The award honours the paper “Trajectories of depression: unobtrusive monitoring of depressive states by means of smartphone mobility traces analysis”, co-authored with Luca Canzian and first presented at UbiComp 2015. After reviewing all papers from that year, the awards panel selected this work for its pioneering contribution in demonstrating how passive sensing and mobility data from smartphones can be used to understand and monitor depressive states.
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the world’s largest international academic association for computing, presents this award to research that has had a profound and lasting impact over the past decade.
Professor Musolesi’s EPSRC funded study was among the first to show that everyday movement patterns, such as changes in routine, distance travelled, and time spent in key locations, could serve as indicators of mental health variation. Its insights have since influenced a wide range of research across computing, psychology and clinical science, helping to shape new approaches to digital health and behavioural monitoring.
Professor Musolesi said: “I am truly delighted to receive the ACM UbiComp 10-Year Impact Award. It is a special honour because it recognises the lasting influence that our 2015 work has had over the past decade, not only in Computer Science but also outside the field.
For example, last month, an Early Career Researcher from UCL Brain Sciences contacted me to seek explanations regarding our 2015 paper. She was using the metrics defined in that work for measuring behavioural changes in people affected by mental health conditions, for her research.
This kind of award is particularly meaningful: it reflects not only the relevance of the research itself, but also the way the community has built upon and extended those ideas over time.”
The award was presented at UbiComp 2025 during the Gala Dinner on 15 October in Finland, where a statement on the paper’s legacy and impact was read.
This recognition highlights the global impact of research conducted at UCL Computer Science, addressing pressing societal challenges through advances in technology.
