Hi! I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Center for Research on Computation and Society and currently on the job market!
I investigate how AI and data-driven tools can address inequities in care economies. My work has examined conversational agents and algorithmic decision-making in healthcare and social work, focusing on underserved contexts across India, Kenya, and the United States. I look at how these technologies are shaping futures of care work, particularly in the Global South, and how we might support more just care infrastructures that better recognize the labor, autonomy, and rights of care workers and care recipients. My research contributes to the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD).
I also think a lot about care and work outside of research. I serve as Chair for Community Support on the SIGCHI Executive Committee, where I lead multiple initiatives dedicated to supporting equitable participation in a global HCI community. I'm also active in community organizing and am always happy to chat more about this.
I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Washington, advised by Richard Anderson in the ICTD Lab. I received my undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech, advised by Neha Kumar in the Tandem Lab. Previously, I have worked with Microsoft Research India, the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and Gram Vaani.
Please reach out at naveenak (at) seas (dot) harvard (dot) edu!
Naveena Karusala, Shirley Yan, Nupoor Rajkumar, Victoria G, Richard Anderson
CSCW 2023
Unsettling Care Infrastructures: From the Individual to the Structural in a Digital Maternal and Child Health Intervention
Naveena Karusala, Victoria G, Shirley Yan, Richard Anderson
CHI 2023
Towards Conviviality in Navigating Health Information on Social Media
Naveena Karusala and Richard Anderson
CHI 2022
“That courage to encourage”: Participation and Aspirations in Chat-based Peer Support for Youth Living with HIV
Naveena Karusala, David Seeh, Cyrus Mugo, Brandon Guthrie, Megan Moreno, Grace John-Stewart, Irene Inwani, Richard Anderson, Keshet Ronen
CHI 2021, Best Paper Award
Braving Citational Justice in Human-Computer Interaction
Neha Kumar and Naveena Karusala
AltCHI 2021
Taking the Long, Holistic, and Intersectional View to Women’s Wellbeing
Neha Kumar, Naveena Karusala, Azra Ismail, and Anupriya Tuli
ToCHI 2020
Making Chat at Home in the Hospital: Exploring Chat Use by Nurses
Naveena Karusala, Ding Wang, Jacki O’Neill
CHI 2020
Engaging Identity, Assets, and Constraints in Designing for Resilience
Naveena Karusala, Isaac Holeman, and Richard Anderson
CSCW 2019
Street-Level Realities of Data Practices in Homeless Services Provision
Naveena Karusala, Jennifer Wilson, Phebe Vayanos, and Eric Rice
CSCW 2019
Engaging Feminist Solidarity for Comparative Research, Design, and Practice
Neha Kumar, Naveena Karusala, Azra Ismail, Marisol Wong-Villacres, and Aditya Vishwanath
CSCW 2019
Mental Health in the Global South: Challenges and Opportunities in HCI for Development
Sachin R. Pendse, Naveena Karusala, Divya Siddarth, Pattie Gonsalves, Seema Mehrotra, John A. Naslund, Mamta Sood, Neha Kumar, and Amit Sharma
COMPASS 2019
Privacy, Patriarchy, and Participation on Social Media
Naveena Karusala, Apoorva Bhalla, and Neha Kumar
DIS 2019
Aspirations-based Design
Neha Kumar, Marisol Wong-Villacres, Naveena Karusala, Aditya Vishwanath, Arkadeep Kumar, and Azra Ismail
ICTD 2019
Bridging Disconnected Knowledges for Community Health
Azra Ismail, Naveena Karusala, and Neha Kumar
CSCW 2018
Designing for Intersections
Marisol Wong-Villacres, Arkadeep Kumar, Aditya Vishwanath, Naveena Karusala, Betsy DiSalvo, and Neha Kumar
DIS 2018
"Only if you use English you will get to more things": Using Smartphones to Navigate Multilingualism
Naveena Karusala, Aditya Vishwanath, Aditya Vashistha, Sunita Kumar, and Neha Kumar
CHI 2018
Care as a Resource for Underserved Learning Environments
Naveena Karusala*, Aditya Vishwanath*, Arkadeep Kumar, Aman Mangal, and Neha Kumar
CSCW 2018, Diversity and Inclusion Recognition
