Larissa Nicholls

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Larissa Nicholls is a leading social researcher at the intersection of energy demand, digital technology, and everyday life. Her work critically examines how smart home technologies—from robotic vacuum cleaners to remote aged care systems—reshape household practices, energy consumption, and social conventions. In her highly cited 2018 paper (54 citations), Nicholls challenges the assumption that smart home devices automatically save energy, revealing instead how they can raise cleanliness standards and increase overall energy demand. This contribution has been pivotal in rethinking sustainability interventions beyond technical efficiency. More recently, Nicholls has pioneered inclusive, creative approaches to technology design for older adults. Her 2022 work (16 citations) reframes positive ageing not as a problem of skills or health deficits, but as an opportunity for creativity, inquisitiveness, and resourcefulness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she developed “troubleshooting as a method” (8 citations)—an ethical, collaborative, and hybrid approach for conducting smart home ethnographies and remote aged care innovation. Nicholls’s research is notable for its methodological rigor and its commitment to centering lived experience, making her a vital voice in sustainable HCI and ageing studies. Her work continues to influence policy, design, and academic discourse on responsible technology futures.