Shirley Shabnam

Hi, I'm Shirley - a Georgia Tech graduate and incoming MS HCI student at the University of Maryland. I am interested in researching relationships of technology with systemic, infrastructural and interpersonal harm. My work aligns closely with Critical Design, Participatory Action Research, and often focuses on exploring design interventions within sociotechnical systems through community-engaged research. My go-to methods are speculative design, design futuring, Participatory Design and co-design.

Currently, I am seeking to join a PhD program in HCI / Information / STS starting Fall 2027 to receive mentorship and continue my research.

Recruit me to be your student!

ABOUT SHIRLEY'S RESEARCH

My positionality as a researcher is informed by my experience as a community organizer and lived experience from surviving violence. I view research as a tool for advocacy to create sustainable impact and change in the community. Thus, my research is most often based in the community, centering community values and aspirations.

Sociotechnical systems and infrastructuring research in HCI and CSCW interests me particularly as they allow me to think deeply about technology's role in broader societal systems. My research focuses on the relationships with actors -human, material, political- in these infrastructures and the power, safety and vulnerability therein. Looking to the future, I hope to work on the intersections of social movements organizing and Digital Safety.

Speculative design offers powerful modes of imagining just, alternate futures when oriented critically. I consider Infrastructural Speculations introduced by Wong et. al (2020) as my anchor in situating speculative methods for sociotechnical research. Although most of my research has been qualitative, I would like to explore mixed-methods research to understand better the more technical impacts of computing within sociotechnical systems.

WHAT AM I UP TO?

Other than preparing to move to the DMV, I am finishing up my undergraduate thesis advised by Dr. Andrea Parker. My thesis project focuses on the invisible labor of student workers of color at predominantly-white institutions of higher education. Viewing these educational infrastructures as sociotechnical systems, I aim to understand the role of technology in the harm experienced by and barriers posed to student workers aspiring for collective liberation. Using Prefigurative Design, we conduct infrastrcutural speculations in Participatory Design settings to explore possible design interventions to support these student workers in their resistance work. With my labmates, I am leading the process of writing the findings of this project for publication at PDC 2026.
Outside academia, I am working with Pan-Asian Queers of Atlanta (PAQuA) to host a radical book fair for access to information, mutual aid, and resource exchange.

A picture of Shirley speaking on a microphone next to a whiteboard with hand-written words reading: Autonomy, Decriminalizing sex work, Anti-caste, Choice, Freedom, Self-Determination, Humanity, continuum

RECOGNITIONS

Dr. Aby L. Parsons' Advocacy in Action Award - The LBGTQIA Resource Center, Georgia Tech, 2025
Advocate for Accessibility Award - Section 504, Georgia Tech, 2023
Feature and Interview - Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, Georgia Tech, 2023
Helen Fellowship - Helen Gurley Brown Foundation and NCWIT

A picture of Shirley holding the certificate of Advocate for Accessibility Award

OUTSIDE RESEARCH

Currently, I am working with Raksha, Inc. as part of an amazing reproductive justice cohort to find policing alternatives for survivors of violence, and people seeking safe reproductive healthcare resources in Atlanta. I am collaborating with fellow survivors, organizations providing diversion initiatives (alternatives to policing) and organizations working to end gender-based violence.
Reach out to me to learn more about my community organizing efforts on the ground! I would love to share.

WHAT AM I READING?

ALWAYS REREADING

INTERESTED IN SPEAKING TO ME?

Please reach out! I love meeting people, and would love to chat.

Email me at [email protected] or Schedule a meeting with me here!

Recruit me please?

Shirley Shabnam

2025