About Me

I’m Tejaswini Joshi, a UX researcher and design thinker with a PhD in Informatics (Human-Computer Interaction track), awarded in Spring 2025. My work is rooted in the belief that technology must be built with and for people—not merely used by them. I bring a research practice shaped by humanistic inquiry, ethnographic depth, and a commitment to reflexive design.

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At the heart of my approach is a desire to make the role of the researcher and designer visible: to foreground our positionality, values, and the ethical consequences of the choices we make. My dissertation [linked here] explores this reflexive stance through domains such as bottom-up agricultural innovation, infrastructuring, and AI and creativity. Whether studying grassroots systems or emerging technologies, I seek to cultivate practices of design and research that are not only functional, but also emancipatory.

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I understand ethnography as a creative, interpretive act — an invitation to sit with others in witnessing and making sense of complex social realities. My methods are immersive and embodied: walking probes, in-person observation, interviews, jottings, photographs, sketches, and systems diagrams. Meaning rarely arrives all at once. It reveals itself through effortful, iterative engagement. This "effort after meaning" shapes my interpretive analysis and design synthesis.

As a researcher, I hold space for ambiguity and nuance, translating ethnographic encounters into insights that support inclusive, ethical, and human-centered technologies. As a writer, I strive to communicate complexity without abstraction—using language that honors the richness of lived experience.

I’m currently seeking opportunities to apply this depth—through UX research, design strategy, or public interest technology work. I’m especially passionate about contributing to technologies and AI that center equity, creativity, and care.
 

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