I am an Associate Professor in Interaction Design at the University of Gothenburg and Head of Division of CLIC — Cognitive Science, IT and Learning, Interaction Design, and Communication — at the Department of Applied IT. I am also part of HCI@GU, our research group in Human-Computer Interaction.

My research explores the relationship between people and computing technologies: how technologies shape what we can do, how we understand the world, and how we live with them.

My current work focuses particularly on large language models and AI as new materials for interaction and computing. I am developing the idea of LLM-mediated computing: a form of computing in which people can express intentions through language and computational functionality can be created dynamically in response, rather than being entirely predefined in applications. This work raises broader questions about interpretation, mediation, intention, and what the computer itself becomes when software is increasingly generated through interaction.

Alongside this, I am interested in how digital technologies become embedded in everyday life. Earlier work has examined mobile communication, smartphone use, self-tracking, digital wellbeing, and the ways technologies shape behaviour and experience. Across these areas, I tend to combine building and experimenting with technology with empirical studies and conceptual work.

I have been programming since I was six, and building things with computers has remained an important part of how I think about technology. I hold an MSc in Computer Science from Chalmers University of Technology and a PhD in Human–Computer Interaction from Stockholm University, where I conducted my doctoral research at the Mobile Life Centre. After my PhD, I spent four years at the University of Glasgow researching mobile and wearable technologies, large-scale app use, and digital wellbeing. I later spent two years outside academia as a digital strategist at the technology consultancy Iteam before joining the University of Gothenburg.

You can find my publications on the Publications page and more about our research and activities at HCI@GU.

Contact: mattias.rost@ait.gu.se