Women’s Safety in Public Spaces: Examining the Efficacy of Panic Buttons in New Delhi
Naveena Karusala and Neha Kumar
CHI 2017
The Future of Hybrid Care and Wellbeing in HCI
Karthik Bhat, Azra Ismail, Amanda Hall, Naveena Karusala, Helena Mentis, John Vines, Neha Kumar
CHI 2023
Human-Computer Interaction and the Future of Work
CHIWORK Collective, Naveena Karusala, Nabil Ch, Diana Tosca, Alberta Ansah, Emeline Brulé, Nadia Fereydooni, Le-En Huang, Azra Ismail, Pranjal Jain, Wendy Khoo, Isabel Muñoz, Clemens Schartmüller, Himanshu Verma, Preeti Vyas, Susanne Boll, Sarah Fox, Noopur Raval, Max Wilson, Anna Cox, Christian P. Janssen, Helena Mentis, Neha Kumar, Orit Shaer, and Andrew Kun
CHI 2022
The Changing Landscape of Care Work in the Global South
Naveena Karusala
CHI Doctoral Consortium, 2022
The Future of Care Work: Towards a Radical Politics of Care in CSCW Research and Practice Naveena Karusala*, Azra Ismail*, Karthik Bhat, Aakash Gautam, Sachin Pendse, Neha Kumar, Richard Anderson, Madeline Balaam, Shaowen Bardzell, Nicola J Bidwell, Melissa Densmore, Elizabeth Kaziunas, Anne Marie Piper, Noopur Raval, Pushpendra Singh, Austin Toombs, Nervo Verdezoto, and Ding Wang
CSCW 2021
Following the Trail of Citational Justice: Critically Examining Knowledge Production in HCI Citational Justice Collective, Gabriela Molina León, Lynn Kirabo, Marisol Wong-Villacrés, Naveena Karusala, Neha Kumar, Nicola Bidwell, Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar, Pranjal Protim Borah, Radhika Garg, Sushil K Oswal, Tee Chuanromanee, and Vishal Sharma.
CSCW 2021
Intersectional Computing
Neha Kumar and Naveena Karusala
Interactions 2019
2023 Plenary Panel on Keeping Equity at the Forefront of Peer Review, RESPECT Conference
2023 Panel on Citational Justice: Why and How to Consider our References, UW-Madison
2022 Moderator, Future of Work Panel, ACM SIGCHI HCI and Friends Symposium, IIT Bombay
2022 Conversation on Citational Justice, Confronting Data Co-lab, University of Copenhagen
2021 Roundtable Discussion on the Future of Care Work, CHIWORK Online Series
2021 “That courage to encourage”: Participation and Aspirations in Chat-based Peer Support for
Youth Living with HIV, Change Seminar, University of Washington
2021 On Bread and Roses, MISC, University of Michigan
2020 Braving Citational Justice in Human-Computer Interaction, University of Washington
2020 Braving Citational Justice in Human-Computer Interaction, Vienna University of Technology
2020 On Bread and Roses, DUB Seminar, University of Washington
2020 Making Chat at Home in the Hospital: Exploring Chat Use by Nurses, India HCI
2020 Making Chat at Home in the Hospital: Exploring Chat Use by Nurses, University of Toronto
2019 Human-Centered AI: Closing the Implementation Gap, Wadhwani Institute for AI
2018 The Design of Digital Payment Processes in Organizational Contexts, Digital Financial Services Workshop, University of Washington
2018 “Only if you use English you will get to more things”: Using Smartphones to Navigate Multilingualism, Microsoft Research India - University of Washington Symposium
2017 Care as a Resource for Underserved Learning Environments, Change Seminar, University of Washington
2023 Gender, Labor, and Technology, CSE580: CS for Social Good, University of Washington
2023 Qualitative Methods, CS 276: Design, Technology, and Social Impact, Harvard University
2023 Solidarity Across Borders, CS 4803: Gender and Global Development, Georgia Tech
2022 The Future of Care Work, CS 4745: ICTs and Development, Georgia Tech
2022 Alumni Panel, CS 4745: ICTs and Development, Georgia Tech
2022 Innovation with Care: Health Interventions through Feminist Lenses, Facilitation of Design
Processes and Technological Innovation, Aalborg University
2021 Automation, Labor, and Where Power Lies, CSE 478: Robotics, University of Washington
2020 Feminisms, CS 4745: ICTs and Development, Georgia Tech
2017 Gender and ICTD, CSEP 590: ICTs and International Development, University of Washington
2017 Feminist HCI and Healthcare, CS 8803: Technology and Poverty, Georgia Tech