Dr Nell Baghaei
Dr

Nell Baghaei

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Background

Dr Nilufar (Nell) Baghaei is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Queensland and the Co-Director of the Mixed Reality Lab. Her research interests are Virtual Reality, Game-based Learning, AI in Education and Persuasive Technology (Google Scholar h-index: 26, citations: ~2300). She is an Associate Editor of Int Journal Human-Computer Studies, Virtual Reality and Games for Health, and is on the Editorial Board/Programme Committee of several other journals and international conferences. She was one of the Programme Chairs for the International Conference on Persuasive Technology 2024. Dr Baghaei is supervising a number of HDR students on Games and VR related topics and sits on various UQ committees. Before joining UQ, she directed the Games and Extended Reality Lab at Massey University, New Zealand, and held multiple leadership positions in the ITP sector. Prior to that, she was a researcher at CSIRO.

Availability

Dr Nell Baghaei is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Research interests

  • Virtual Reality, Game-based Learning, AI in Education, Persuasive Technology

Research impacts

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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)

  • 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/

  • 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)

  • 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)

  • 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)

Search Professor Nell Baghaei’s works on UQ eSpace

135 works between 2004 and 2025
All (135) Journal Article (45) Book Chapter (3) Conference Publication (84) Book (2) Edited Outputs (1)

21 - 40 of 135 works

2023

Conference Publication

Designing humanoid avatars in individualised virtual reality for mental health applications

Elliott, Thomas C., Henry, Julie D. and Baghaei, Nilufar (2023). Designing humanoid avatars in individualised virtual reality for mental health applications. 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct), Sydney, NSW Australia, 16-20 October 2023. Los Alamitos, CA United States: IEEE Computer Society. doi: 10.1109/ismar-adjunct60411.2023.00069

Designing humanoid avatars in individualised virtual reality for mental health applications

2023

Conference Publication

Enhancing auditory immersion in interactive virtual reality environments

Kurucz, Peter, Baghaei, Nilufar, Serafin, Stefania and Klein, Eve (2023). Enhancing auditory immersion in interactive virtual reality environments. 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct), Sydney, NSW, Australia, 16-20 October 2023. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/ismar-adjunct60411.2023.00174

Enhancing auditory immersion in interactive virtual reality environments

2023

Journal Article

Cheer for me: effect of non-player character audience feedback on older adult users of virtual reality exergames

Yu, Kangyou, Wen, Shaoyue, Xu, Wenge, Caon, Maurizio, Baghaei, Nilufar and Liang, Hai-Ning (2023). Cheer for me: effect of non-player character audience feedback on older adult users of virtual reality exergames. Virtual Reality, 27 (3), 1887-1903. doi: 10.1007/s10055-023-00780-5

Cheer for me: effect of non-player character audience feedback on older adult users of virtual reality exergames

2023

Journal Article

Individualized virtual reality for increasing self-compassion: evaluation study

Halim, Ilona, Stemmet, Lehan, Hach, Sylvia, Porter, Richard, Liang, Hai-Ning, Vaezipour, Atiyeh, Henry, Julie and Baghaei, Nilufar (2023). Individualized virtual reality for increasing self-compassion: evaluation study. JMIR Mental Health, 10 (1) e47617, e47617. doi: 10.2196/47617

Individualized virtual reality for increasing self-compassion: evaluation study

2023

Journal Article

Rehabilitation supported by immersive virtual reality for adults with communication disorders: qualitative study

Vaezipour, Atiyeh, Aldridge, Danielle, Koenig, Sebastian, Burns, Clare L., Baghaei, Nilufar, Theodoros, Deborah and Russell, Trevor (2023). Rehabilitation supported by immersive virtual reality for adults with communication disorders: qualitative study. JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies, 10 (1) e46959, e46959. doi: 10.2196/46959

Rehabilitation supported by immersive virtual reality for adults with communication disorders: qualitative study

2023

Conference Publication

Introducing shopper avatars in a virtual reality store

Schnack, Alexander, Zhao, Yinshu and Baghaei, Nilufar (2023). Introducing shopper avatars in a virtual reality store. 30th IEEE Conference Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (IEEE VR), Shanghai, China, 25-29 March 2023. Piscataway, NJ United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/vrw58643.2023.00274

Introducing shopper avatars in a virtual reality store

2023

Conference Publication

Using blockchain to preserve Chain of Custody (CoC): cloud forensics analysis

Grabner, Georg, Ahmed, Ali and Baghaei, Nilufar (2023). Using blockchain to preserve Chain of Custody (CoC): cloud forensics analysis. 35th International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, SEKE, San Francisco, CA, United States, 1-3 July 2023. Skokie, IL, United States: Knowledge Systems Institute. doi: 10.18293/SEKE2023-038

Using blockchain to preserve Chain of Custody (CoC): cloud forensics analysis

2023

Book Chapter

Exploring the Transformative Potential of Virtual Reality in History Education: A Scoping Review

Zhang, Yalan, Ahmed, Ali, Liang, Hai-Ning and Baghaei, Nilufar (2023). Exploring the Transformative Potential of Virtual Reality in History Education: A Scoping Review. Advances in Web-Based Learning – ICWL 2023. (pp. 107-121) Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-99-8385-8_9

Exploring the Transformative Potential of Virtual Reality in History Education: A Scoping Review

2023

Journal Article

Preface to Adjunct Proceedings of the 18th International Persuasive Technology Conference

Koranteng, Felix N., Baghaei, Nilufar and Gram-Hansen, Sandra Burri (2023). Preface to Adjunct Proceedings of the 18th International Persuasive Technology Conference. CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 3474.

