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Mara Dionisio is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Exact Sciences and Engineering at the University of Madeira, where she teaches courses in the International Master of Interactive Media Design and the Master in Informatics Engineering. She is also an Integrated Member at the Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI), LARSyS. She completed her Ph.D. in Digital Media at NOVA University and received MSC and BSc degrees in Informatics Engineering from the University of Madeira; she also has a Dual Master in Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon University, USA, and the University of Madeira. Her area of research interest is at the cross between Entertainment Technologies, Digital Media, and Human-Computer Interaction.
Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Mara Sofia Gomes Dionísio

Citation names

  • Dionísio, Mara

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
361E-C42D-B3C4
ORCID iD
0000-0003-0684-7512

Knowledge fields

  • Exact Sciences - Computer and Information Sciences
Education
Degree Classification
2015/10/01 - 2021/02/02
Concluded
Digital Media (Doutoramento)
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal
2008 - 2014
Concluded
Master in Informatics Engineering (Mestrado)
Universidade da Madeira Centro de Competência de Ciências Exatas e da Engenharia, Portugal
2011 - 2013
Concluded
Master in Entertainment Technology (Mestrado)
Carnegie Mellon University, United States
2004 - 2008
Concluded
Informatics Engineering (Licenciatura)
Universidade da Madeira Centro de Competência de Ciências Exatas e da Engenharia, Portugal
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution
Employer
2021/05 - Current Researcher (Research) Laboratório de Robótica e Sistemas de Engenharia, Portugal
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico Departamento de Matemática, Portugal
2021/05 - 2021/09 Postdoc (Research) Laboratório de Robótica e Sistemas de Engenharia, Portugal
Universidade da Madeira Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute, Portugal
2013/07 - 2015/09 Research Assistant (Research) Laboratório de Robótica e Sistemas de Engenharia, Portugal
Universidade da Madeira Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute, Portugal

Teaching in Higher Education

Category
Host institution
Employer
2022/02 - Current Assistant Professor (University Teacher) Universidade da Madeira Centro de Competência de Ciências Exatas e da Engenharia, Portugal
2020/04 - 2022/02 Invited Assistant Professor (University Teacher) Universidade da Madeira Centro de Competência de Ciências Exatas e da Engenharia, Portugal

Other Careers

Category
Host institution
Employer
2010/10 - 2011/08 Professor do ensino básico e secundário (Professor do ensino básico e secundário) Secretaria Regional de Educação, Portugal
2009/11 - 2010/06 Assistente Técnico (Assistente Técnico) MRS – Management and Teaching Company, Portugal
MRS – Management and Teaching Company, Portugal
Projects

Grant

Designation Funders
2021/06 - 2021/12 INTERTAGUA - Interfaces Aquáticas Interativas para Detecção e Visualizacão da Megafauna Marinha Atlântica e Embarcações na Macaronésia usando Marcadores Rádio-transmissores
MAC2/1.1a/385
Post-doc
Concluded
2015/10 - 2020/12 MADEIRA 14-20 FEDER funded project Beanstalk
M1420-01-0145-FEDER-000002
Researcher
Universidade da Madeira Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute, Portugal
2009/06 - 2013/05 Madeira Life
MADFDR-01-0190-FEDER_001
Master Student Fellow
Universidade da Madeira Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute, Portugal
Concluded

Contract

Designation Funders
2021/01/01 - 2025/12/31 LARSyS - Laboratory of Robotics and Engineering Systems
LA/P/0083/2020
Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal

Laboratório de Robótica e Sistemas de Engenharia, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
2022/01/14 - 2024/01/13 Connecting children and teenagers to nature through the design of sensory, experiential and aesthetic experiences
EXPL/ART-DAQ/1444/2021
Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal

Laboratório de Robótica e Sistemas de Engenharia, Portugal

Universidade dos Açores, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
2020/01/01 - 2023/12/31 Laboratory of Robotics and Engineering Systems
UIDB/50009/2020
Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal

Laboratório de Robótica e Sistemas de Engenharia, Portugal

Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal

Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação Tecnologia e Inovação, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded
2020/01/01 - 2023/12/31 Laboratory of Robotics and Engineering Systems
UIDP/50009/2020
Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal

