Liz Coulter-Smith
Lecturer and Course Leader, User Experience Design and Indie Game Development
Liz Coulter-Smith is Course Leader for MA User Experience Design and MA Indie Game Development at Falmouth University. She is an educator, researcher, and practitioner working at the intersection of user experience, artificial intelligence, and digital media. Liz has led and redesigned postgraduate courses and established student-led creative agencies at two universities, giving students experience of live briefs, external partners, and professional creative practice. She teaches across UX, co-creative design, and machine learning, with a strong emphasis on critical thinking, experimentation, and employability. Her academic work includes publications in digital media, artificial intelligence, and higher education, including a chapter with Cambridge University Press examining the impact of AI on the transformation of higher education.
Alongside her academic leadership, Liz has an established international creative practice. She was awarded a nine-month artist residency in Paris supported by the Australia Council, culminating in a solo exhibition at the Australian Embassy. Her work has been exhibited and commissioned internationally, including in Paris, Washington DC, Atlanta, Sydney, Melbourne, and at Parliament House in Canberra, and is held in public and corporate collections across Europe, the United States, and Australia. This sustained professional practice informs her teaching and research, supporting a close integration between theory, creative production, and emerging technologies.
Earlier in her career, Liz held a supporting research role on AgentLink, a major EU-funded agent-based research network based at the University of Southampton, where she worked as support staff to Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Dame Wendy Hall, and Professor Michael Luck. Her role included organising publications, conferences, and high-profile academic visits involving figures such as Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Ted Nelson, and Douglas Engelbart, contributing to interdisciplinary research activity around intelligent and distributed systems. Liz completed a four-year undergraduate degree and a two-year Master of Fine Art (MFA) studio programme in the United States, and is nearing the completion of her PhD at Plymouth University, where her research examines human–AI co-creation, computational creativity, and emerging creative technologies.
External Links
Qualifications
Qualifications
| Year | Qualification | Awarding body |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | PGCHE | University of Worcester |
| 2001 | PGCertResMeth | Southampton Solent University |
| 1984 | Master of Fine Art (MFA) | University of Georgia |
| 1982 | Bachelor of Fine Art | Miami University |
Honors and awards
| Year | Description |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Innovative & Tech Savvy Lecturer of the Year Award. STaR Awards Initiative. University of Northampton. |
| 2019 | Google Cloud Program (2017-2019). Education Grant 18k. Awarded by Google Education, Mountain View, California, USA. |
| 2018 | Analytics Data Labs Project (2018). KEF team member. JISC/HESA/HEFCE funded, KEF Data Visualisation and Business Intelligence project. |
| 2015 | Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) |
Research Interests
Research interests and expertise
Liz’s research interests and expertise lie at the intersection of user experience, artificial intelligence, and creative practice. Her work focuses on human–AI co-creation, computational creativity, and practice-based research in digital art and emerging technologies. She has expertise in UX and HCI, co-creative design, and the creative and critical use of machine learning systems. Her research is informed by long-term engagement with interdisciplinary AI research, creative practice, and postgraduate education, with particular attention to experience, interpretation, and cultural impact.
Research topics
- Human–AI co-creation and collaborative creative systems
- Computational creativity and generative AI
- Practice-based research in digital art and technology
- UX and human experience in AI-mediated systems
- Visual indeterminacy, ambiguity, and non-representational aesthetics
- Multimodal creative systems (image, sound, interaction)
- Creative applications of machine learning
- Cultural and ethical implications of artificial intelligence
Areas of teaching
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning for creative practice
- Data fundamentals and Python for designers
- Digital media and creative technologies
- Research methods in computing, design, and digital media
- Critical and ethical perspectives on AI and emerging technologies
Professional Engagement
Engagement with professional associations and societies
- British Computer Society (BCS), 2020 – present.
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , 2020 – present.
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), UK, 2014 – present.
- Association for Learning Technology (ALT), UK, 2013 – present.
- Higher Education Entrepreneurship Group (HEEG), UK, 2014 – present.
- Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2001 – present.
