Leading Exertion Gaming expert inducted into esteemed ACM SIGCHI Academy
Professor Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller, Director of the Exertion Games Lab at Monash University, has been inducted into the esteemed ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) Academy – prestigious recognition of his world-leading work in the discipline.
The Academy is an honorary group of people who have made substantial contributions to human-computer interaction (HCI). These are leading specialists whose efforts have shaped the discipline and industry by driving related research and innovations.
Only five to eight people are inducted into the Academy each year and are assessed against challenging criteria such as cumulative contributions, impact in the field, influence across the society and participation in the SIGCHI community.
‘This is a tremendous honour especially in light of the significant criteria that the selection committee considers. It also shows to me that my equal, comprehensive approach to interfaces, spanning both easy to use and complex ‘exertion interfaces’, is beneficial to the community,’ said Professor Mueller.
‘I have been working with the Academy in mind since my appointment as full Professor to increase the representation of Australian HCI in these awards. I hope that my work has made a lasting impact, especially in the ‘design’ and ‘play’ communities, bringing the active human body into the focus of research across HCI including sports, human-food interaction and human-computer integration.’
Professor Mueller joined the Faculty of IT’s Department of Human-Centred Computing in 2019. During his time at Monash, he has made many standout achievements – notably growing and leading a lab that has over 450m2 dedicated to exertion games and conducting research at the intersection of IT, people and play.
‘There is a unique investment from Monash towards doing "big" things in "big" Australia that others cannot do, outshining other top universities in the world.’ said Professor Mueller.
‘This award would not have been possible without all our students and their impressive work over the years. That’s why I would also like to dedicate this award to them.’
Professor Mueller has more than 20 years’ research experience across four continents. He has published over 250 publications and his research on ‘exertion interfaces’ is one of the most cited papers in the field (Google Scholar).
Beyond his recent induction into the CHI Academy, Professor Mueller has received the Victorian Young Tall Poppy Award, the Australian Design Honours, a Nokia Mindtrek Ubimedia Award and a Wired's Nextfest commission. His work has also been featured on BBC, ABC, New Scientist and the Discovery Science Channel.
He was also ranked in the top 100 HCI researcher list and was the first Australian-based researcher to be selected to chair the CHI conference.
The research group that he leads, the Exertion Games Lab, is a cohort of distinguished researchers and PhD students dedicated to advancing interfaces for playful experiences. Merging fun, interactivity, technology and the active human body, his lab is at the forefront of inventing the future.