Tomás Alves
PhD Candidate & Junior Researcher

  • Advanced Studies Diploma in Information Systems and Computer Engineering

    Ongoing

  • Bologna Master Degree in Information Systems and Computer Engineering - Alameda

    Nov 2017

  • Bologna Degree in Information Systems and Computer Engineering - Alameda

    Jul 2015

About Me

I am a PhD Candidate and a Teaching Assistant in Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon. I spend my time conducting research as a co-coordinator at the HUMAN Lab and a junior researcher at the Graphics and Interaction research area at INESC-ID. As life is not all about work, I am also foodie searching for the best restaurants in the world and cooking what I like best at home. I am also an avid fan of Magic: The Gathering.

Research Interests

Information Visualization

I find fascinating the way each individual has a way to perceived information through visual encodings and how we can make it as intuitive as possible. Most of my research focuses on investigating cognitive biases and the trust-building process in information visualziation-based scenarios.

Individual Differences

Many constructs have models to define oneself, yet I am mostly focused on personality and cognitive styles, as they are more stables and allow researchers to understand how users model their thought processes and interact with the outer world. Cognitive traits such as perceptual speed or spatial ability are also on the menu!

Difficulty Adjustment

Automatic difficulty adjustment was one of my first topics in research. There are a lot of human and context factors to take into account when we want to provide the best tailored user experience. I like to focus on human factors, as you may grasp from my remaining research interests.

Physiological Computing

I take advantage of physiological computing to work with brain-computer interfaces. Biofeedback has proven to be a useful input for difficulty adjustment techniques and personality inference.

  • Inside Academia

  • Co-coordinator - HUMAN Lab

    Nov 2021 - Present

  • Junior Researcher - INESC-ID

    Jul 2018 - Present

    I have worked in two different projects so far:

  • Teaching Assistant - IST, UL

    Sep 2017 - Present

    I am part of the faculty of the following courses of the BSc and the MSc in Information Systems and Computer Engineering in Instituto Superior Técnico:

    • 2022/2023

      • Information Visualization - Alameda.

      • Multimedia Content Production - Alameda.

    • 2021/2022

      • Information Visualization - Alameda.

      • Multimedia Content Production - Alameda.

    • 2020/2021

      • Information Visualization - Taguspark.

      • Multimedia Content Production - Alameda.

    • 2019/2020

      • Information Visualization - Taguspark.

      • Multimedia Content Production - Alameda and Taguspark.

    • 2018/2019

      • Internet of Things Interaction Design - Taguspark.

    • 2017/2018

      • Databases - Taguspark;

      • Human-Computer Interaction - Alameda;

      • Systems Analysis and Modeling - Alameda.

  • Teaching Assistant - ENIDH

    Mar 2017 - Jul 2017

    I was in charge of the Advanced Programming I course of the TeSP-RSI degree.

  • Trainee - INESC-ID

    Jun 2016 - Jul 2016

    I optimized a cloud point dissemination to represent avatars in VR using Unity3D.

  • Outside Academia

  • Student Mentor - TreeTree2

    Jul 2019 - Aug 2019

    Student Mentor at Academia de Verão de Aprendizagem e Olimpíadas Científicas. My job was to teach students from the seventh to the ninth grade how to review scientific contributions and to present them.

  • CEO - Studentlab PT

    Mar 2017 - Sep 2019

    I was one of the responsible in the founding of the company and I was in charge of the management team.

  • President - NEIIST

    Jun 2016 - Jun 2017

    My responsibilities were to promote NEIIST, to create and maintain partnerships of NEIIST with another entities and to overview the work being done by the collaborators.

Publications

All
Difficulty Adjustment
Individual Differences
Information Visualization
Physiological Computing
Serious Games
Other
2022

Alves, T., Ramalho, B., Gonçalves, D., Henriques-Calado, J., & Gama, S. (2022). Leveraging Conscientiousness-Based Preferences in Information Visualization Design. In Book on Visualization Psychology (Temporary Name). Springer. (In press).

Alves, T., Nunes, D., Gonçalves, D., Henriques-Calado, J., & Gama, S. (2022). Towards Conscientiousness-Based Graphical User Interface Design Guidelines. In Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. Springer.

Delgado, T., Alves, T., & Gama, S. (2022). How neuroticism and locus of control affect user performance in high-dimensional data visualization. In Computers and Graphics. Elsevier.

Alves, T., Dias, C., Gonçalves, D., & Gama, S. (2022). Exploring how Temporal Framing Affects Trust with Time-series Visualizations. In 2022 International Conference on Graphics and Interaction (ICGI). IEEE.

Alves, T., Gonçalves, D., Henriques-Calado, J., & Gama, S. (2022). Examining User Preferences based on Personality Factors in Graphical User Interface Design. In 2022 International Conference on Graphics and Interaction (ICGI). IEEE.

