Human Computer Interaction and Design (HCID)

Entry points, 1st year, Common Courses

Academic year 2023/2024

Aalto University (Aalto)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Mika P. Nieminen, mika.nieminen@aalto.fi

FIRST SEMESTER

Compulsory Major Courses (14 ECTS)ECTS
Language course: Compulsory degree requirement, both oral and written requirements3
Introduction course for master’s students: Academic skills1
User-Centred Methods for Product and Service Design5
Select one of the following courses: 
User Interface Construction5
Computational Design and Interaction5
Optional Major Courses (select at least 12 ECTS over the two semesters) 
Human-Computer Interaction5
Device-Agnostic Design5
Design of WWW services5
Explorative Information Visualization5
Seminars and Special courses in Software and Service Engineering5
Compulsory I&E Courses (7 ECTS) 
Introduction to Digital Business and Venturing3
Digital Business Management4


SECOND SEMESTER

Compulsory Major Courses (10 ECTS)ECTS
Data-Driven Concept Design5
Collaborative Evaluation of Interactive Systems5
Optional Major Courses (select at least 12 ECTS over the two semesters) 
Device-Agnostic Design5
Information Visualization5
Artificial Intelligence5
Seminars and Special courses in Software and Service Engineering5
Compulsory I&E courses (17 ECTS) 
Global Business in the Digital Age4
Start-up Experience9
ICT Innovation Summer School4

KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Programme website

Programme Leads: Patric Dahlqvist, Cristian Bodgan

FIRST SEMESTER

Mandatory CoursesECTS
Human-computer Interaction: Principles and Design7.5
Research Methodology and Scientific Writing (Can be taken in year 1 or in year 2)7.5
Entrepreneurship for Engineers6
Conditionally Elective Course: 
Internet Marketing7.5
Optional Courses 
Evaluation Methods in Human-Computer Interaction6
Distributed Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Agents7.5


SECOND SEMESTER

Mandatory CoursesECTS
Interaction Design Methods7.5
Human-Computer Interaction, Research Seminars3
Interaction Programming and the Dynamic Web7.5
Business Development Lab of Entrepreneurship Engineers9
Summer Course- Entrepreneurship for Engineers4
Conditionally Elective Courses, choose one: 
Technology-based Entrepreneurship7.5
e-Business Strategies7.5
Optional Courses 
Machine Learning7.5
Haptics, Tactile and Tangible Interaction7.5

University of Twente (UT)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Mariët Theune, m.theune@utwente.nl
The master programme is provided by Interaction Technology.

FIRST SEMESTER

Compulsory Major CoursesECTS
Foundations of Interaction Technology5
Concepts, Measures and Methods5
Human Centred Design5
Elective Major Courses 
Speech Processing5
Data Science5
Multisensory Design5
Storytelling through Oral Presentation5
Storytelling through Sound5
Robot Perception, Cognition, and Navigation5
Compulsory I&E Courses 
I&E Innovation Management Basics: for EIT5
Business Development Lab for EIT I5


SECOND SEMESTER

Compulsory Major CoursesECTS
Introduction Human-Computer Interaction5
Experience Design for Interaction5
Elective Major Courses 
I-Tech project10
Trends in Human Robot Interaction Research5
Brain Computer Interfacing5
Affective Computing5
Conversational Agents5
Design and Behaviour Change5
Pervasive Computing5
Social Robot Design5
Advanced Research Projects in Speech Processing5
Advanced Project in Conversational Agents5
Advanced Project in Brain Computer Interfacing5
Advanced Research Projects in Human Robot Interaction5
REDI: Research Experiments in Databases and Information Retrieval5
Virtual Reality5
Storytelling through Sound5
Popular Science Writing5
Embodied Interaction5
Mastering Tinkering5
Sports Interaction Technology5
Tele-presence Robotics5
AI for Autonomous Robots5
Compulsory I&E Courses 
Business Development Lab for EIT II5


Elective I&E Courses (Choose one)

First SemesterECTS
Computer Ethics5
Empirical Methods for Designers5
Advanced Project in Impact, Innovation and Entrepreneurship5
Second Semester 
Strategic Technology Management and Innovation5
Advanced Topics in Digital Marketing5
Information Systems for the Financial Service5
Design Thinking for Service and Business Innovation5
Advanced Project in Impact, Innovation and Entrepreneurship5
Entrepreneurial Finance5

Technical University of Madrid (UPM)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Prof. Elena Villalba Mora

Dr. Eng. Elena Villalba Mora is a Professor (Associate) at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain, in the Computer Science field, concretely in Human Computer Interaction; with more than 18 years’ experience in User Experience, eHealth and eInclusion. She holds a master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, both from the Technical University of Madrid (Spain).

