Dalia El-Shimy is an engineer-turned-academic-turned-user-researcher. As a UX Research Lead at Shopify, she manages research efforts when it comes online shopping experiences: from the merchants who create them, to their customers who interact with them.

Before joining Shopify, she completed a PhD in electrical engineering at McGill University, and a bachelor of applied mathematics and engineering at Queen’s University. During her time at McGill, her work was largely focused on the intersection of human-computer interaction and music technology, and particularly the applicability of human-centred techniques to the design of new musical interfaces. She was also the teaching assistant for McGill’s human-computer interaction course for five years, during which she taught engineering students how to incorporate user research into how they design, build, and test products.

Dalia still enjoys teaching anyone who’ll listen about user research, whether it’s through university guest lectures, conference talks, articles, or tailored workshops and seminars. Aside from that, she spends way too much time at her local ice cream shop and/or obsessing over all things David Bowie.