energy Services: Principles and Practice. 25-48
  • MAIOR, HORIA A, WILSON, MAX L and SHARPLES, SARAH, 2018. Workload alerts—using physiological measures of mental workload to provide feedback during tasks ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI). 25(2), 1-30
  • WILSON, MAX L, SHARON, NATALIA, MAIOR, HORIA A, MIDHA, SERENA, CRAVEN, MICHAEL P and SHARPLES, SARAH, 2018. Mental workload as personal data: designing a cognitive activity tracker
  • MAIOR, HORIA A, WILSON, MAX L, LOCKE, CAROLINE and SWANN, DEBRA, 2018. Brain activity and mental workload associated with artistic practice
  • ALSURAYKH, NORAH H, MAIOR, HORIA A, WILSON, MAX L, TENNENT, PAUL and SHARPLES, SARAH, 2018. How stress affects functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fnirs) measurements of mental workload In: Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1-6
  • MAIOR, HORIA A, SHARPLES, SARAH and WILSON, MAX L, 2018. Subjective and Objective Methods to Continuously Monitor Workload. In: Neuroergonomics Academic Press. 259-260
  • LOCKE, CAROLINE, SWANN, DEBRA, WILSON, MAX and MAIOR, HORIA, 2018. Brain activity and mental workload associated with artistic practice
  • WILSON, MAX L, ALSURAYKH, NORAH and MAIOR, HORIA A, 2017. Measuring mental workload in IIR user studies with fNIRS NeuroIIR. 17, 2
  • MAIOR, HORIA ALEXANDRU, 2017. Real-time physiological measure and feedback of workload
  • LUKANOV, KRISTIYAN, MAIOR, HORIA A and WILSON, MAX L, 2016. Using fNIRS in usability testing: understanding the effect of web form layout on mental workload In: Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 4011-4016
  • HORIA A. MAIOR, MATTHEW PIKE, SARAH SHARPLES and MAX L. WILSON, 2015. Examining the Reliability of Using fNIRS in Realistic HCI Settings for Spatial and Verbal Tasks In: CHI2015: Proceedings of the 33rd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems. Seoul, South Korea, 18 - 23 Apr 2015. 3039-3042
  • MAIOR, HORIA A, PIKE, MATTHEW, SHARPLES, SARAH and WILSON, MAX L, 2015. Examining the reliability of using fNIRS in realistic HCI settings for spatial and verbal tasks In: Proceedings of the 33rd annual ACM conference on human factors in computing systems. 3039-3042
  • PIKE, M., MAIOR, H. A., PORCHERON, M., SHARPLES, S. and WILSON, M. L., 2014. Measuring the effect of think aloud protocols on workload using fNIRS
  • PIKE, MATTHEW F, MAIOR, HORIA A, PORCHERON, MARTIN, SHARPLES, SARAH C and WILSON, MAX L, 2014. Measuring the Effect of Think Aloud Protocols on Workload using fNIRS In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '14). 3807-3816
  • PIKE, MATTHEW, MAIOR, HORIA A, PORCHERON, MARTIN, SHARPLES, SARAH and WILSON, MAX L, 2014. Measuring the Effect of Think Aloud Protocols on Workload using fNIRS In: ACMCHI.
  • MAIOR, HORIA A, PIKE, MATTHEW, WILSON, MAX L, SHARPLES, SARAH and OTHERS, 2014. Continuous detection of workload overload: an fNIRS approach Contemporary Ergonomics and Human Factors. 450
  • MAIOR, HORIA A. and RAO, SHRISHA, 2014. A Self-Governing, Decentralized, Extensible Internet of Things To Share Electrical Power Efficiently In: 10th Annual IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (IEEE CASE 2014).
  • PIKE, M, WILSON, ML, SHARPLES, S and MAIOR, HORIA, 2014. Continuous detection of workload overload: An fNIRS approach
  • MAIOR, HORIA A, PIKE, MATTHEW, WILSON, MAX L and SHARPLES, SARAH, 2013. Directly Evaluating the Cognitive Impact of Search User Interfaces: a Two-Pronged Approach with fNIRS In: EuroHCIR 2013 - European Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval. 43-46
  • MARINESCU, ADRIAN, MAIOR, HORIA A, FOWLER, ABIGAIL, WILSON, MAX L and SHARPLES, SARAH, Comparing fNIRS and facial thermography for assessing mental workload
  • MIDHA, SERENA, WILSON, MAX L, MAIOR, HORIA A and SHARPLES, SARAH, Detecting variation in mental workload levels within everyday work tasks using fNIRS
  • THUMWOOD, ALEX, FÖCKER, JULIA and MAIOR, HORIA A, Investigating Mental Load and Distractibility with fNIRS
  • LIANG, XIANGNING, LANDOWSKA, ALEKSANDRA, RAMCHURN, RICHARD, BERGER, CALLUM, WILSON, MAX L and MAIOR, HORIA A, The Power of Fear: Exploring the Neural Responses to Horror Scenes in Different Audiovisual Modes
  • WILSON, MAX L, ALSURAYKH, NORAH H, TENNENT, PAUL, SHARPLES, SARAH and MAIOR, HORIA, How stress affects functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measurements of mental workload
  • MARINESCU, ADRIAN, CLOS, JEREMIE, BENERRADI, JOHANN, WILSON, MAX L and MAIOR, HORIA, Exploring Machine Learning Approaches for Classifying Mental Workload using fNIRS Data from HCI Tasks
  • ZHAO, LINQI, KNIERIM, MICHAEL T, WILSON, MAX L, DICKINSON, PATRICK and MAIOR, HORIA A, Work Hard, Play Harder: Intense Games Enable Recovery from High Mental Workload Tasks
  • CAMERON, HARRIET R, REYES-CRUZ, GISELA, PISKOPANI, ANNA-MARIA, BARNARD, PEPITA, BOUDOURAKI, ANDRIANA, CALEB-SOLLY, PRAMINDA, CASTLE-GREEN, SIMON, FISCHER, JOEL, HYDE, RICHARD, KUCUKYILMAZ, AYSE and OTHERS, Acceptability, Acceptance and Adoption of Telepresence Robots in Museums: The Museum Professionals' Perspectives
  • THUMWOOD, ALEX REEVE ELLIOTT, MAIOR, HORIA A, WILSON, MAX L, GHALAMZAN ESFAHANI, AMIR, HANHEIDE, MARC and PARSA, SORAN, The Impact of Motion Scaling and Haptic Guidance on Operators’ Workload and Performance in Teleoperation
  • WILSON, MAX L, SHARPLES, SARAH and MAIOR, HORIA, Workload alerts-using physiological measures of mental workload to provide feedback during tasks

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