Preface to Adjunct Proceedings of the 18th International Persuasive Technology Conference

2022

Conference Publication

Tools for animation and shape manipulation: a scoping review

Farzinnejad, Forouzan, Habibi, Jafar, Khezrian, Navid, Afshin Hemmatyar, Ali Mohammad and Baghaei, Nilufar (2022). Tools for animation and shape manipulation: a scoping review. 2022 IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Computer Science and Data Engineering (CSDE), Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 18-20 December 2022. Piscataway, NJ, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/csde56538.2022.10089225

Tools for animation and shape manipulation: a scoping review

2022

Conference Publication

Comparing customer behaviours: immersive virtual reality store experiences versus web and physical store experiences

Erensoy, Aysu, Mathrani, Anuradha, Schnack, Alexander, Zhao, Yinshu, Chitale, Vibhav Sunil and Baghaei, Nilufar (2022). Comparing customer behaviours: immersive virtual reality store experiences versus web and physical store experiences. 2022 IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Computer Science and Data Engineering (CSDE), Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 18-20 December 2022. Piscataway, NJ, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/csde56538.2022.10089288

Comparing customer behaviours: immersive virtual reality store experiences versus web and physical store experiences

2022

Conference Publication

Enhancing customer experience, and brand awareness through familiar gameplay in advergames

Khezrian, Navid, Farzinnejad, F. and Baghaei, Nilufar (2022). Enhancing customer experience, and brand awareness through familiar gameplay in advergames. 9th IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Computer Science and Data Engineering (CSDE), Gold Coast, QLD Australia, 14-16 December 2022. Piscataway, NJ United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/csde56538.2022.10089272

Enhancing customer experience, and brand awareness through familiar gameplay in advergames

2022

Journal Article

Games for mental health

Baghaei, Nilufar, Liang, Hai-Ning, Naslund, John and Porter, Richard (2022). Games for mental health. Games for Health Journal, 11 (6), 337-340. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2022.0199

Games for mental health

2022

Conference Publication

Virtual reality stores: studies on shopper perceptions and behaviors

Zhao, Yinshu, Schnack, Alexander, Mathrani, Anuradha, Erensoy, Aysu, Chitale, Vibhav and Baghaei, Nilufar (2022). Virtual reality stores: studies on shopper perceptions and behaviors. 9th IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Computer Science and Data Engineering (CSDE), Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 18-20 December 2022. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/CSDE56538.2022.10089221

Virtual reality stores: studies on shopper perceptions and behaviors

2022

Conference Publication

Augmented reality applications in the classroom: Teachers' experience

Al Omair, Hajar, Mendoza, Antonette, Bodèn, Marie and Baghaei, Nilufar (2022). Augmented reality applications in the classroom: Teachers' experience. 30th International Conference on Computers in Education Conference, ICCE 2022, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 28 November - 2 December 2022. Jhongli City, Taiwan: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.

Augmented reality applications in the classroom: Teachers' experience

2022

Conference Publication

Virtual reality data for predicting mental health conditions

Chitale, Vibhav, Playne, Daniel, Liang, Hai-Ning and Baghaei, Nilufar (2022). Virtual reality data for predicting mental health conditions. 21st IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR), Singapore, Singapore, 17-22 October 2022. Piscataway, NJ, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/ismar-adjunct57072.2022.00011

Virtual reality data for predicting mental health conditions

2022

Conference Publication

VRCockpit: mitigating simulator sickness in VR games using multiple egocentric 2D view frames

Chen, Hao, Shi, Rongkai, Monteiro, Diego, Baghaei, Nilufar and Liang, Hai-Ning (2022). VRCockpit: mitigating simulator sickness in VR games using multiple egocentric 2D view frames. 2022 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG), Beijing, China, 21-24 August 2022. Piscataway, NJ USA: IEEE Computer Society. doi: 10.1109/CoG51982.2022.9893678

VRCockpit: mitigating simulator sickness in VR games using multiple egocentric 2D view frames

2022

Journal Article

Editorial: cybersickness in VR applications

Monteiro, Diego, Nanjappan, Vijayakumar, Baghaei, Nilufar and Liang, Hai-Ning (2022). Editorial: cybersickness in VR applications. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 3 1025054. doi: 10.3389/frvir.2022.1025054

Editorial: cybersickness in VR applications

2022

Journal Article

Acceptance of virtual reality exergames among Chinese older adults

Xu, Wenge, Liang, Hai-Ning, Yu, Kangyou, Wen, Shaoyue, Baghaei, Nilufar and Tu, Huawei (2022). Acceptance of virtual reality exergames among Chinese older adults. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 39 (5), 1134-1148. doi: 10.1080/10447318.2022.2098559

Acceptance of virtual reality exergames among Chinese older adults

2022

Journal Article

The use of videogames and virtual reality for the assessment of anxiety and depression: a scoping review

Chitale, Vibhav, Baghaei, Nilufar, Playne, Daniel, Liang, Hai-Ning, Zhao, Yinshu, Erensoy, Aysu and Ahmad, Yvette (2022). The use of videogames and virtual reality for the assessment of anxiety and depression: a scoping review. Games for Health Journal, 11 (6), 341-354. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2021.0227

The use of videogames and virtual reality for the assessment of anxiety and depression: a scoping review

Availability

Dr Nell Baghaei is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Available projects

  • Virtual Reality & 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

  • 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

Enquiries

Contact Dr Nell Baghaei directly for media enquiries about:

  • AI in Education
  • Persuasive Technology
  • Serious Games
  • User Modeling
  • Vitual Reality

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au