Laboratório de Robótica e Sistemas de Engenharia, Portugal

Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal

Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação Tecnologia e Inovação, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded
2019/01/01 - 2019/12/31 Laboratory for Robotics and Engineering Systems
UID/EEA/50009/2019
Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal

Universidade de Lisboa Centro de Ciência e Tecnologia do Ambiente e do Mar, Portugal

Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação Tecnologia e Inovação, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded
2015/09/01 - 2019/08/31 Fostering engagement and awareness about local nature and cultural capitals through mobile interactive entertainment
PD/BD/114142/2015
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded

Other

Designation Funders
2023/06/01 - Current eGames Lab
C645022399-00000057
European Commission
Ongoing
2014/02 - 2015/09 Future Fabulators
2013-1659/001-001 CU7 COOP7
Researcher
Universidade da Madeira Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute, Portugal
European Commission Creative Europe
Concluded
Outputs

Publications

Book
  1. Dionisio, M.; Nisi, V.; Correia, N.. Leveraging on Transmedia Entertainment-Education to Offer Tourists a Meaningful Experience. 2017.
    10.1007/978-3-319-71027-3_43
  2. Bala, P.; Dionisio, M.; Nisi, V.; Nunes, N.. IVRUX: A tool for analyzing immersive narratives in virtual reality. 2016.
    10.1007/978-3-319-48279-8_1
  3. Dionisio, M.; Nisi, V.; Nunes, N.; Bala, P.. Transmedia storytelling for exposing natural capital and promoting ecotourism. 2016.
    10.1007/978-3-319-48279-8_31
  4. Dionisio, M.; Barreto, M.; Nisi, V.; Nunes, N.; Hanna, J.; Herlo, B.; Schubert, J.. Evaluation of Yasmines adventures: Exploring the socio-cultural potential of location aware multimedia stories. 2015.
    10.1007/978-3-319-27036-4_24
  5. Nisi, V.; Dionisio, M.; Hanna, J.; Ferreira, L.; Nunes, N.. Yasmines adventures: An interactive Urban experience exploring the sociocultural potential of digital entertainment. 2015.
    10.1007/978-3-319-24589-8_26
Book chapter
  1. Sandra Câmara Olim; Francisco Vasconcelos; Mara Dionisio; Pedro Campos. "“Masters Against Food Waste” Providing Children with Strategies to Avoid Food Waste". 2025.
    10.1007/978-3-031-74138-8_13
  2. Constança Freitas; Ana Santos; Paulo Bala; Pedro F. Campos; Mara Dionísio. "Where’s the Finance?: A Transmedia Storytelling Experience to Engage Young Adults in Financial Educational Content". 2025.
    10.1007/978-3-031-78450-7_3
  3. Francisco Vasconcelos; Mara Dionísio; Sandra Câmara Olim; Pedro Campos. "Game ON! a Gamified Approach to Household Food Waste Reduction". 2023.
    10.1007/978-981-99-8248-6_11
  4. André Freitas; Francisco Fernandes; Mara Dionísio; Sandra Olim. "Mystery in the Ecological Park: An Interactive Narrative to Promote Interaction with Biodiversity". 2023.
    10.1007/978-981-99-8248-6_32
  5. Louis Michael Sousa Rodrigues; João Freitas; Mara Dionísio; Sergi Bermudez i Badia. "Lucky Hero's Legacy: An Interactive Game that Explores the Potential of 3D Scenarios to Engage Teenagers in Cultural Heritage". 2022.
    10.1007/978-3-031-05434-1_16
  6. Dionísio, Mara; Nisi, Valentina; Xin, Jin; Bala, Paulo; James, Stuart; Nunes, Nuno Jardim. "Amnesia in the Atlantic: An AI Driven Serious Game on Marine Biodiversity". In Entertainment Computing ¿ ICEC 2021, 427-432. Springer International Publishing, 2021.
    10.1007/978-3-030-89394-1_35
  7. Dionisio, Mara; Bala, Paulo; Oliveira, Sarah; Nisi, Valentina. "Tale of T(r)ails: The Design of an AR Comic Book for an Animal Welfare Transmedia". In Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 281-284. Springer International Publishing, 2020.
    10.1007/978-3-030-62516-0_25
  8. Bala, Paulo; Dionisio, Mara; Oliveira, Sarah; Andrade, Tânia; Nisi, Valentina. "Tell a Tail: Leveraging XR for a Transmedia on Animal Welfare". In Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2020, 223-239. Springer International Publishing, 2020.
