Biography

Dr Alice Good is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing at the University of Portsmouth, where she has taught and conducted research for over 24 years. Her work sits at the intersection of technology, society and human experience, exploring how digital systems can be designed and deployed to improve accessibility, wellbeing, inclusion and safety for individuals and communities.

Alice holds a PhD in Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) from the University of Portsmouth, where her research focused on improving accessibility for people with additional needs. She also holds an MSc in Human-Centred Computer Systems from the University of Sussex and a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Brighton. Throughout her career, she has maintained a strong interest in the human side of computing, examining the ways in which technology can both empower and disadvantage individuals.

Technology, Health and Wellbeing

Alice's early research focused on the application of technology to support health and wellbeing. She supervised and contributed to projects investigating digital interventions for postnatal depression, including the development of mobile technologies designed to support adherence to therapy programmes. She has also supervised doctoral research exploring the integration of reminiscence therapy into digital technologies for people living with dementia. More recently, examining the significant but often hidden health inequalities experienced by people facing homelessness and those who inject drugs, using innovative data-driven approaches to overcome challenges such as stigma and poor data capture

A particular area of interest has been the use of interactive technologies to enhance wellbeing among older adults. Alice worked with Shift 7 and was recruited to evaluate the impact of the award-winning Tovertafel ("Magic Table"), an interactive projection system designed to stimulate social interaction, engagement and physical activity among people living with dementia. This work demonstrated the potential of carefully designed technology to improve quality of life for vulnerable populations and reflected her broader commitment to human-centred approaches to digital innovation.

Lived Experience Research and Trauma-Informed Practice

Alongside her computing research, Alice has contributed to interdisciplinary projects examining vulnerability, trauma and recovery through lived experience methodologies. She was a member of the research team that received the prestigious Elly Jansen Award in 2023 for work exploring democratic therapeutic community principles, helping to develop methodologies that placed lived experience at the centre of the research process.

She also contributed to research examining trauma-informed care for girls in the Children and Young People's Secure Estate (CYPSE). This work emphasised the importance of understanding the experiences and perspectives of young people affected by trauma and sought to inform policy and practice through participatory and trauma-informed approaches. These projects have had a significant influence on her current research philosophy and commitment to co-produced and socially impactful research.

Human-Centred Cybersecurity, Online Harms and Technology-Enabled Abuse

More recently, Alice's research has evolved towards cybersecurity, online harms and the ways in which digital technologies intersect with vulnerability, safeguarding and gender-based violence. This represents a natural progression from her longstanding interest in understanding the impact of technology on people's lives, particularly those who may be vulnerable or marginalised.

Her current research programme focuses on human-centred cybersecurity, examining how digital technologies can create opportunities for exploitation, coercion and abuse, while also identifying ways in which technology can be used to improve safeguarding and protection.

A key area of current doctoral supervision involves the study of online exploitation and digital vulnerability. More specifically, how the characteristics of online environments may increase vulnerability to exploitation among women and girls. This work examines the role of anonymity, disinhibition, digital communication and technological affordances in shaping risk and vulnerability within online spaces.

Building on this work, Alice is developing a broader programme of doctoral research focused on technology-enabled abuse and digital coercive control. Proposed projects will investigate how technology is used within the context of domestic abuse, examining both perpetrator behaviours and professional responses.

This emerging research programme seeks to understand:

• How perpetrators exploit digital technologies and connected devices to exert coercive control.
• How victims experience and respond to technology-enabled abuse.
• How domestic abuse organisations recognise and respond to technology-facilitated harm.
• How professional practice can be enhanced through improved awareness, training and risk assessment.
• How technologies themselves can be designed or adapted to reduce opportunities for abuse.

Working closely with practitioners and support organisations, these projects aim to develop practical recommendations that can inform policy, safeguarding practice and technology design.

Research Impact and Public Engagement

A central aim of Alice's research is to generate meaningful real-world impact. Her work seeks not only to advance academic understanding but also to influence professional practice, public awareness and policy discussions relating to technology, wellbeing, safeguarding and vulnerability.

Throughout her career, Alice has worked closely with practitioners, charities, community organisations and technology developers to ensure that research findings are translated into practical outcomes. Her research into wellbeing technologies, including collaborative work evaluating the Tovertafel interactive table, demonstrated how innovative technologies can improve social engagement and quality of life for people living with dementia and informed wider discussions around technology-enhanced care.

Her commitment to co-production and lived-experience approaches has also enabled her research to contribute directly to discussions surrounding trauma-informed practice, therapeutic communities and support services for vulnerable groups. This work has helped ensure that the voices of individuals with lived experience are represented within research, service design and policy development.

