Are you a GCSE or A-Level student interested in computing? Join us here at King's for our annual computing schools lecture! Dr Georgia Panagiotidou will deliver the 2026 lecture, exploring her work on helping individuals and communities make sense of environmental data.

Talk title

From data to decisions: how communities and individuals make sense of environmental data.

Talk description

Environmental data is everywhere. Smart meters show household energy use, sensors capture air quality conditions, and carbon trackers estimate the footprint of AI systems. Yet, making sense of environmental information is not just an individual looking at a chart. It is a social and material process, shaped by who collects the data, how it is represented, and who has the agency to act on it.

Join Dr Georgia Panagiotidou to explore her research on this fascinating topic. This talk draws on research across human-computer interaction, data visualisation, and sustainable AI to examine how environmental data is acted upon, both alone and together. 

About the speaker

Dr Georgia Panagiotidou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Informatics at King’s College London. Her research lies at the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI), data visualization and sustainability. Overall, she focuses on how people engage with data, particularly within interdisciplinary domains like sustainability, exploring key challenges such as biases, uncertainties, and friction in collective data use.

Her work often employs participatory methods, utilizing ‘technology probes’ to better understand how individuals and communities interact with data. Currently, she is working on human-centred technologies that enable communities to pursue Net-Zero goals, blending participatory design with data science to develop practical tools for community-driven sustainability. Her latest work investigates how to promote more environmentally responsible AI, looking to connect bridges between HCI and sustainable computing.

Before returning to academia, she worked in the field of data design and journalism, contributing to the data team of Helsingin Sanomat, the largest daily newspaper in Finland, as well as to multiple NGOs including the Open Knowledge Foundation Finland where she developed data visualizations that reached wide audiences.

 

Schedule

16:15 - Theatre doors open

16:30-16:40 - Event starts; welcome and housekeeping

16:40-17:00 - Research talk from King's Informatics PhD student

17:00-18:00 - Dr Georgia Panagiotidou talk and Q&A

18:00 - Event finishes

 

Important information

Attendance
This event is aimed at those aged 16+. Younger attendees are welcome, but please note that attendees under the age of 14 must be accompanied by a responsible adult. For school groups, tickets are limited to 20 students per booking, to ensure a larger number of schools can attend. If you are aged 14–18 and booking for yourself, please check with a parent or guardian before booking your place.

Registration for this event will take place in the entrance to the South Wing of Bush House, part of the Strand Campus. This is on the Strand, the opposite side of St Mary Le Strand Church from the King's Building and Somerset House. 

This event is organised by the Department of Informatics at King’s College London, together with the Faculty Outreach Team. If you have any questions or would like any further details, please email nmes-outreach@kcl.ac.uk.

For in-person events we operate a policy of overbooking, to help manage on the day drop-out rates. Please ensure you arrive in good time to avoid disappointment on the day.

Accessibility
This talk will take place in Bush House Lecture Theatre 2, which is on the fourth floor of Bush House South Wing, which is accessible via lift. The theatre is fully wheelchair accessible, with designated spaces for wheelchair users. There are accessible bathrooms on this floor. 

The nearest step-free underground station is Blackfriars, but a number of bus routes stop a short distance from the Strand Campus.

Photography and privacy notice
The event you will be attending will have photography and/or videography. If you do not wish to appear in any recordings or photographs, please approach our registration team on the day of the event or email nmes-outreach@kcl.ac.uk beforehand. Photographs and recordings taken may feature in our publications or on the King’s website and social media channels. All personal data will be processed in accordance with King’s privacy policy available here.

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