Alves, T., Dias, C., Gonçalves, D., Henriques-Calado, J., & Gama, S. (2022). How Personality and Visual Channels Affect Insight Generation. In 2022 IEEE Workshop on Evaluation and Beyond-Methodological Approaches to Visualization (BELIV). IEEE.

2021

Nogueira, J., Alves, T., & Nicolau, H. (2021). DAN & Danny: Combining Analog and Digital Self-Tracking Data to Manage Wellbeing. In 2021 International Conference on Graphics and Interaction (ICGI). IEEE.

Teotónio, F., Alves, T., & Nicolau, H. (2021). PlayHIIT: Augmenting Remote Exertion Experiences Through Playful Interaction. In 2021 International Conference on Graphics and Interaction (ICGI). IEEE.

2020

Gomes, S., Alves, T., Dias, J., & Martinho, C. (2020). Message Across: A word matching game for reward-based in-game behavior change. In 12th International Conference on Videogame Sciences and Arts. Springer, Cham.

Gomes, S., Alves, T., Dias, J., & Martinho, C. (2020). Reward-Mediated Individual and Altruistic Behavior. In 12th International Conference on Videogame Sciences and Arts. Springer, Cham.

Alves, T., Ramalho, B., Henriques-Calado, J., Gonçalves, D. & Gama, S. (2020). Exploring How Personality Models Information Visualization Preferences. In 2020 IEEE Visualization Conference (VIS). IEEE.

Alves, T., Gomes, S., Dias, J., & Martinho, C. (2020). The Influence of Reward on the Social Valence of Interactions. In 2020 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG). IEEE.

Alves, T., Carvalho, H., & Lopes, D. S. (2020). Winning compensations: Adaptable gaming approach for upper limb rehabilitation sessions based on compensatory movements. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 108, 103501.

Alves, T., Natálio, J., Henriques-Calado, J., & Gama, S. (2020). Incorporating personality in user interface design: A review. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 155, 109709.

2019

Alves, T., Martinho, C., & Prada, R. (2019). Towards Incorporating Personality in Serious Games for Health. In 2019 11th International Conference on Virtual Worlds and Games for Serious Applications (VS-Games) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.

Alves, T., Gonçalves, D., Henriques-Calado, J., & Gama, S. (2019). Personality-Based Graphical User Interface Design Guidelines. Poster presented at: Encontro Ciências 2019 ; 2019 Jul 8-10; Lisbon, Portugal.

2018

Alves, T., Gama, S., & Melo, F. S. (2018). Towards Guidelines for Mental State Induction in First-Person Shooters. In 2018 International Conference on Graphics and Interaction (ICGI) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.

Alves, T., Gama, S., & Melo, F. S. (2018). Flow adaptation in serious games for health. In 2018 IEEE 6th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (SeGAH) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.

2017

Alves, T., Melo, F. S., & Gama, S. (2017). Flow-Z: A Flow-based Adaptable Game to Maintain Optimal Challenge. MSc thesis, Instituto Superior Técnico - Universidade de Lisboa, 2017.

MSc Supervisions

2022-2023

Carolina Pereira. The Phantom Effect - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama.

Tiago Pires. The Clustering Illusion - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama.

2021-2022

Tiago Delgado. Studying how personality affects user interaction in high-dimensional data visualization - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama and Daniel Gonçalves.

Vasco Pires. Studying the distinction cognitive bias in information visualization - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama and Daniel Gonçalves.

2020-2021

Alexandra Maroco. The Effect of Neuroticism on the Framing Bias in Information Visualization - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama and Daniel Gonçalves.

Carlota Dias. The Effect of Neuroticism on Trustworthiness in Information Visualization - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama and Daniel Gonçalves.

Diogo Loureiro. Web BioSPPy+: Web Application for Biosignal Processing & Visualisation - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama.

Ricardo Velhinho. The Effect of Locus of Control on the Anchoring Effect in Information Visualization - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama and Daniel Gonçalves.

2019-2020

Bárbara Ramalho. Towards Conscientiousness-based Data Visualization - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama.

Diogo Mestre. Visualizing Personality Dysfunction and Pathological Personality Traits - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama.

Francisco Teotónio. SABER - Social Balanced Experiences for Rehabilitation - Co-Supervised with Hugo Nicolau.

Rodrigo Oliveira. BioSSPy Web - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama.

2018-2019

Carolina Xavier. NEURAL: Towards Neuroticism-Based User interface Adaptability - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama.

Daniel Nunes. Interface Adaptativa Baseada na Conscienciosidade - Co-Supervised with Sandra Gama.

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