Overview
Background
Dr Nilufar (Nell) Baghaei is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Queensland (Associate Professor from January 2026), and Co-Director of the Mixed Reality Lab. She leads a high-impact, interdisciplinary research group focused on designing immersive technologies and games, and studying their effectiveness in improving health and education outcomes.
She has built a strong national and international reputation through prolific publications in top-tier venues, editorial and leadership roles in major journals and conferences, more than $3M in successful external grants (as lead CI or technical lead CI), and successful supervision of research students (Google Scholar h-index: 28; citations: 2,700+). Dr Baghaei is currently supervising 12 HDR students (7 as principal supervisor) and serves on several UQ committees. She is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Virtual Reality, and Games for Health, and serves on the editorial boards and program committees for IEEE ISMAR, ACM CHI, Persuasive Technology, and several other international conferences.
Her research has been cited in policy and patent documents, and featured in media outlets including Psychology Today, MedicalXpress, and 7NEWS Australia. Prior to joining UQ, she led the Games and Extended Reality Lab at Massey University, New Zealand.
Availability
- Dr Nell Baghaei is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Research interests
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Virtual Reality, Game-based Learning, Digital Health, AI in Education, Persuasive Technology
Research impacts
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EECS HDR awards: My PhD students, Vibhav Chitale and Achintha Abayasiri, were awarded the Most Innovative Thesis Topic (for a project on mobile games and mental health assessment) and Most Interesting Thesis Topic (for a project on VR visual illusions and balance) respectively.
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Andrew Wong (my thesis student, co-supervised by Yinshu Zhao) won the Most Innovative Use of XR award at 2024 UQ innovation Showcase for his project on "Effects of Customised AI Shopping Assistant in Virtual Reality Shopping".
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Best Paper award - Honorable Mention for "Breaking the Isolation: Exploring the Impact of Passthrough in Shared Spaces on Player Performance and Experience in VR Exergames" IEEE VR (A*-ranked conference) 2024
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Yinshu Zhao (my PhD student) won an Honorable Mention for best DC presentation at IEEE ISMAR 2023 (A*-ranked conference) for her project on "Impact of Avatars on Shoppers’ Perception and Behaviour in Immersive Virtual Stores".
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Suki Zhang (my thesis student) won the Most Innovative Use of XR award at 2023 Innovation Showcase for her thesis project on Juiciness in VR Exergames.
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Nominated for Best Paper award "Augmented Reality Applications in the Classroom: Teachers’ Experience", Al Omair, H., Mendoza, A., Boden, M., Baghaei, N., International Conference on Computers in Education (2022)
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Featured in Psychology today for VR and Mental Health project (published in JMIR 2021): New Research Finds Virtual Reality Can Help Treat Anxiety: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/urban-survival/202109/new-research-finds-virtual-reality-can-help-treat-anxiety https://www.massey.ac.nz/about/news/new-research-finds-virtual-reality-could-help-treat-anxiety/
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Nominated for Best Paper award "Persuasive Virtual Reality: Promoting Earth Buildings in New Zealand", Don Samarasinghe, Nilufar Baghaei and Lehan Stemmet, International Conference on Persuasive Technology (2020)
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Edu-games guru, Dr Baghaei talks to Careers with STEM about some of her research projects, challenges faced along the way and gives some advice to young women who want to learn about and pursue a career in ST (2018)
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Runner-up Award for leading a research project entitled “Feasibility of Diabetic Mario Mobile Game to Improve Diabetes Self-management”, funded by Health Research Council, in collaboration with the University of Auckland - Unitec (2017)
Works
Search Professor Nell Baghaei’s works on UQ eSpace
2025
Conference Publication
Age-related differences in immersive experience during a balance task with VR illusions
Abayasiri, Achintha M., Dick, Taylor J. M., Padilha Lanari Bo, Antonio and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Age-related differences in immersive experience during a balance task with VR illusions. OZCHI '25: 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Sydney, Australia, 29 November - 3 December 2025. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3764687.3764724
2025
Conference Publication
Effects of customisation of AI shopping assistant on VR retail
Wong, Andrew, Zhao, Yinshu, Xu, Wenge and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Effects of customisation of AI shopping assistant on VR retail. OZCHI '25: 37th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Sydney, Australia, 29 November 2025- 3 December 2025. New York, NY, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3764687.3764706
2025
Conference Publication
FootPorting: exploring foot-based teleportation techniques for seated users in confined spaces
Wan, Tingjie, Xu, Yunxin, Li, Yue, Baghaei, Nilufar and Liang, Hai-Ning (2025). FootPorting: exploring foot-based teleportation techniques for seated users in confined spaces. 2025 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR), Daejeon, Republic of Korea, 8-12 October 2025. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/ismar67309.2025.00129
2025
Conference Publication
Reducing stress in annual performance reviews through AI-Enabled avatar interaction
