By Tammy Yan
I’m deeply grateful to UW HCDE for funding my attendance at CHI 2025. As an early-career UX researcher, the knowledge, insights, and connections gained from this conference will significantly contribute to my academic and professional growth.
Attending CHI 2025 in Yokohama, Japan was more than just a conference, but an immersive learning and cultural experience that enriched my understanding of user experience with cultural perspectives. I was deeply impressed by the beautiful calligraphy performance in the opening plenary: as an Asian researcher, I felt seen and represented. It reminded me that cultural expression and HCI are not separate, but deeply integrated.
One of the most meaningful moments of this trip was to share my co-authored paper. This is one of the first research projects I worked on since my career transition to UX, where I explored user needs for health-tracking wearables and these insights to designing health-tracking smart earrings. Sharing this work with the broader HCI community and hearing feedback from researchers over the world reaffirmed my passion for UX research.
Throughout the week, I was immersed in a variety of sessions and activities. My favorite was a course on “When AI meets UX Research”, where researchers from Google led an interactive workshop that offered practical and ethical approaches for integrating AI into UX research. I found this workshop really relevant, as I have been navigating a similar challenge at work. After this course, I learned many practices to apply AI in research in an ethical way, such as using the right prompts to brainstorm more insightful research directions and present insights more persuasively. I left feeling energized, as this session gave me both frameworks and tool for using AI to amplify human insights, but not replace them.
Another highlight was building meaningful connections with researchers from around the world. There were so many network opportunities at the conference, such hallway conversations, after parties, and informal gatherings, and I felt lucky to have formed connections that I believe will last beyond the conference. These conversations broadened my perspective and reminded me of the global diversity of HCI work.
Overall, CHI 2025 was an unforgettable and inspiring experience. Sincere thanks to those who sponsored the funding to make this trip possible. I look forward to carrying these learnings forward into my career and giving back to the global HCI community.
Give to support HCDE student travel
The Mary B. Coney Endowed Fund, named in honor of Emeritus Professor Mary Coney, supports HCDE students by funding costs associated with travel to conferences and international workshops. Your support of this fund enriches the HCDE student experience and enhances HCDE's influence in the field.