    10.1007/978-3-030-65736-9_19
  9. Bala, Paulo; Dionisio, Mara; Andrade, Tânia; Nisi, Valentina. "Tell a Tail 360: Immersive Storytelling on Animal Welfare". In Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 357-360. Springer International Publishing, 2020.
    10.1007/978-3-030-62516-0_35
  10. Dionisio, Mara; Silva, Cláudia; Nisi, Valentina. "Fostering Interaction Between Locals and Visitors by Designing a Community-Based Tourism Platform on a Touristic Island". In Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2019, 768-787. Springer International Publishing, 2019.
    10.1007/978-3-030-29384-0_46
  11. Mara Dionísio; Paulo Bala; Valentina Nisi; Ian Oakley; Nuno Nunes. "Step by Step: Evaluating Navigation Styles in Mixed Reality Entertainment Experience". 2018.
    10.1007/978-3-319-76270-8_3
  12. Dionisio, Mara; Nisi, Valentina; Correia, Nuno. "Leveraging on Transmedia Entertainment Education to Augment Tourists’ Awareness Towards Social Issues". In Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 646-651. Springer International Publishing, 2018.
    10.1007/978-3-030-04028-4_77
Conference paper
  1. Catia Prandi; Christothea Herodotou; Mara Dionisio; Neal T Reeves; Lizette Reitsma; Simone Mora. "From Data to Transformative Change: Designing Interactive Systems for Citizen Science Empowerment". 2025.
    10.1145/3715668.3734167
  2. Laura Santos; Pedro Campos; Mara Dionisio. "Tapest[o]ry: An Interactive Tapestry to Raise Awareness of Marine Noise Pollution". 2025.
    10.1145/3715668.3736386
  3. Joana Spínola; Pedro Campos; Lígia Gonçalves; Mara Dionísio; Paulo Bala. "Mystiria: An Intergenerational Game for Climate Literacy and Collaborative Action". 2025.
    10.1145/3713043.3731479
  4. Ana Santos; Constança Freitas; Paulo Bala; Pedro F. Campos; Mara Dionisio. "DreamScape: Fostering Financial Cognition through a Serious Game". 2025.
    10.1145/3698061.3734413
  5. Luís Francisco Fernandes; Paulo Bala; Sandra Câmara Olim; Pedro F. Campos; Mara Dionisio. "Combining Interactive Narratives and Augmented Reality to Promote Engagement between Children and Nature". 2025.
    10.1145/3713043.3731496
  6. Laura Santos; Sandra Camara Olim; Pedro Campos; Mara Dionisio. "Interactive Tapestry To Raise Marine Noise Pollution Awareness Among Teens". 2025.
    10.1145/3713043.3731516
  7. Joana Spínola; Lígia Gonçalves; Pedro Campos; Mara Dionísio; Paulo Bala. "Evaluating Mystiria: Insights from a Pilot Study on Intergenerational Collaborative Gameplay for Climate Change Awareness". 2025.
    10.1145/3713043.3731501
  8. Laura Santos; Sandra M Câmara Olim; Pedro Campos; Mara Dionisio. "Tapest[o]ry: Promoting Marine Noise Pollution Awareness through an Interactive Tangible Tapestry". 2025.
    10.1145/3706370.3727856
  9. Constança Freitas; Ana Santos; Pedro F. Campos; Paulo Bala; Mara Dionisio. "Exploring the Impact of Transmedia Storytelling on Financial Literacy: A Pilot Evaluation with Young Adults". 2025.
    10.1145/3706599.3719934
  10. Eva Freitas; Hildegardo Noronha; Cíntia França; Élvio Gouveia; Paulo Bala; Pedro Campos; Mara Dionísio. "FitFest: Designing a Narrative-driven Exergame to Engage Active Seniors in Physical Activity". 2024.
    10.1145/3681716.3689453
  11. Laura Santos; Mara Dionisio; Pedro Campos. "TapeStory: Exploring the Storytelling Potential of Interactive Tapestries". 2024.
    10.1145/3635636.3656211
  12. Ana Santos; Constança Freitas; Paulo Bala; Pedro Campos; Mara Dionisio. "Financial DreamScape: Puzzle Narrative Games for Financial Education". 2024.
    10.1145/3639701.3663647
  13. Nisi, Valentina; Dionísio, Mara; Silva, Claudia; Nunes, Nuno Jardim. "A participatory platform supporting awareness and empathy building between tourists and locals". 2019.
    10.1145/3351995.3352049
