Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas is at the forefront of a digital revolution that isn’t built for humans. A leading expert in the emerging field of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI), she is redefining the boundaries of the internet by asking a radical question: What happens when we give animals the “login” to our digital world?

With a deep technical background in computer science, Ilyena specializes in designing and engineering hardware and software specifically for non-human cognitive needs. From building Arduino-based sensory devices for primates to inventing the world-renowned “DogPhone,” her work moves beyond simple pet-tech. She treats animals not as passive subjects of technology, but as active users with the right to agency and choice.

Based at the University of Glasgow, Ilyena’s research is published in top-tier human-computer interaction (HCI) journals and has sparked a global conversation on the ethics of the “Animal Internet.” Her experiments, ranging from video-calling parrots to music-selecting monkeys, provide the first empirical evidence that animals can intentionally navigate digital interfaces to mitigate isolation and express emotions and preferences.

As an academic researcher and tech engineer, Ilyena is currently building the frameworks for a future where technology doesn’t just monitor the animal world, but allow genuine two-way interactions that have the potential to fundamentally enrich the lives of both the human and animal world.