Dr Kellie Vella
Research Fellow
School of Communication and Arts
Researcher biography
Dr Kellie Vella is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Digital Cultures & Societies, working on the Australian Research Data Commons' Australian Internet Observatory. Her research centres on human-computer interactions within social and interdisciplinary contexts. She draws upon motivational psychology and participatory research to better understand how to design, apply, and evaluate new technologies for learning and wellbeing.
Journal Articles
Vella, Kellie, Dobson, Madeleine, Rodgers, Shannon, Om, Chimi, Bircanin, Filip, Dema, Tshering, Pillai, Jonathan, Murcia, Karen and Brereton, Margot (2023). Wired, wild, wonderful: A scoping review of early childhood nature connections fostered by digital technologies. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 38 100619, 1-16. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcci.2023.100619
Rittenbruch, Markus, Vella, Kellie, Brereton, Margot, Hogan, James M, Johnson, Daniel, Heinrich, Julian and O'Donoghue, Sean (2022). Collaborative sense-making in genomic research: the role of visualisation. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 28 (12), 4477-4489. doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2021.3090746
Klarkowski, Madison, Causse, Mickaël, Duprès, Alban, del Campo, Natalia, Vella, Kellie and Johnson, Daniel (2022). Using fNIRS to assess cognitive activity during gameplay. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6 (CHI PLAY) 256, 1-23. doi: 10.1145/3549519
Lovell, David, Vella, Kellie, Muñoz, Diego, McKague, Matt, Brereton, Margot and Ellis, Peter (2022). Exploring technologies to better link physical evidence and digital information for disaster victim identification. Forensic Sciences Research, 7 (3), 467-483. doi: 10.1080/20961790.2021.2023418
Vella, Kellie, Capel, Tara, Gonzalez, Ashleigh, Truskinger, Anthony, Fuller, Susan and Roe, Paul (2022). Key issues for realizing open ecoacoustic monitoring in Australia. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9 809576, 1-14. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.809576
Vella, Kellie, Johnson, Daniel and Roe, Paul (2021). Describing the sounds of nature: Using onomatopoeia to classify bird calls for citizen science. PLoS One, 16 (5) e0250363, 1-19. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250363
Vella, Kellie, Klarkowski, Madison, Turkay, Selen and Johnson, Daniel (2020). Making friends in online games: gender differences and designing for greater social connectedness. Behaviour and Information Technology, 39 (8), 917-934. doi: 10.1080/0144929X.2019.1625442
Cheng, Vanessa Wan Sze, Davenport, Tracey, Johnson, Daniel, Vella, Kellie, Mitchell, Jo and Hickie, Ian B. (2020). Naturalistic evaluation of a sport-themed mental health and wellbeing app aimed at men (MindMax), that incorporates applied video games and gamification. Internet Interventions, 20 100306, 20. doi: 10.1016/j.invent.2020.100306
Vella, Kellie, Johnson, Daniel, Cheng, Vanessa Wan Sze, Davenport, Tracey, Mitchell, Jo, Klarkowski, Madison and Phillips, Cody (2019). A Sense of Belonging: Pokémon GO and Social Connectedness. Games and Culture, 14 (6), 583-603. doi: 10.1177/1555412017719973
Cheng, Vanessa Wan Sze, Davenport, Tracey, Johnson, Daniel, Vella, Kellie and Hickie, Ian B. (2019). Gamification in apps and technologies for improving mental health and well-being: Systematic review. JMIR Mental Health, 6 (6) e13717, e13717-6. doi: 10.2196/13717
Cheng, Vanessa Wan Sze, Davenport, Tracey A, Johnson, Daniel, Vella, Kellie, Mitchell, Jo and Hickie, Ian B (2018). An app that incorporates gamification, mini-games, and social connection to improve men's mental health and well-being (MindMax): participatory design process. JMIR Mental Health, 5 (4) e11068, 1-16. doi: 10.2196/11068
Johnson, Daniel, Klarkowski, Madison, Vella, Kellie, Phillips, Cody, McEwan, Mitchell and Watling, Christopher N. (2018). Greater rewards in videogames lead to more presence, enjoyment and effort. Computers in Human Behavior, 87, 66-74. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2018.05.025
Tondello, Gustavo F., Johnson, Daniel, Orji, Rita, Van Dooren, Marierose M. M., Vella, Kellie and Nacke, Lennart E. (2017). Proceedings of the positive gaming: Workshop on gamification and games for wellbeing – Preface. CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 2055.