More recently, Alice has become actively involved in public engagement surrounding online harms, digital vulnerability and technology-enabled abuse. Her expertise has been sought by the media on issues relating to social media, misinformation and the impact of digital technologies on society, including interviews discussing the role of social media and fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her wider public engagement work is further informed by extensive community involvement supporting vulnerable women, refugees and displaced populations. Awarded an MBE for services supporting women displaced by the war in Ukraine, Alice brings a unique combination of academic expertise and frontline experience to her research on online exploitation, digital safeguarding and technology-enabled abuse.

As her research programme develops, Alice aims to work increasingly closely with domestic abuse services, policymakers, technology developers and third-sector organisations to improve awareness of technology-facilitated abuse and to develop evidence-based approaches that help create safer digital environments.

Teaching Profile

Dr Alice Good has 24 years of experience teaching within higher education and has taught across a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes within the Faculty of Technology at the University of Portsmouth.

Her teaching career began in Human–Computer Interaction, usability and user-centred design, reflecting her research expertise in accessibility and inclusive technologies. Over time, her teaching portfolio has expanded to encompass research methods, dissertation supervision, project management and interdisciplinary research.

Alice currently teaches research methods and supervises large cohorts of undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation students across a range of computing disciplines. She has extensive experience managing projects and dissertations on undergraduate, Master's and distance-learning programmes and supports students through all stages of the research process, from project design and ethics through to data analysis and dissemination.

She has more than two decades of experience teaching on distance-learning programmes and has worked extensively with students studying flexibly alongside professional and personal commitments. Her teaching philosophy focuses on developing independent, reflective and ethically aware practitioners who understand both the technical and societal implications of emerging technologies.

Alice has supervised several PhD students and is particularly interested in supporting doctoral candidates working within the areas of human-centred cybersecurity, technology-enabled abuse, online exploitation, digital safeguarding, health technologies and accessibility.

Her teaching and supervision are characterised by a combination of academic rigour, student-centred support and a commitment to helping students undertake research that addresses complex real-world problems. She is passionate about enabling students to understand not only how technologies are developed, but also how they shape people's lives and experiences.

Research interests

Research Theme

Understanding how technology affects vulnerable people throughout the life course — from accessibility and dementia care, through mental health and wellbeing, to online exploitation, technology-enabled abuse and digital safeguarding.

This overarching theme connects Dr Good's work across human-computer interaction, health technologies, trauma-informed practice, cybersecurity and lived experience research, providing a distinctive and impactful interdisciplinary research agenda.

Research Interests

• Human-Centred Cybersecurity
• Trauma-Informed Technologies and Practice
• Lived Experience Research Methodologies
• Online Exploitation and Online Harms
• Technology-Enabled Abuse
• Domestic Abuse and Digital Coercive Control
• Digital Safeguarding
• Gender and Technology
• Vulnerability and Digital Inclusion
• Accessibility and Inclusive Design

   

Current PhD topics available

• Understanding Digital Vulnerability. Exploring How Online Environments Increase the Risk of Exploitation Among Women and Girls
• Recognising Technology-Enabled Coercive Control. An Examination of Professional Responses Within Domestic Abuse Services. Exploring how domestic abuse practitioners identify, assess and respond to digital forms of coercive control.
• Connected Devices and Coercive Control. The Role of Smart Technologies in Facilitating Domestic Abuse. Investigating how smartphones, tracking technologies, smart home devices and online accounts are used to surveil and control victims.
• Technology Facilitated Abuse of Refugee and Migrant Women: Examining digital exploitation, coercion and online harms experienced by displaced women and vulnerable migrants.
• Trauma-Informed Design: Developing Digital Systems for Survivors of Abuse and Exploitation. Creating frameworks for designing technologies that minimise retraumatisation and promote safety.
• Digital Interventions for Recovery Following Domestic Abuse. Exploring how technology can support recovery, resilience and access to support services.
• Technology-Enabled Abuse in Later Life.  Understanding Digital Coercion and Exploitation Among Older Adults. Exploring risks facing older people, particularly those with cognitive impairment or increasing reliance on connected technologies.
• Designing Safety by Design: Developing Human-Centred Safeguards Against Technology-Facilitated Abuse. Examining how software, apps and connected devices can be designed to reduce opportunities for abuse.
• Digital Stalking and Surveillance in Intimate Partner Violence. Investigating digital monitoring behaviours, victim experiences and intervention strategies.