Member
Paul Mulholland
Senior Research Fellow
+44 (0)1908 654506
My research is concerned with developing computational tools and methods to help people make sense of information, and develop and express their ideas. I have been a Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on 12 national or European projects delivering outcomes including: technologies for the visitor use of archives and museum collections, mobile applications for formal and informal learning, automated narrative generation tools, and semantic and knowledge technologies for school and work-based learning. I have a first degree in psychology, a Masters degree in computing and PhD in cognitive science. I have published over 100 conference and journal articles. I am also Deputy Editor of the International Journal of Human Computer Studies.
As part of the European Union Horizon 2020 SPICE project I am working on tools and methods to support Citizen Curation, in which citizens are supported in developing personal interpretations of cultural artefacts, sharing their own perspective and understanding the perspectives of others.
I work on OUAnalyse, which applies machine methods to detect students who are at risk of failing. Currently, we are developing an Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Learning Analytics (LA) Dashboard to better understand which assignments seem to be causing more difficulties to BAME students in order that they can be adapted.
Within the European Union Horizon 2020 Polifonia project I am working on the use of visualisation, gesture and haptic interfaces to create novel ways of interacting with musical heritage.
I work with Paul Warren investigating the usability of languages such as SPARQL for querying data.
In the OCGM project I worked with Terri Cole (University of Bournemouth) and the NCA comparing methods for assessing the risk posed by Organised Crime Groups.
I co-supervise PhD students carrying out research on topics such as tools for managing information overload, wearable sensors to support rehabilitation, end-user music programming, and tools for the development of musical skill.
I am interested in supervising further PhDs students related to my interests, in particular on topics concerned with technologies and methods to support Citizen Curation, and human interaction with complex data sources and notations.
Keys: human computer interaction, technology enhanced learning, museum informatics, digital narratives, digital humanities, music computing
Projects
Technologies
News
30 Sep 2025
22 Jul 2025
03 Jun 2025
07 Mar 2025
12 Feb 2025
Publications
Herodotou, C., Gaved, M., Shrestha, S., Comfort, C., Maguire, C., Sides, T., Kwarteng, J., Bayer, V., Lee, J., Mulholland, P. and Fernandez, M. (2025). Student-Facing Dashboard - Scale up. Insights from the second year of implementation. The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK. https://oro.open.ac.uk/106146/.
Dupras, M., Holland, S. and Mulholland, P. (2025). Using the Electric Guitar as a Live Coding Interface. In: 9th International Conference on Live Coding 2025 (ICLC2025), 27-31 May 2025, Barcelona, Spain. https://oro.open.ac.uk/104665/.
Herodotou, C., Shrestha, S., Comfort, C., Fernandez, M., Andrews, H., Mulholland, P., Bayer, V., Maguire, C. and Lee, J. (2025). A participatory approach to designing a student-facing dashboard for online and distance education. Journal of Learning Analytics, 12(2), pp. 158–174. https://oro.open.ac.uk/104055/.
Herodotou, C., Carr, J., Shrestha, S., Comfort, C., Bayer, V., Maguire, C., Lee, J., Mulholland, P. and Fernandez, M. (2025). Prescriptive analytics motivating distance learning student action: A case study of a student-facing dashboard. In: LAK25: The 15th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference (LAK 2025), 03-07 Mar 2025, Dublin, Ireland. https://oro.open.ac.uk/102277/.
Samela, L., Daga, E. and Mulholland, P. (2025). Investigating vividness bias in language models through art interpretations. In: Workshop on Evaluation of Language Models in Knowledge Engineering (ELMKE), 26 Nov 2024, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://oro.open.ac.uk/101364/.
Carvalho, J., Daga, E., Mulholland, P., Asprino, L., Uwasomba, C., Daquino, M., Gangemi, A., Maguire, M. and Stoneman, A. (2024). Integrating Citizen Experiences in Cultural Heritage Archives with a Linked Non-Open Data Hub. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 17(4), https://oro.open.ac.uk/100981/.
Warren, P., Mulholland, P., Daga, E. and Asprino, L. (2024). Path-based and triplification approaches to mapping data into RDF: User behaviours and recommendations. Semantic Web, 15(6), pp. 2479–2505. https://oro.open.ac.uk/99559/.
Mulholland, P., Van Kranenburg, P., Carvalho, J. and Daga, E. (2024). Supporting the End-User Curation of Cultural Heritage Knowledge Graphs. In: 35th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media (HT '24), 10-13 Sep 2024, Poznań, Poland. https://oro.open.ac.uk/99120/.
