HCI Medal for Societal Impact

The 'HCI MEDAL FOR SOCIETAL IMPACT' was established in 2022 to be awarded to individuals for their research in the field of Human Computer Interaction, which has resulted in significant societal impact.

The idea of the medal is to inspire younger generations towards accomplishments that leave a major footprint on society and foster well-being and eudemonia.

The nomination originates from an international committee and the Medal will be conferred during the conference Opening Plenary Session, to be followed by the Keynote speech.

The recipient of the 'HCI MEDAL FOR SOCIETAL IMPACT' for 2026 is Professor Yoshua Bengio

Yoshua Bengio Mila

The HCII2026 Conference is proud to announce Professor Yoshua Bengio as the 2026 recipient of the 'HCI MEDAL FOR SOCIETAL IMPACT'.

Recognized worldwide as one of the leading experts in artificial intelligence, Yoshua Bengio is best known for his pioneering work in deep learning, earning him the 2018 A.M. Turing Award, “the Nobel Prize of Computing,” with Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun.

Yoshua Bengio is Full Professor of Computer Science at Université de Montreal, Co-President and Scientific Director of LawZero, as well as the Founder and Scientific Advisor of Mila and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair. He is the most cited computer scientist worldwide, and the most-cited living scientist across all fields (by total citations).

Professor Bengio is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of London and Canada, an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Knight of the Legion of Honor of France, a member of the UN’s Scientific Advisory Board for Independent Advice on Breakthroughs in Science and Technology, and chairs the International AI Safety Report.

Google Scholar profile of Professor Yoshua Bengio

Previous Medalists

 

Susan Dumais was the recipient of the 'HCI MEDAL FOR SOCIETAL IMPACT' for 2025 and the keynote speaker for the HCII2025 Conference.

Vicki Hanson was the recipient of the 'HCI MEDAL FOR SOCIETAL IMPACT' for 2024 and the keynote speaker for the HCII2024 Conference.

Sara Kiesler was the recipient of the 'HCI MEDAL FOR SOCIETAL IMPACT' for 2023 and the keynote speaker for the HCII2023 Conference.

Ben Shneiderman was the recipient of the 'HCI MEDAL FOR SOCIETAL IMPACT' for 2022 and the keynote speaker for the HCII2022 Conference.