Mizuno, Yoto, Roth, Richard, Cordeil, Maxime and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Reducing stress in annual performance reviews through AI-Enabled avatar interaction. 2025 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct), Daejeon, Republic of Korea, 8-12 October 2025. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/ismar-adjunct68609.2025.00110
2025
Conference Publication
Customizing stylized avatars for self-compassion: design impacts in virtual reality therapy
Elliott, Thomas C., Yang, Yanzhuo, Knibbe, Jarrod, Henry, Julie D. and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Customizing stylized avatars for self-compassion: design impacts in virtual reality therapy. 2025 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct), Daejeon, Republic of Korea, 8-12 October 2025. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/ismar-adjunct68609.2025.00112
2025
Journal Article
Different Perspectives on Human Creativity and Learning Analytics
Hershkovitz, Arnon, Fossati, Davide and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Different Perspectives on Human Creativity and Learning Analytics. Journal of Learning Analytics, 12 (2), 1-4. doi: 10.18608/jla.2025.9273
2025
Journal Article
Digital humans for depression assessment and intervention support: a scoping review
Cao, Jiashuo, Gao, Wujie, Wen, Ruoyu, Li, Chen, Hoermann, Simon, Baghaei, Nilufar and Billinghurst, Mark (2025). Digital humans for depression assessment and intervention support: a scoping review. JMIR Mental Health. doi: 10.2196/79954
2025
Journal Article
Emotionally enriched AI-generated feedback: Supporting student well-being without compromising learning
Alsaiari, Omar, Baghaei, Nilufar, Lahza, Hatim, Lodge, Jason M., Boden, Marie and Khosravi, Hassan (2025). Emotionally enriched AI-generated feedback: Supporting student well-being without compromising learning. Computers & Education, 239 105363, 105363. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105363
2025
Journal Article
Influence of virtual reality illusions on balance performance and immersive user experience in young adults: a within-subject experimental study
Abayasiri, R. Achintha M., Padilha Lanari Bo, Antonio, Dick, Taylor J. M. and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Influence of virtual reality illusions on balance performance and immersive user experience in young adults: a within-subject experimental study. JMIR Serious Games, 13 e70376, e70376-e70376. doi: 10.2196/70376
2025
Journal Article
Leveraging swipe gesture interactions from mobile games as indicators of anxiety and depression: an exploratory study
Chitale, Vibhav, Henry, Julie D., Matthews, Ben, Cobham, Vanessa and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Leveraging swipe gesture interactions from mobile games as indicators of anxiety and depression: an exploratory study. JMIR Mental Health, 12 e70577, e70577. doi: 10.2196/70577
2025
Journal Article
Emotionally enriched feedback via generative AI
Alsaiari, Omar, Baghaei, Nilufar, Lahza, Hatim, Lodge, Jason, Boden, Marie and Khosravi, Hassan (2025). Emotionally enriched feedback via generative AI. Computers and Education. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2410.15077
2025
Conference Publication
Impact of Visual Embellishments on Player Experience in Virtual Reality Exergames
Zhang, Suki Yuanxin, Abayasiri, R. Achintha M., Yang, Yanzhuo, Liang, Hai-Ning, Xu, Wenge and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Impact of Visual Embellishments on Player Experience in Virtual Reality Exergames. CHI EA '25: Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Yokohama, Japan, 26 April 2025- 1 May 2025. New York, NY United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3706599.3721252
2025
Journal Article
Metaverse and XR for cultural heritage education: applications, standards, architecture, and technological insights for enhanced immersive experience
Anwar, Muhammad Shahid, Yang, Jie, Frnda, Jaroslav, Choi, Ahyoung, Baghaei, Nilufar and Ali, Miram (2025). Metaverse and XR for cultural heritage education: applications, standards, architecture, and technological insights for enhanced immersive experience. Virtual Reality, 29 (2) 51, 1-29. doi: 10.1007/s10055-025-01126-z
2025
Conference Publication
Investigating the impact of avatar action sounds on the plausibility illusion in virtual reality
Kurucz, Peter, Serafin, Stefania, Chitale, Vibhav, Klein, Eve and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Investigating the impact of avatar action sounds on the plausibility illusion in virtual reality. 2025 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), Saint Malo, France, 8-12 March 2025. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/vrw66409.2025.00132
2025
Journal Article
Avatar Customization and Embodiment in Virtual Reality Self-Compassion Therapy for Depressive Symptoms: A Three-Part Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)
Elliott, Thomas C., Yang, Yanzhuo, Knibbe, Jarrod, Henry, Julie and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Avatar Customization and Embodiment in Virtual Reality Self-Compassion Therapy for Depressive Symptoms: A Three-Part Mixed Methods Study (Preprint). JMIR Formative Research, 9 v9i11e71004, e71004-e71004. doi: 10.2196/71004
2025
Journal Article
Virtual reality analytics map (VRAM): a conceptual framework for detecting mental disorders using virtual reality data
Chitale, Vibhav, Henry, Julie D., Liang, Hai-Ning, Matthews, Ben and Baghaei, Nilufar (2025). Virtual reality analytics map (VRAM): a conceptual framework for detecting mental disorders using virtual reality data. New Ideas in Psychology, 76 101127, 101127. doi: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2024.101127
2024
Book Chapter
Exploring AI Interaction Modalities in Virtual Environments and Its Impact on Users’ Attitudes
Zhao, Yinshu and Baghaei, Nilufar (2024). Exploring AI Interaction Modalities in Virtual Environments and Its Impact on Users’ Attitudes. Studies in Neuroscience, Psychology and Behavioral Economics. (pp. 41-55) Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-70355-3_4
