Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and Technology

Marcia began teaching in higher education in 2007 and joined the school of Computer Science and Technology full time in 2013. She has 15 years of experience in teaching and research within the areas of multimedia, computer games, HCI and security (with particular focus on usable security). Marcia currently works as part of the school’s creative technologies subject cluster, is course co-ordinator for BSc (Hons) Computer Games Development and is an academic member of Ukie (the UK Interactive Entertainment association).

Marcia is a member of the Institute for Research in Applicable Computing (IRAC) where she is a member of the Human-Computer Interaction interest group. She also worked previously as research fellow of the National Centre for Cyberstalking Research (NCCR), as part of the technical team, investigating online negative behaviours and harms.

She was awarded a full scholarship for her PhD via the Steel Memorial Trust PhD Studentship and completed her PhD on the topic of "Inclusive and Secure Design of an Online Authentication system" in 2013.

Prior to that, Marcia obtained an MSc by research in Computer Security, Accessibility and HCI on the topic of experimental image and sound-based passwords in 2007 and gained a BSc (Hons), First class in Computer Science in 2005.

In addition to her academic activities, Marcia has worked commercially as a Web Developer and UX/Accessibility consultant and currently works to support start-up game development companies in the local region.

Teaching

Marcia is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) having completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching Higher Education (PgCTHE) by portfolio in 2015.

In addition to supervising projects at BSc, MSc and PhD level, she is currently also involved in teaching on the following units:

• Fundamentals of Creative Technologies
• Prototyping and Visual Programming
• Games and Digital Asset Design
• Professional Industry Portfolio
• Applied Games Design

Research Supervision

• Wajid Khan. “Information visualisation and Data Analysis Using Web 2.0 and Mash-up Systems”. PhD. Completed 2014, second supervisor.
• Lionel Jayaraj “Improving the Immersion in a Virtual Reality Batting Simulator with Real-Time Performance Capture and Haptics”. PhD. Completed 2021, second supervisor.
• Ameema Miftha “The Social Legal and Technical Perspective of Cyber Stalking in India”. PhD. Second supervisor (current)
• Kirandeep Kaur “Improving Trust in Player-to-Player Transactions within Massively Multiplayer Online Games”. PhD. Director of studies (current).
• Gul Zaidi “Assisting people with Dyslexia with learning to code with Augmented Reality”. MSc by research. Director of studies (current).

Research Interests

• Computer Games Development
• Immersion and Presence
• User Experience (UX)
• Virtual Worlds, Virtual and Mixed Reality
• Authentication systems
• Cyberstalking
• Usable Security
• Accessibility and Privacy

Research Projects

Research Fellow on HEFCE CATALYST

2018-2019: 0.2 FTE Research fellow on HEFCE CATALYST project tackling hate crime and online harassment on campus: Development and delivery of “Bedfordshire Cyber-Awareness Program (BCAP)”. Population of VLE to support and reinforce teaching.

Designed learning materials, project evaluation and wrote research paper and presented at conference to disseminate findings.

Find out more about the project at:
www.officeforstudents.org.uk - download PDF and thepsychologist.bps.org

Innovation Bridge Project

2020: Innovation Bridge Project: Consultancy on development of cyber awareness training for local schools.

Other Activities

• Hub co-ordinator for Tranzfuser
• Co-founder of BedsHertsBucks++ this is a meet up and networking event and Discord server for current students, alumni and local people working in games, computer animation/VFX and more broadly encompassing the creative technologies.
• Reviewer for International Journal for Human-Computer Studies.
• Reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics & Security.

Publications

• For full list please see: Publications

Contact

Dr Marcia Gibson
E: marcia.gibson@beds.ac.uk