I am an associate professor of design and the program director for the international BFA in industrial design starting in Autumn 2026. I teach across all three levels of education (BFA, MFA, and PhD), maintain a research practice, and take part in UID’s strategic council.
Background
I have a BS in architecture from the University of Virginia, a MFA in interaction design from Umeå Institute of Design, and a PhD in Interaction Design from KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
I have extensive experience working in industry as a designer, including roles in the US and UK as an architectural design assistant, a digital information designer, and a senior interaction and service designer. Notably, prior to my PhD, I worked in London for Zebra Technologies, a technology company specializing in enterprise internet of things and did user research, concept development, and cross-platform designs for FedEx, Amazon, Biffa, and DPD.
Teaching
As an educator, I believe in student-led learning environments, and promote critical thinking and learning-through-making.
Research
My research draws upon care ethics and posthuman feminism to design for situations where technology is often considered out of place, such as in outdoor environments or intimate settings of care.
2025
Proceedings of nordes 2025: relational design, 6-8 August, Oslo, Norway, Oslo: Oslo School of architecture and design, University of Oslo, Olso Metropolitan University 2025 : 601-607
Helms, Karey; J盲盲skel盲inen, Petra; Lindberg, Sharon; et al.
2025
CHI EA '25: Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Nicenboim, Iohanna; Karana, Elvin; McQuillan, Holly; et al.
2025
CHI EA '25: Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Oogjes, Doenja; Biggs, Heidi; Desjardins, Audrey; et al.
2024
DRS2024: research papers
Helms, Karey
2024
CHI '24: Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Yadav, Deepika; Karlgren, Kasper; Shaikh, Riyaj Isamiya; et al.
2022
CHI EA '22: Extended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Helms, Karey
2021
DIS '21: Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, ACM Digital Library 2021 : 1998-2012
Helms, Karey
2021
DIS '21: Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, ACM Digital Library 2021 : 789-801
Helms, Karey; Fernaeus, Ylva
2021
Nordes 2021: Matters of scale: Proceedings of the The 9th Nordes Design Research conference, Kolding, Denmark
Helms, Karey; Juul S酶ndergaard, Marie Louise; Campo Woytuk, Nadia
2021
Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice, Routledge 2021, Vol. 9, (2) : 142-163
Tsaknaki, Vasiliki; Helms, Karey; Juul S酶ndergaard, Marie Louise; et al.
2020
DIS' 20 Companion: Companion Publication of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, ACM Digital Library 2020 : 515-519
Helms, Karey
2019
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2019, Vol. 3, (CSCW)
Ferreira, Pedro; Helms, Karey; Brown, Barry; et al.
2019
DIS '19: Proceedings of the 2019 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference, ACM Digital Library 2019 : 1209-1222
Helms, Karey
2019
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, ACM Digital Library 2019, Vol. 3, (GROUP)
Helms, Karey; Ferreira, Pedro; Brown, Barry; et al.
2018
The 2018 AAAI SpringSymposium Series: Technical Report聽SS-18, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence 2018 : 394-398
Helms, Karey; Brown, Barry; Sahlgren, Magnus; et al.
2018
TEI '18: Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, ACM Digital Library 2018 : 724-727
Jenkins, Tom; Helms, Karey; Tsaknaki, Vasiliki; et al.
2018
The 2018 AAAI Spring Symposium Series: Technical Report聽SS-18, AAAI Press 2018 : 185-188
Sahlgren, Magnus; Ylip盲盲, Erik; Brown, Barry; et al.
2017
DIS '17 Companion: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference Companion Publication on Designing Interactive Systems, ACM Digital Library 2017 : 182-186