2024
Conference Publication
Avatar design in virtual retail environments: a scoping review and proposed framework
Zhao, Yinshu, Ricci, Marina, Fiorentino, Michele and Baghaei, Nilufar (2024). Avatar design in virtual retail environments: a scoping review and proposed framework. 36th Australasian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Meanjin (Brisbane), QLD Australia, 30 November-4 December 2024. New York, NY USA: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3726986.3726991
2024
Journal Article
Consumer behavior in immersive virtual reality retail environments: a systematic literature review using the stimuli-organisms-responses (S-O-r) model
Erensoy, Aysu, Mathrani, Anuradha, Schnack, Alexander, Elms, Jonathan and Baghaei, Nilufar (2024). Consumer behavior in immersive virtual reality retail environments: a systematic literature review using the stimuli-organisms-responses (S-O-r) model. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 23 (6), 2781-2811. doi: 10.1002/cb.2374
2024
Conference Publication
Effects of customizable intelligent VR shopping assistant on shopping for stress relief
Wong, Andrew, Zhao, Yinshu and Baghaei, Nilufar (2024). Effects of customizable intelligent VR shopping assistant on shopping for stress relief. 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct), Bellevue, WA, United States, 21-25 October 2024. Piscataway, NJ, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/ismar-adjunct64951.2024.00069
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Nell Baghaei is:
- Available for supervision
Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.
Available projects
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Virtual Reality & Serious Games projects
- Virtual Reality and Mental Health - The goal of this project is to enhance self-compassion in people with depression using individualised virtual reality. Example (built in Unity): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po3GpcDLUpQ
- Virtual Reality and Education - The goal is to enhance people's education (in Construction, Australian history, maths or other fields) using virtual reality. A sample project (built using Unity): https://youtu.be/axpDf1d4X5k
- Games for Health - The goal of this project is to create mobile games (or build further on top of existing ones) to support people with different health conditions. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4zk6M3Ec5U
- Virtual Reality and shopping habits - The idea of this project is to use virtual reality to examine and experiment with people's shopping habits. Example (built in Unreal engine): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K32qXuUrE8Y
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Enhancing Auditory Immersion in Interactive Virtual Reality Environments
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Eve Klein
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Doctor Philosophy
The Impact of AI-enabled Avatars on Body Ownership within Individualised Virtual Reality for Mental Health
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor James Kirby, Professor Julie Henry, Dr Jarrod Knibbe
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Doctor Philosophy
Effects of Virtual Perturbations and Visual Illusions on Gait and Balance
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Taylor Dick, Dr Antonio Padilha Lanari Bo
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Doctor Philosophy
Engaging Senior Citizens with Cyber Safety through Educational Games
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Marie Boden, Dr Hassan Khosravi, Professor Jason Lodge
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Master Philosophy
Experience Saturation: Quantifying Demotivation and Disengagement
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Julie Henry, Dr Alina Bialkowski
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Master Philosophy
Influence of Healthcare Message Framing on Self-Directed Ageism and Emotional Wellbeing
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Sarah Grainger, Dr Sarah Coundouris, Professor Julie Henry
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Doctor Philosophy
Augmented Reality applications in the classroom
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Marie Boden
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Doctor Philosophy
Assessing prospective memory function in the actual and virtual world.
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Lena Oestreich, Dr Sarah Coundouris, Professor Julie Henry
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Doctor Philosophy
NAVIGATEVR. Understanding age-related differences in hazard perception by leveraging insights from the virtual world.
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor James Kirby, Dr Sarah Coundouris, Professor Julie Henry
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Doctor Philosophy
The Use of Ethnochemistry Based Augmented Reality to Integrate Multiple Representations in Chemistry Classes and Its Influence on Indonesian Students' Mental Models
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Jack Wang, Professor Gwendolyn Lawrie
Completed supervision
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2025
Doctor Philosophy
The Impact of Avatar Design on User Experience and Shopping Behaviour in Immersive Virtual Stores
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Marie Boden
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2025
Doctor Philosophy
Exploring Mobile Games as Tools for Screening Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression: A Game Analytics Approach
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Ben Matthews, Professor Julie Henry
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Nell Baghaei directly for media enquiries about:
- Games for Health
- Immersive Technologies for Education
- Immersive Technologies for Health
- Persuasive Technology
Need help?
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