Ian Ruthven is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Information Sciences at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Glasgow, and a Master’s degree in Cognitive Science from the University of Birmingham. He has been an active researcher in information retrieval since 1994, and his research centers around the development of useful and usable information access systems.

His current research projects focus on the modeling and design of interactive information access systems, investigations of people’s use of information access systems, and the development of methodologies for evaluating information access systems. A particular theme of this work is understanding how humans engage with the information that surrounds them, and understanding the decisions they make about this information and the systems that allow access to information. By analyzing search behavior, we have developed new models for search systems and new interfaces for interacting with information sources.

Much of this research is interdisciplinary because it connects technical and theoretical solutions to the real-world needs of human searchers. The interdisciplinary nature of Ruthven’s research is reflected in his articles published in information retrieval, artificial intelligence, and human-computer interaction conferences and journals. He has obtained research grants from national and international organizations, and has received Best Paper awards from ACM SIGIR and IFIP Interact for his work on interactive information retrieval.

Ruthven teaches graduate-level courses across the related disciplines of computer and information sciences at Strathclyde and at external events. In his free time, he paints badly, but not as badly as he plays piano.