📄 Curriculum Vitae

Postdoc researcher | silvia(dot)cazacubucica(at)telecom-paris(dot)fr | Paris, France LinkedIn | Google Scholar

🎓 Education

PhD in Science, KU Leuven, January 2026 Thesis: “Towards Critical Data Infrastructures: Revealing Power Dynamics in Participatory Data Practices through Data Physicalisation Design”
MSc in Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, July 2020
B+MArch in Architectural Design, ‘Ion Mincu’ University, Bucharest, July 2016

📝 Publications

Cazacu, S., Panagiotidou, G., & Vande Moere, A. (2026). Revealing the Power Dynamics of Collaborative Sense-Making Supported by Participatory Data Physicalization. CHI’26.
Cazacu, S., Simperl, E., Thuermer, G., Massey, J., Steenberghen, T., Panagiotidou, G., & Vande Moere, A. (2025). Infrastructuring Critical Data Literacy through Role-playing: a Retrospective Study of the Game ‘Datopolis’. PACMHCI.
Cazacu, S., Panagiotidou, G., Steenberghen, T., & Vande Moere, A. (2025). Disentangling the Power Dynamics in Participatory Data Physicalisation. CHI’25.
Cazacu, S., Poncelet, S., Feitraij, E., & Vande Moere, A. (2025). The EnviroMapper Toolkit…. CHI EA.
Cazacu, S., Mulder, I., Vande Moere, A., & Steenberghen, T. (2023). Garden data ecosystem and reflective participatory design. C&T.
Cazacu, S., Hansen, N. B., & Schouten, B. (2020). Empowerment in digital civics. OzCHI.
Schouten, B. A. M., Klerks, G., & Cazacu, S. (2024). Collective empowerment for city-making. International Journal of Design, 18(2), 1.

🔬 Research Experience

Postdoc Researcher, Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris (2026-present)

working on project Psephos: Artefact Ecologies & Participatory Design of Physical Data Representations for Deliberation

Research Associate & PhD student, KU Leuven (2022–2026)

Participatory design and evaluation on data physicalization method for collaborative sense-making (Honorable Mention – CHI’26)
Systematic review on participatory data physicalisation (Honorable Mention – CHI’25)
Led 3 deliverables in H2020 project ODECO
Cross-disciplinary collaboration in Geography & HCI

Visiting Researcher, The Open Data Institute (ODI), London (2024)

Qualitative study of ODI tool for critical data literacy
Research presentations and ODI community engagement

Research Associate, TU Eindhoven (2020–2022)

Co-edited Action Design for Urban Futures
Case study research on participatory city-making (Publications 4 & 5)

🎓 Teaching & Mentoring

Teacher, Data Visualization for Digital Humanities, KU Leuven (Master course) (2026)

led two lectures on data visualisation theory; pitfalls; design; critical, participatory, physical, situated, interactive visualisation

Teaching assistant, Design Thinking and Making, KU Leuven (Master course) (2023–2026)

Designed and led lab sessions on prototyping, 3D printing, etc.
Supported course design and materials

Student Supervision

Mentored 5 master’s students in Geography, Architecture & Digital Humanities
1 thesis led to a top-tier HCI publication (Publication 2)

🤝 Academic Service

Reviewer for ACM conferences: CHI, DIS, TEI, C&C, C&T

Conference Committee

AC member for TEI 2025, work in progress track; AC member for DIS 2025, papers track, Critical Computing subcommittee
International Conference for an Inclusive Digital Society, Leuven, 2025

🎓 Grants and Fellowships

Recipient of Early Stage Researcher Fellowship under the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie scholarship – under the project ODECO
“Towards a Sustainable Open Data Ecosystem” (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2020, Grant #955569)

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Laureate) under the CONGRATS Project ‘Psephos: Artefact Ecologies & Participatory Design of Physical Data Representations for Deliberation’, French National Research Agency - PEPR eNSEMBLE program

🏆 Awards

Honorable Mention for “Revealing the Power Dynamics of Collaborative Sense-Making Supported by Participatory Data Physicalization” CHI’26 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Awarded to top 5% of total publications

Honorable Mention for “Disentangling the Power Dynamics in Participatory Data Physicalisation” CHI’25 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Awarded to top 5% of total publications