  14. Bala, Paulo; Dionísio, Mara; Trindade, Rui; Olim, Sandra; Nisi, Valentina; Nunes, Nuno. "Evaluating the influence of location and medium applied to mobile VR storytelling". 2017.
    10.1145/3152832.3156617
  15. Nisi, V.; Dionísio, M.; Bala, P.; Gross, T.; Nunes, N.J.. "DreamScope: Evaluating interactive 360° virtual reality in a physical narrative art installation". 2017.
    10.1145/3106548.3106601
  16. DIonisio, M.; Paulino, T.; Suri, T.; Autzen, N.; Schöning, J.. ""In search of light": Enhancing touristic recommender services with local weather data". 2017.
    10.1145/3098279.3122140
  17. Bala, Paulo; Dionísio, Mara; Trindade, Rui; Olim, Sandra; Nisi, Valentina; Nunes, Nuno. "Evaluating the influence of location and medium applied to mobile VR storytelling". Paper presented in International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia (MUM), 2016.
    Published • 10.1145/3152832.3156617
  18. Dionísio, M.; Gujaran, A.; Pinto, M.; Esteves, A.. "Fall of humans: Interactive tabletop games and transmedia storytelling". 2015.
    10.1145/2817721.2823477
  19. Dionisio, M.; Bala, P.; Trindade, R.; Nisi, V.; Nunes, N.; Up, T.. "DreamScope catcher: A Touch sensitive interface to catch dreams". 2015.
    10.1145/2817721.2823481
  20. Dionisio, M.; Bala, P.; Trindade, R.; Nisi, V.; Hanna, J.. "Lucid peninsula: DreamScope: An interactive physical installation". 2015.
    10.1145/2757226.27573827,5
  21. Dionísio, Mara. "Eat&Travel: A New Immersive Dining Experience for Restaurants". 2013.
    10.1007/978-3-319-03161-3_46
  22. "iLand: a tangible location aware narrative experience". 2011.
    10.1145/1935701.1935803
  23. Dionísio, Mara. "The iLand of Madeira location aware multimedia stories". 2010.
    10.1007/978-3-642-16638-9_19
Exhibition catalog
  1. Dionísio, Mara; Rebecca Rouse. Looking Forward, Looking Back: Interactive Digital Storytelling and Hybrid Art Approaches.. Carnegie Mellon University: ETC Press, Pittsburgh, 2018.
    https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/7406924.
Journal article
  1. França, C.; Ashraf, Sadaf; Santos, Francisco; Dionísio, Mara; Ihle, Andreas; Marques, Adilson; de Maio Nascimento, Marcelo; Gouveia, Élvio Rúbio. "Estimated Energy Expenditure in Youth While Playing Active Video Games: A Systematic Review". Sports 12 2 (2024): 39. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/sports12020039.
    10.3390/sports12020039
  2. Dionisio, Mara; Mendes, Mafalda; Fernandez, Marc; Nisi, Valentina; Nunes, Nuno. "Aqua: Leveraging Citizen Science to Enhance Whale-Watching Activities and Promote Marine-Biodiversity Awareness". Sustainability 14 21 (2022): 14203. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su142114203.
    10.3390/su142114203
  3. Mara Dionisio; Valentina Nisi. "Leveraging Transmedia storytelling to engage tourists in the understanding of the destination’s local heritage". Multimedia Tools and Applications (2021): https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-021-10949-2.
    10.1007/s11042-021-10949-2
  4. Nisi, Valentina; Dionisio, Mara; Barreto, Mary; Nunes, Nuno. "A mixed reality neighborhood tour: understanding visitor experience and perceptions". (2018): http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/4517.
    10.1016/j.entcom.2018.04.002
  5. Nisi, V.; Costanza, E.; Dionisio, M.. "Placing Location-Based Narratives in Context Through a Narrator and Visual Markers". Interacting with Computers 29 3 (2017): 287-305. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85027080943&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1093/iwc/iww020
Thesis / Dissertation
  1. Dionísio, Mara Sofia Gomes. "Leveraging the transmedia entertainment-education framework to augment tourists` awareness of local values". PhD, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/116444.
  2. Dionisio, Mara Sofia Gomes. "Seven stories: location based story-delivery system". Master, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/866.