FIRST SEMESTER

Compulsory Major CoursesECTS
Introduction to Human Computer Interaction and Design3
Design Methods for Human Computer Interaction3
Programming of User Interfaces6
Challenges for Accessible Computing for People with Functional Diversity4
User Experience and Mobile Interaction6
HCID Seminars I2
Compulsory I&E Minor Courses: 
Introduction to Innovation and Entrepreneurship Management6
Introduction To Technology Watch And Competitive Intelligence1


SECOND SEMESTER

Compulsory Major Courses ECTS
Evaluation of Interactive Systems3
HCI Project6
Elective major courses (choose one): 
Image Mining3
Data Mining3
Compulsory I&E Minor Courses 
Entrepreneurship and Business Modelling6
I&E Seminars5
Summer School4
Elective I&E Minor (choose one): 
Launching of ICT Product/services to the Market (2 ECTS) Exit: 2nd year2

Polytechnic University of Milan (POLIMI)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Franca Garzotto

This entry is best suited for applicants with a degree in Computer Science Engineering.

This means a strong base of ICT, computer science, programming, and engineering courses in your transcript of records, including math courses at academic level (e.g., calculus, discrete or stats) and physics. A competitive academic record {of more than 3.4/4 or 4.24/5 or B+) is also needed. Please note that the admission committee of Polimi can specify additional constraints on the individual study plan based on previous studies, in order to compensate possible lacks in basic prerequisites.

FIRST SEMESTER

Compulsory Major CoursesECTS
Advanced User Interfaces6
Data Bases5
Software Engineering 25
Compulsory l&E Courses 
Strategy & Marketing10
Elective Major Courses: Choose one HCI Course 
Videogame Design and Programming5
Design and Implementation of Mobile Applications5
Choose one ICT Course 
Artificial Intelligence5
Recommender Systems5
Principles of Programming Languages5


SECOND SEMESTER

Compulsory Major Courses ECTS
Hypermedia Applications5
Computing Infrastructure5
Compulsory l&E Courses 
Designing Digital Business Innovation Lab10
l&E Summer School4
Elective Major Courses: Choose one HCI Course 
Interaction Design Studio5
Process and Service Design5
Multidisciplinary Project5
Philosophical Issues of Computer Science5
Interdisciplinary Course of Robotics5
Choose one ICT Course 
Computer Graphics5
Machine Learning5
Computer Security5

Exit points, 2nd year, Specialisation

Academic year 2024/2025

Aalto University (Aalto)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Mika P. Nieminen, mika.nieminen@aalto.fi

SPECIALISATION: Cross-Device Interaction

Aalto University offers a specialisation in Cross-Device Interaction with courses on various design and user interface development techniques embarking from web and mobile development towards post-desktop interactions with virtual or augmented reality. Human interaction capabilities and goals largely remain the same even if the used interaction device and implementation methods evolve. 90’s early experimentations with mobile code (Java) have changed to responsive design and mobile-first culture of information consumption. Through developments in sensors, algorithms, and computer graphics we are waiting for the consumer break-through of augmented reality and 3D user interfaces.

Compulsory Courses (14 ECTS)ECTS
Introduction course for Master's students: Career and working life skills1
Language course: Compulsory degree requirement, both oral and written requirements3
Design of WWW services5
Device-Agnostic Design5
Compulsory I&E Courses (6 ECTS) 
I&E Study Project6
Optional major courses (select at least 10 ECTS) 
WWW Applications5
Full Stack Web Development5-7
Introduction to Virtual Reality3
Coding Virtual Worlds6
User Interface Construction5
Computational Design and Interaction5
Seminars and Special courses in Software and Service Engineering5


Mika P. Nieminen is a Senior University Lecturer at Aalto University School of Science. He is the Programme Director for the master’s programme in ICT Innovation. Mika also leads the HCID programme for the EIT Digital Master School as a whole and coordinates it locally at Aalto. He also teaching several courses on User-Centred Design. His research interests include UCD at large, and user involvement and user-centred design competencies in particular. In the past he has helped to design and built a TimeMachine(2006), a Holodeck (2010), Design War Room (2012) and a cross-dimensional log cabin (2020) enabling collaboration in and out of VR.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Programme website

Programme Leads: Patric Dahlqvist, patricd@kth.se; Cristian Bogdan

SPECIALISATION: Physical Interaction Design and Realization

KTH offers a specialisation in Physical Interaction Design and Realisation with courses in design, development and implementation of physical and multimodal interaction. KTH is well fitted for this specialisation with a strong research background in areas like Physical Interaction, Soma design, mobile computing and User Centred Design of communication media. Furthermore, KTH offers a unique and integrated education and research environment with world-leading ICT industries located in Stockholm / Kista. Other facilities accessible to the master's students include an Interaction lab (middla.gitbook.io/lab/), a mobile services lab, a haptics lab, a usability lab, a physical computing lab and a new centre for information visualization (vic-sthlm.se) featuring ultra-high-resolution displays, holographic displays, eye tracking devices and multitouch surfaces.