Bayer, V., Mulholland, P., Hlosta, M., Farrell, T., Herodotou, C. and Fernandez, M. (2024). Co‐creating an equality diversity and inclusion learning analytics dashboard for addressing awarding gaps in higher education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 55(5), pp. 2058–2074. https://oro.open.ac.uk/98718/.
Islam, R., Bennasar, M., Holland, S., Mulholland, P. and Price, B. (2024). Democratizing Clinical Movement Analysis: Assessing the Versatility of MoJoXlab with Open-protocol Inertial Sensors. Procedia Computer Science, 246 pp. 2360–2369. https://oro.open.ac.uk/97622/.
Herodotou, C., Shrestha, S., Comfort, C., Fernandez, M., Andrews, H., Mulholland, P., Bayer, V., Maguire, C. and Lee, J. (2023). PVC-Challenges Response: A student facing dashboard for online undergraduate students. Quality Enhancement and Innovation, The Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.. https://oro.open.ac.uk/97188/.
Morales Tirado, A., Carvalho, J., Ratta, M., Uwasomba, C., Mulholland, P., Barlow, H., Herbert, T. and Daga, E. (2024). Musical Meetups Knowledge Graph (MMKG): a collection of evidence for historical social network analysis. In: ESWC 2024: The 21st Extended Semantic Web Conference, 26-30 May 2024, Hersonissos, Crete, Greece. https://oro.open.ac.uk/96738/.
Seago, A., Holland, S. and Mulholland, P. (2004). Synthesizer user interface design - lessons learned from a heuristic review. Department of Computing, The Open University. https://oro.open.ac.uk/90139/.
Bellingham, M., Holland, S. and Mulholland, P. (2014). An analysis of algorithmic composition interaction design with reference to Cognitive Dimensions. Department of Computing, The Open University. https://oro.open.ac.uk/90308/.
Bonnin, G., Bayer, V., Fernandez, M., Herodotou, C., Hlosta, M. and Mulholland, P. (2023). CERSEI: Cognitive Effort Based Recommender System for Enhancing Inclusiveness. In: 18th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2023, 4-8 Sep 2023, Aveiro, Portugal. https://oro.open.ac.uk/92414/.
Mulholland, P., Stoneman, A., Carvalho, J., Daga, E. and Maguire, M. (2023). Deep Viewpoints: Scripted Support for the Citizen Curation of Museum Artworks. In: HT '23: Proceedings of the 34th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media, 4-8 Sep 2023, Rome, Italy. https://oro.open.ac.uk/91305/.
Mulholland, P., Stoneman, A., Barker, N., Maguire, M., Carvalho, J., Daga, E. and Warren, P. (2023). The Sound of Paintings: Using Citizen Curation to Explore the Cross-Modal Personalization of Museum Experiences. In: Workshop on Personalized Access to Cultural Heritage (PATCH) at UMAP ’23, 26 Jun 2023, Limassol, Cyprus. https://oro.open.ac.uk/88914/.
Morales Tirado, A., Carvalho, J., Mulholland, P. and Daga, E. (2023). Musical Meetups: a Knowledge Graph approach for Historical Social Network Analysis. In: ESWC 2023 Workshops and Tutorials. Semantic Methods for Events and Stories (SEMMES), 28-29 May 2023, Hersonissos, Greece. https://oro.open.ac.uk/88720/.
Lederman, N., Holland, S. and Mulholland, P. (2023). An agent for creative development in drum kit playing. In: PPIG 2022 - 33rd Annual Workshop, 5-9 Sep 2022, Milton Keynes. https://oro.open.ac.uk/88223/.
Carvalho, J., Daga, E., Asprino, L., Gangemi, A., Maguire, M., Mulholland, P., Stoneman, A. and Uwasomba, C. (2023). SPICE Linked Data Hub - Data infrastructure and tools to support Citizen Curation. In: ExICE - Extended Intelligence for Cultural Engagement, 15 Mar 2023, Bologna. https://oro.open.ac.uk/88011/.
Tech Reports
Concept learning - investigating the possibilities for a human-machine dialogue
Techreport ID: kmi-09-01
Date: 2009
Author(s): Gabriela Pavel, Zdenek Zdrahal, Paul Mulholland
Using genre to support active participation in learning communities
Techreport ID: kmi-00-13
Date: 2000
Author(s): Trevor Collins, Paul Mulholland and Stuart Watt
Has anyone seen this program? Synchronous and asynchronous help for novice programmers
Techreport ID: kmi-98-14
Date: 1998
Author(s): John Domingue and Paul Mulholland