Artistic / Performance

Artistic exhibition
  1. Lucid Peninsula - Festival Intimate Spaces 2014. 2014.
Curatorial / Museum exhibition
  1. 2016. "7 Stories in Deep Design: Pace, Place, and Personhood". In 7 Stories.
Activities

Supervision

Thesis Title
Role
Degree Subject (Type)
Institution / Organization
2024/10/01 - Current Designing Clarity: Enhancing Access to Justice through Legal Design in International Courts
Supervisor
Design de Media Interativos (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2024/06/01 - Current ”Looks of Desire”: Leveraging Gaze to Explore Consent in a Dating Simulator
Supervisor
Master Interactive Media Design (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2023/09/01 - 2025/02/27 Enhancing financial literacy through narrative and puzzles: a serious game approach for young adults
Supervisor
Engenharia Informática (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2023/07/01 - 2025/02/13 Where’s the finance?: a transmedia storytelling experience to involve young adults in financial literacy topics
Supervisor
Design de Media Interativos (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2023/10/01 - 2025/02 Fostering Climate Change Awareness: Harnessing Adult-Child Interactions in an Educational Game
Co-supervisor
Engenharia Informática (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2022/09/01 - 2024/04/17 Tapest[o]ry: exploring the interactive capabilities of tapestries as a storytelling tool
Supervisor
Design de Media Interativos (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2022/06/01 - 2023/11/28 Development of “Masters contra o Desperdicio”, a game for awareness on Food waste
Co-supervisor
Engenharia Informática (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2022/07/01 - 2023/11/23 FinTracker: uma aplicação móvel para envolver o público geral com a migração de cetáceos
Supervisor
Eng Informática+Design de Media Interactivos (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2022/06/01 - 2023/11/02 AQUA: explorando a gamificação e ciência cidadã na monitorização da biodiversidade de cetáceos
Supervisor
Engenharia Informática (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2020/09/01 - 2022/01/26 SeaStory: uma narrativa interativa com recurso a caraterísticas colaborativas
Supervisor
Design de Media Interativos (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2020/09/01 - 2022/01/12 Splinter Studio - Narrative and game mechanics with context
Co-supervisor
Design de Media Interativos (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2020/09/01 - 2022/01/12 Splinter Studio: modelação 3D englobando o património cultural
Co-supervisor
Design de Media Interativos (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2019/09 - 2020/02 Tell a Tail: the design of an AR comic book for an animal welfare transmedia
Co-supervisor
Design de Media Interativos (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal

Jury of academic degree

Topic
Role
Candidate name (Type of degree)
Institution / Organization
2023/03 Designing Player Agency Experiences For Environmental Awareness Gameplay
(Thesis) Main arguer
Diogo Luís Fernandes (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2022/11/25 Anonymous Panda: Preserving Anonymity and Expressiveness in Online Mental Health Platforms
(Thesis) Main arguer
Érica da Silva Freitas (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal
2022/11/24 Voting system for idea evaluation: A web-based system where users can input and vote for ideas
(Thesis) Main arguer
David Miguel FIgueiredo Honório (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2022/11/11 Digital Tools for Critical Cultural Heritage
(Thesis) Main arguer
Catarina Alexandra Rebelo Rodrigues (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2022/07/21 The Art of Storytelling: its importance in video game immersion when paired with localisation
(Thesis) Main arguer
Mariana Cardoso Ribeiro (Master)
Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Engenharia, Portugal
2022/03/04 Development of a Virtual Tour Guide Mobile Application
(Thesis) Main arguer
Inês Rodrigues Roque de Lacerda Marques (Master)
Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Engenharia, Portugal
2022 The Use of Interactive Communication Technologies for Collaborative E-mentoring
(Thesis) Main arguer
Duarte Luís de Sousa (Master)
Universidade da Madeira, Portugal

Evaluation committee

Activity description
Role
Institution / Organization Funding entity
2025/03 - 2025/03 Citizen Science-Informed Co-Design: Community Devised Technologies for Sustainability Awareness
Evaluator
Università degli Studi di Bologna, Italy