Conference Papers
Om, Chimi, Vella, Kellie, Dema, Tshering, Ploderer, Bernd, Li, Yanxia, Murcia, Karen and Brereton, Margot (2025). Designing for children's nature play and place attachment: an observational study in early childhood education centre. OZCHI '25: 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Gadigal (Sydney), NSW, Australia, 29 November - 3 December 2025. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3764687.3764721
Perera, Piumi, Cumbo, Bronwyn, Bidwell, Nicola J, Vella, Kellie, Webber, Sarah, Zhang, Huiwen, Wadley, Greg, Paay, Jeni, Morrison, Ann, Giraldo, Catalina and Cheng, Xin (2025). Towards reciprocity: mediating human-nature relations through HCI. OZCHI '25: 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Gadigal (Sydney), NSW, Australia, 29 November - 3 December 2025. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3764687.3769939
Asadi, Yasamin, Vella, Kellie, Brereton, Margot, Soro, Alessandro, Ploderer, Bernd and Cook, Rachael Leigh (2025). Designing inclusive digital spaces for older adults: the role of facilitation, trust, and emotional safety. OZCHI '25: 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Gadigal (Sydney), NSW, Australia, 29 November - 3 December 2025. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3764687.3764726
Om, Chimi, Vella, Kellie, Dema, Tshering, Ploderer, Bernd, Murcia, Karen and Brereton, Margot (2025). Storying-roleplay: a co-design method supporting young children to understand environmental problems. IDC '25: Interaction Design and Children, Reykjavik, Iceland, 23-26 June 2025. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3713043.3728842
Vella, Kellie, Dobson, Madeleine and Brereton, Margot (2025). "Hello, Mr Tree": toying with playful conversational AI in the early years. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Yokohama, Japan, 26 April - 1 May 2025. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3706599.3719878
Perera, Piumi, Rodgers, Shannon, Bidwell, Nicola J., Webber, Sarah, Vella, Kellie, Zhang, Huiwen and Cumbo, Bronwyn (2024). Engaging with nature in a digital world. OzCHI '24: 36th Australasian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD, Australia, 30 November - 4 December 2024. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3726986.3727935
Rodgers, Shannon, Ploderer, Bernd, Vella, Kellie and Brereton, Margot (2024). Phenology circles: a method to deepen relations in more-than-human design processes. DIS '24: Designing Interactive Systems Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1-5 July 2024. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3643834.3660694
Vella, Kellie, Rogers, Yvonne, Tulloch, Ayesha and Brereton, Margot (2024). Nature Networks: Designing for nature data collection and sharing from local to global. DIS '24: ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1-5 July 2024. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3643834.3661520
Om, Chimi, Brereton, Margot, Vella, Kellie, Ploderer, Bernd, Dema, Tshering, Dobson, Madeleine Rose and Murcia, Karen (2023). Rethinking the development of computational thinking skills in young children through nature play. OzCHI 2023, Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), Aotearoa New Zealand, 2-6 December 2023. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3638380.3638447
Rodgers, Shannon, Vella, Kellie, Ploderer, Bernd and Brereton, Margot (2023). Nature fictions: designing for a sustainable future through nature relations. DIS '23: Designing Interactive Systems Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 10-14 July 2023. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3563657.3595981
Vella, Kellie (2023). Pick me up before you go-go: sociotechnical strategies for waste in music festival campsites. CHI '23: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Hamburg, Germany, 23-28 April 2023. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3544548.3581104
Rodgers, Shannon, Ploderer, Bernd, Vella, Kellie and Brereton, Margot (2022). Phenology probes: exploring human-nature relations for designing sustainable futures. OzCHI '22: 34th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 29 November-2 December 2022. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3572921.3572936
