Aveiro, Portugal
Hugo Correia
HCI Researcher · Software Engineer
Next stop: a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction
hf_correya@hotmail.comhf.correia@ua.ptgithub/hugocorreia15linkedin/hugo-correiaorcid/0009-0009-0206-5346
About
I'm a Human-Computer Interaction researcher and software engineer from Aveiro. I hold an MSc in Informatics Engineering from the University of Aveiro (2026), where my dissertation, “In the Eye of the Beholder” (graded 20/20), explored how gaze can support the evaluation of interactive ecosystems.
From 2024 to 2026 I was a research fellow at IEETA. In the SENSINGHOME project I built BEHOLD, a hardware-agnostic eye-tracking infrastructure, and Avalux, a usability-testing platform, and ran user studies of Bosch touch-panel interfaces. In CADFACTS I worked with cardiologists and biomedical engineers on clinical workflows for cardiac CT analysis.
Alongside research I spent five years leading the Computer Science Students' Association (NEI / AAUAv), most recently as its coordinator: hackathons, technical workshops, outreach with secondary schools and some of the largest student events on campus.
Research
Research Fellow — SENSINGHOME
Sep 2024 – Jun 2026IEETA / DETI, University of Aveiro
Agenda ILLIANCE · Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) · with Bosch and Maxiplás
- Designed and built BEHOLD, a plugin-based, hardware-agnostic framework for gaze-aware evaluation of interactive ecosystems: several eye-tracking devices, real-time multimodal synchronisation via Lab Streaming Layer (LSL), and integrated collection, analysis and visualisation.
- Developed Avalux (avalux.pt), a platform for running usability-testing sessions.
- Planned and conducted usability studies of Bosch seamless touch-panel interfaces, from protocol design to analysis and reporting.
Research Fellow — CADFACTS
2024 – 2025IEETA / DETI, University of Aveiro
FCT project PTDC/EMD-EMD/0980/2020 · with FEUP and Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia
- Human-centred design and development of support for clinical workflows in left-ventricular CT image analysis, working directly with clinicians to find usability issues and propose improvements.
- Published at HCI International 2025.
XR Research Project — SpeakEase
2025 – 2026IEETA / DETI, University of Aveiro
- Co-developed a VR framework for public-speaking training (Unity, Meta Quest 3) with configurable virtual audiences, real-time speech analysis and analytics dashboards for students and therapists.
- Ran user studies on learnability and task completion; the work led to two 2026 papers (Eurographics and IHIET-FS).
Research Collaborator — VARLab
2025 – 2026IEETA / DETI, University of Aveiro
Prevent2Protect project
- Contributed to the design and development of a platform for collecting cognition-related measures.
Publications
- Correia, H., Marques, B., Vale Costa, L., Silva, S. (2026). BEHOLD: An Extensible Eye-Tracking Infrastructure Supporting Multimodal, Multi-Device Interaction Evaluation. Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies (IHIET-FS 2026), AHFE International, Vol. 235.doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1007266
- Correia, H., Cardoso, L., Marques, B., Silva, S., Dias, P., Sousa Santos, B. (2026). SpeakEase: A Virtual Reality Framework for Public Speaking. Eurographics 2026 — Education Papers.doi.org/10.2312/eged.20261005
- Cardoso, L., Correia, H., Marques, B., Dias, P., Silva, S., Sousa Santos, B. (2026). An Adaptive XR Platform for Multimodal Public Speaking Training and Performance Assessment. Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies (IHIET-FS 2026), AHFE International, Vol. 235.doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1007283
- Ferreira, D., Correia, H., Cruz, D., Rosa, J., Oliveira, A., Cotorobai, A., Figueiredo, B., Pacheco, O. (2026). Trailblazer: A Machine Learning Augmented Destination Management System. CISTI 2025 — Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, Springer.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-10721-3_12
- Correia, H., Marques, B., Silva, S. (2025). Open-Source Tools Are Just the Start: A Human-Centred Approach to Supporting Clinical Workflows for Left Ventricular CT Analysis. HCI International 2025 Posters — CCIS, Springer.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-94150-4_23
- Federated learning framework for healthcare (FedRF / FedXGB). Submitted to IEEE SaTML.under review
Projects
BEHOLD — Eye-tracking analysis platform
2026Sole developer · MSc dissertation
Plugin-based, hardware-agnostic infrastructure for gaze-data ingestion, processing and visualisation, validated in a 29-participant Tobii Pro Glasses study.
