Ms. Sara Fiori

Biography

Sara Fiori is a research assistant in the Discipline of Software and Systems, School of Computer Science and Statistics. She is currently working on the 'Pytch Phase 2: Bridging Blocks To Text in the Curriculum' research project. Pytch is a SFI funded research project led by Trinity College Dublin with partners in TU Dublin. Pytch helps people to learn Python by building on skills they have developed in Scratch. Sara was the Digi-ID and Digi-ID PLUS research assistant from 2021 to 2023, an EIT Health funded multidisciplinary EU project with a focus on digital inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities titled "Digi-ID: accessible digital skills education programme for people with intellectual disabilities". The Digi-ID project developed an education app "DigiAcademy" to support digital and social inclusion for people with intellectual disabilties. In 2022 she also worked as research assistant in the Irish Research Council funded project "INCLU-ID Questions of Inclusion: what inclusion means for adults with an intellectual disability in Ireland". Sara is a Computer Science Engineering graduate with a Master degree in Computer Science and Engineering: 'Communication and Society', from Politecnico di Milano (Italy). Her Master studies focused on the integration of computer science and communication skills, for designing, implementing, presenting and evaluating innovative applications, with courses that addressed: fundamentals of communication sciences, argumentation theory, computer mediated communication, visual communication and social aspects of computer mediated communication (communication and society, accessibility). Sara's MA thesis (2021) was entitled: 'Digital storytelling for people with intellectual disabilities: an intermediate language for executable representations'. The thesis was focused on the creation of an Intermediate Language for executable representations that helps to create flexible and accessible software for storytelling. Within the thesis Sara developed a prototype of an application to create digital stories, and she tested it with people with intellectual disabilities and psychologists, from two intellectual disability organizations.