Mandatory CoursesECTS
Degree Project in Computer Science and Engineering, specialising in ICT Innovation, Second Cycle30
Multimodal Interaction and Interfaces7.5
Research Methodology and Scientific Writing (Can be taken in year 1 or in year 2)7.5
ICT Innovation Study Project6
Physical Interaction Design and Realisation7.5
Optional Courses 
Human-Computer Interaction, Research Seminars3
Haptics, Tactile and Tangible Interaction7.5
Ubiquitous Computing7.5
Developing Mobile Applications7.5
Sensor Based Systems7.5
Mobile Networks and Services7.5

University of Twente (UT)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Mariët Theune, m.theune@utwente.nl

The master programme is provided by Interaction Technology.

SPECIALISATION:  Intelligent Systems

The University of Twente offers a specialisation in Intelligent Systems, examining and developing models that can simulate human intelligence in agents (incl. robots). Such agents can perform automated reasoning and learn automatically from various kinds of data, enabling them to carry out a perception-action cycle of understanding human behaviours and generating system responses. We look at tools and methods that can deal with incomplete, uncertain and ambiguous real-life data, including human speech and language. Students can also learn to design and develop multi-agent systems that can be applied to complex real world problems.

Compulsory CoursesECTS
I&E study EIT6
Research Topics4
Final Project30
Specialisation Courses (min. 10 ECTS) 
Machine Learning I5
Natural Language Processing5
Multi-Agent Systems5
Speech Processing5
Data Science5
Foundations of Information Retrieval5
Machine Learning II5
Advanced Project in Natural Language Processing5
Deep Learning - from theory to practice5
Image Processing and Computer Vision5
Human-Robot Communication5
Robot Perception, Cognition, and Navigation5
Other Elective Courses (max. 10 ECTS) 
I-Tech Project10
Multisensory Design5
Philosophy of Technology5
Brand Management5
Documentary Practice5


Mariët Theune is assistant professor at the University of Twente, working in the Human Media Interaction research group. She has a background in computational linguistics and her research interests include automatic language generation, serious games, dialogue systems and embodied conversational agents.

Technical University of Madrid (UPM)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Prof. Elena Villalba Mora

THIRD SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (20 ECTS)ECTS
Accessible Design of Interactive Systems4.5
Adaptive Systems4.5
Assistive Products4.5
E-health: Promoting Healthy Agein4.5
HCID Seminars II4
Elective Major Courses (choose 1) (4 ECTS) 
Management, Relationships and Communication in Working Groups4
Intelligent Virtual Environments: Technologies, Architectures and Applications4
Compulsory I&E Minor Courses 
I&E Study6


FOURTH SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (30 ECTS)ECTS
Master Thesis30

University of Trento (UNITN)

Programme website

Programme Lead: Luca Turchet, luca.turchet@unitn.it

SPECIALISATION: Cognitive Interaction

The University of Trento (UNITN) offers a specialisation in cognitive interaction which studies the mental and cognitive processes that are underlaying language, vision, and interaction.

This specialisation provides the student with the interdisciplinary training in language science, neuroscience, psychology, computational methods for the statistical analysis of large amounts of language and perceptual data, and in interface design. Theoretical knowledge will be supplemented by experience acquired in substantial practical projects carried out in research and industry labs.

Further information can be found here.

THIRD & FOURTH SEMESTER

Compulsory Courses (6 ECTS)ECTS
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Studies in ICT6
Elective Courses (choose 24 ECTS) 
Social interaction6
Mind-Brain Interaction and Cognitive Constraints6
Participatory Design6
Multisensory Interaction6
Prototyping Interactive Systems6
Decision-making Processes and Digital Nudging6
Visual Brain and Design6
Affective Computing6
Research Project12
Thesis (24 ECTS)24
Internship (6 ECTS)6


Luca Turchet is an Associate Professor at the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science of University of Trento, where he leads the Creative, Intelligent and Multisensory Interactions Laboratory.

He received master’s degrees (summa cum laude) in Computer Science from University of Verona, in classical guitar and composition from Music Conservatory of Verona, and in electronic music from the Royal College of Music of Stockholm. He received the Ph.D. in Media Technology from Aalborg University Copenhagen.

His scientific, artistic, and entrepreneurial research has been supported by numerous grants from different funding agencies including the European Commission (Marie Curie Individual Fellowship), the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the European Space Agency, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Danish Research Council. He is co­ founder of the company Elk, which operates in the sector of Music Technology. He serves as an associate editor for IEEE Access and the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. He has been guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society on the Internet of Sounds topic. He is the founder and General Chair of the International Workshop on the Internet of Sounds. His main research interests are in music technology, Internet of Things, human-computer interaction, and perception.

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Co-Funded by the European Union