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Boris Vukovic

Adjunct Research Professor | School of Industrial Design

Google Scholar | ORCID | ResearchGate

Research Profile

Boris Vukovic is an applied interdisciplinary accessibility researcher and innovation leader whose work connects disability services, inclusive higher education, accessibility standards, participatory research, and responsible AI for accessibility services.

Research Focus

My work advances accessibility as an applied, interdisciplinary field of research and innovation. I focus on how institutions understand accessibility needs, design services, make accommodation decisions, implement standards, and use emerging technologies to improve participation for people with visible and nonvisible disabilities.

I am especially interested in research that moves across disciplines and sectors, connecting lived experience, professional practice, policy, design, and technology. This includes participatory and collaborative projects that generate practical evidence, tools, and models for real-world education, public sector, and human service settings.

Current work explores responsible AI for accessibility services, including accessibility needs assessment, accommodation planning, service navigation, and decision support. This research emphasizes human oversight, transparency, ethical implementation, and scalable innovation grounded in the experiences of the people and professionals affected by these systems.

Selected Funded Research and Innovation Projects

Accessible Airport Employment Pathways for Postsecondary Graduates with Disabilities 2026-2029
Role: Lead Applicant / Director | Funding: Pending negotiation, up to $1.5M | Funder: Impact Canada, WORBE
The Accessibility Institute and YVR will identify and pilot solutions to remove systemic, structural, and cultural barriers in the pathway from postsecondary education to meaningful employment for persons with disabilities in the federally regulated airport ecosystem.

David C. Onley Initiative: Actioning Student Employability (DCOI: ASE) 2026-2027
Role: Lead Applicant / Director | Funding: $570,000 | Funder: Ontario Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security
A multi-institutional research and innovation initiative focused on strengthening employment pathways for postsecondary students with disabilities through co-design, professional capacity building, and implementation of institution-specific approaches.

Assessing the Accessibility of Proactive and Reactive Emergency Management Standards 2024-2027
Role: Lead Applicant / Principal Investigator | Funding: $600,000 | Funder: Accessibility Standards Canada
An interdisciplinary assessment of emergency-management standards to identify accessibility barriers and inform more inclusive approaches to preparedness, response, and recovery. The research brings together expertise in accessibility, disability, emergency management, transportation, and standards.

Enabling Independence: Assessing Activities of Daily Living to Inform Safety Standards for Built Environment 2023-2026
Role: Co-Principal Investigator | Funding: $450,000 | Funder: Accessibility Standards Canada
Research connecting activities of daily living, functional abilities, technology, engineering, and inclusive design to inform accessibility and safety standards for the built environment.

A Neurodivergent Lens: Recommended Practices for Neuroinclusivity 2022-2025
Role: Co-Principal Investigator | Funding: $550,000 | Funder: Accessibility Standards Canada
Research examining barriers experienced by neurodivergent people and developing evidence-informed recommendations for more neuroinclusive environments, systems, and practices.

AI in Assessment of Functional Limitations and Disability Services for Postsecondary Education 2022-2025
Role: Principal Investigator | Funding: $250,000 | Funder: NFRF-Exploration (Canada Tri-Agency)
Interdisciplinary R&D combining accessibility and disability-services expertise with machine learning and large language models to investigate functional assessment, support needs, and accommodation decision-making in postsecondary education.

Other funded projects

Selected Research and Innovation Outputs

Selected outputs below reflect work across accessibility research, AI for accessibility services, inclusive higher education, disability services, accessibility standards, built environments, employment, and systems change. A fuller record is available through Google Scholar and my academic CV.

AI, disability services, and accessibility decision support

Kevadiya, R., Akkasi, A., Fraser, K. C., Vukovic, B., Gunnell, J., Tanguay, S., Nowrouzi-Kia, B., & Komeili, M. (2026). Disability assessment and prediction of academic accommodations for students in post-secondary education. Accepted regular paper, 2026 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC).

Kevadiya, R., Akkasi, A., Fraser, K. C., Vukovic, B., Gunnell, J., Tanguay, S., & Komeili, M. (2025). Generalized follow-up WHODAS 2.0 assessment through language models and adaptive clustering ensemble in higher education. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM International Conference on Pervasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (PETRA ’25), 349–358. Association for Computing Machinery.

Vukovic, B. (2026, July). Intentional intelligence: An inclusive and ethical co-design approach to interdisciplinary AI research and development for postsecondary accessibility services. Symposium presentation, LICIE 2026, London, UK.

Vukovic, B., Komeili, M., Hamm, B., & Gunnell, J. (2026, June). Navigating GenAI in student services: Lessons from co-designing and implementing AVA in disability support. Presentation, CACUSS 2026: NAVIGATING the Future: What’s Next for Student Affairs?

Accessibility as an applied interdisciplinary field

Vukovic, B. (2023). Accessibility as an emerging field. In J. W. Madaus & L. L. Dukes III (Eds.), Handbook of Higher Education and Disability: Elgar Handbooks in Education Series. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Vukovic, B., Black, J., Dyjur, P., Havel, A., Kennette, L., & Lackeyram, D. (2023). Universal Design in Canadian higher education. In J. W. Madaus & L. L. Dukes III (Eds.), Handbook of Higher Education and Disability: Elgar Handbooks in Education Series. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Kang, J., Chan, A. D., Trudel, C. M. J., Vukovic, B., & Girouard, A. (2023). A longitudinal evaluation of the impact of a graduate student accessibility training on student learning outcomes. In Proceedings of the 25th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education (WCCCE ’23).

Kang, J., Chan, A. D., Trudel, C. M. J., Vukovic, B., & Girouard, A. (2021). Diversifying accessibility education: Presenting and evaluating an interdisciplinary accessibility training program. In Proceedings of the 21st Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research.

Standards, systems, and applied accessibility research

Laska, B., Goubran, R., Vukovic, B., Wallace, B., Ault, L., & Laghai, A. (2026). Enabling Independence: Assessing Activities of Daily Living to Inform Safety Standards for Built Environments. Final Research Report. Accessibility Institute, Carleton University.

Masson, P., Milne, K., Wallace, B., Laska, B., Goubran, R., Vukovic, B., & Knoefel, F. (2025). Supportive systems for cognitive health and dementia: Survey of technology and the role of standards. Accessibility Institute, Carleton University.

Laska, B., Goubran, R., Vukovic, B., Wallace, B., Hirotani, M., & Ault, L. (2023). Informing Standards for Acoustics and the Built Environment: Final research report. Accessibility Institute, Carleton University.

Butler, S., Connolly, T., Vukovic, B., Mantler, J., Schweitzer, L., & Godden, L. (2021). Career transitions and accessibility in the Canadian federal public service: Final research report. READ Initiative.

Vukovic, B., Caldwell, J., & Connolly, T. (2020). David C. Onley Initiative for employment and enterprise development: Final report. READ Initiative.

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