Asia SIGCHI Committee seasonal schools
HCI Summer School 2025, Bangkok
The first HCI Summer School in Asia ran from 16-20 June 2025. It was the academic counterpart to this Winter School, which is why the ASC Seasonal School Framework now has both.
Why a summer school and a winter school
In 2024, members of the Asia SIGCHI Committee wrote a Seasonal School Framework so later HCI schools could share a structure: learning focus, outcomes, audience, benefits, ASC commitments, and costs. The framework names two schools: an academic Summer School, and an industry-focused Winter School.
The first Summer School was a collaboration among the Asia SIGCHI Committee, the Bangkok ACM SIGCHI Chapter, the Faculty of Information Technology and Digital Innovation at King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB), and the Foundation for the Promotion of Mathematical Talent (Thailand).
The 2025 cohort
Who came
Fifteen international students from China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka came with partial travel support. Several Thai students joined them.
Faculty
Teaching came from Shengdong Zhao, Sanchari Das, Yuhan Luo, and Tony Tang, at City University of Hong Kong, Singapore Management University, and George Mason University.
What they did
Lectures, research talks, and workshops on HCI research contributions, empirical methods, quantitative analysis, paper introductions, elevator pitches, and academic networking.
From the workshops
What people worked on
Besides methods, students worked in groups. Their questions included predatory conferences, smarter lock designs for more people on campus, classroom AI cameras, how well LLMs answer accessibility questions, and conversational health interfaces. Guest speakers talked about heads-up computing, privacy and security for marginalized users, technology for health and well-being, and human-AI collaboration.
"The HCI Summer School 2025 was truly an unforgettable experience! I loved the diversity of topics, the high quality of the speakers, and the interactive workshops that allowed hands-on learning. The organizers did an excellent job creating a welcoming and intellectually stimulating environment. Meeting passionate researchers and students from around the world was incredibly inspiring. The blend of academic rigor and cultural exchange made this event truly unique."
What we carried into Winter School
The days were full, so there was no dedicated social slot. People still met over lunch, in workshops, and in the evenings. Feedback asked for an earlier get-to-know-you session, a short cultural visit, and more people from industry on the program.
That is why this Winter School is residential and more industry-facing: more time together outside lectures, and speakers from both academia and practice.