Vella, Kellie, Esteban, Michael, Ploderer, Bernd and Brereton, Margot (2022). Networked gardens: remediating local nature data through the internet of things. DIS '22: Designing Interactive Systems Conference, Virtual, 13-17 June 2023. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3532106.3533497
Vella, Kellie, Dema, Tshering, Soro, Alessandro and Brereton, Margot (2021). Fostering children's stewardship of local nature through game co-design. OzCHI '21: 33rd Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Online, 30 November – 3 December 2021. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3520495.3522702
Webber, Sarah, Oliver, Jessica, Smith, Wally, Hoy, Julia, Vella, Kellie, Brereton, Margot, Bender, Helena, Davies, Alasdair and Judith, Kate (2021). Digital technologies in nature. International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction, Bloomington, IN, United States, 8-11 November 2021. New York, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3493842.3493885
Vella, Kellie, Ploderer, Bernd and Brereton, Margot (2021). Human-nature relations in urban gardens: explorations with camera traps. CHI '21: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Yokohama, Japan, 8-13 May 2021. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3411764.3445438
Vella, Kellie, Oliver, Jessica L., Dema, Tshering, Brereton, Margot and Roe, Paul (2020). Ecology Meets Computer Science: Designing Tools to Reconcile People, Data, and Practices. Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3313831.3376663
Vella, Kellie, Peever, Nikki, Klarkowski, Madison, Ploderer, Bernd, Mitchell, Jo and Johnson, Daniel (2018). Using Applied Games to Engage mHealth Users: A Case Study of MindMax. Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3242671.3242686
Peever, Nicole, Vella, Kellie, Johnson, Daniel, Ploderer, Bernd, Klarkowski, Madison and Mitchell, Jo (2017). Understanding initial experiences with mindmax, an mhealth app that draws on shared interests in sports and video games. Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3152771.3156152
Vella, Kellie, Koren, Christopher James and Johnson, Daniel (2017). The impact of agency and familiarity in cooperative multiplayer games. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. doi: 10.1145/3116595.3116622
Tondello, Gustavo F., Orji, Rita, Vella, Kellie, Johnson, Daniel, Van Dooren, Marierose M. M. and Nacke, Lennart E. (2017). Positive gaming: Workshop on gamification and games for wellbeing. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. doi: 10.1145/3130859.3131442
Vella, Kellie, Johnson, Daniel and Mitchell, Jo (2016). Playing support: Social connectedness amongst male video game players. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. doi: 10.1145/2968120.2987734
Vella, Kellie, Klarkowski, Madison, Johnson, Daniel, Hides, Leanne and Wyeth, Peta (2016). The social context of video game play: challenges and strategies. 11th ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS 2016, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 4-8 June 2016. New York, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/2901790.2901823
Vella, Kellie, Johnson, Daniel and Hides, Leanne (2015). Indicators of wellbeing in recreational video game players. 27th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference, OzCHI 2015, Parkville, VIC, Australia, 7 December - 10 December 2015. New York, NY, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/2838739.2838818
Vella, Kellie, Johnson, Daniel and Hides, Leanne (2015). Playing alone, playing with others: differences in player experience and indicators of wellbeing. Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, London, United Kingdom, 3-7 October 2015. New York, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/2793107.2793118
Vella, Kellie, Johnson, Daniel and Hides, Leanne (2013). Positively playful: When videogames lead to player wellbeing. Gamification '13: First International Conference on Gameful Design, Research, and Applications, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2-4 October 2013. New York, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/2583008.2583024
Vella, Kellie and Johnson, Daniel (2012). Flourishing and video games. doi: 10.1145/2336727.2336746