Next.js · TimescaleDB · PostgreSQL · MinIO · LSL · paper
Avalux — Usability-testing platform
2026Sole developer
SpeakEase — VR public-speaking trainer
2025Full-stack developer · team of 2
Configurable virtual audiences, real-time speech analysis and analytics dashboards for trainees and therapists, built with a Human-Centred Design process. Led to two 2026 papers.
Unity · Meta Quest 3 · Meta XR SDK · Python · paper
DGA Detection System — ML against botnet domains
2025AI lead & browser extension · team of 2
Detects algorithmically generated (botnet/C2) domains with six ML models, including Random Forest, LSTM, XGBoost, a Transformer and DistilBERT, behind a FastAPI backend, a React dashboard, a Chrome extension and Prometheus/Grafana monitoring.
Python · FastAPI · React · Docker · code
Quests@NEI — Gamification platform
2026System design & documentation · team of 4
Microservices (authentication, gamification, commerce, analytics) to boost student engagement at NEI / AAUAv, with personas, user stories, the service architecture and a stateless JWT-based QR mechanism.
Microservices · JWT · System design
Relay — Personalised messaging tool
2026Personal project
- This Portfolio — Every pier is a chapter. Two maps: an imagined island loop and the real Aveiro canal network from OpenStreetMap, with a day–night cycle.
- SensingHome Examples — React + TypeScript component and interaction examples for the SensingHome project.
- Sunset d'Engenharias — Fast, playful, mobile-first microsite for the engineering students' sunset party.
- Count Me In — Sensor service that keeps count of the people inside a room, for Introduction to Software Engineering.
- BrainWave — Human-Computer Interaction project focused on usability-first design.
Leadership
NEI / AAUAv — Computer Science Students' Association
2021 – 2026University of Aveiro
- Coordinator (2024 – 2026) — Overall coordination, representation in department meetings and strategic planning, including structured input on student wellbeing during exams and on AI in education.
- Head of Recreation (2022 – 2024) — Planning and running the association's events and social activities.
- Head of Sports (2021 – 2022) — Organising and managing the association's sports section.
Also compiled a database of 830+ Portuguese tech companies for student–industry outreach.
- DETIHub — DETI Job & Engineering Fair (2025, 2026) — Co-organised with the DETI student associations, the department and Inova-Ria: company fair, workshops, talks and pitch sessions.
- Feira do DETI (founder) — A marketplace for products made by local artisans and department students.
- Semana do Enterro (2021 – 2026) — Six editions; most recently coordinated the association's themed venue and about 40 events.
- Sunset d'Engenharias (2025 – 2026) — Large-scale event run jointly by the engineering student associations of AAUAv.
- ThinkTwice Hackathon (in preparation) — Co-organised with AETTUA, including sponsor outreach and partner communication.
- Workshops, tutoring & outreach (2021 – 2026) — Hands-on Docker and Kubernetes workshops, peer tutoring for introductory programming courses, and a cybersecurity-awareness workshop for secondary-school students.
Education
MSc in Informatics Engineering
Sep 2024 – Jun 2026University of Aveiro · 18 / 20
Dissertation “In the Eye of the Beholder: Considering gaze to support the evaluation and analysis of interactive ecosystems” — 20 / 20. Supervised by Prof. Samuel Silva & Prof. Bernardo Marques (IEETA).
Information Visualization — 19/20 · Pre-Dissertation — 18/20
Coursework: Human-Centered Computing, Virtual & Augmented Reality, Information Visualization, Multimodal Interaction.
BSc in Computer Science
Sep 2021 – Jun 2024University of Aveiro · 15.3 / 20
Final Project — 19/20 · Computer and Organizational Security — 19/20 · Introduction to Software Engineering — 17/20
Secondary School — Science and Technology
Sep 2018 – Jul 2021Escola Secundária José Estevão, Aveiro · 18.2 / 20
Skills
Research & HCI: User studies, Usability testing & SUS, Eye tracking (Tobii Pro Glasses), Human-Centred Design, Multimodal sync (LSL), Information visualisation.
Languages: TypeScript / JavaScript, Python, Java, C, C++, Kotlin, Ruby.
Web: React, Next.js, TanStack (Table, Query, Router), Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, Astro, AngularJS, jQuery.
Data & Backend: PostgreSQL, TimescaleDB, MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, Neo4j, MariaDB, MinIO, Spring Boot, FastAPI, Flask, Kafka, RabbitMQ.
XR & 3D: Unity, Meta Quest 3 / Meta XR SDK, Three.js / React Three Fiber.
ML & Cloud: TensorFlow, NumPy, OpenCV, Docker, Prometheus / Grafana, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud.
Languages: Portuguese (native), English (fluent), Spanish (intermediate).