Michael is an early-stage HCI researcher currently posted as a Research Assistant in Faculty II - Department of Computing Science.

Before joining Carl Von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, he was an HCI researcher in Namibia where he contributed to work situated at the intersection of ethnography and technology design with marginalised Namibian communities. A significant proportion of this work was executed with the OvaHimba, a nomadic pastoralist ethnic group from North-Western Namibia. As a member of the Indigenous Knowledges research cluster from the Namibia University of Science and Technology, he was involved in the exploration of alternative ways of formulating services and products useful for digitising and preserving Indigenous Knowledge among Namibian communities.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Software Engineering degree and a Master of Computer Science degree from the Namibia University of Science and Technology. His Master thesis was titled "Ensuring data security and protection of remote OvaHimba digital collections despite intermittent network connectivity". This thesis involved integrating concepts from community-based mobile networks with open-source hardware to build bespoke solutions for application in remote Namibian communities.

Michael has experience in software engineering, prototyping, including the use of Arduino kits and similar platforms. He has additional transferable skills performing research and fieldwork in environments that are atypical of ones Computer Scientists usually work. Lastly, Michael is familiar with organising and conducting collaborative design workshops with persons from different ages, gender and formal or informal educational backgrounds.

His current research interests lie in exploring the deployment of alternative and novel interfaces on everyday surfaces and materials.