Dr Nell Baghaei
Dr

Nell Baghaei

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Background

Dr Nilufar (Nell) Baghaei is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Queensland, 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.

Dr Baghaei has built a strong national and international reputation through prolific publications in top-tier venues, editorial and leadership roles in major journals and conferences, securing 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: 2,800+). She is currently supervising 12 HDR students (7 as principal supervisor) and serves on several UQ committees. She was awarded the 2025 Faculty Research Excellence Award in the supervision category.

Dr Baghaei is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Virtual Reality, and Games for Health Journal, and serves as the Organising Committee Member/Associate Chair for IEEE ISMAR and ACM CHI (A*-ranked conferences in immersive tech and HCI). She also acted as a Program Chair for the International Conference on Persuasive Technology in 2024. 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

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

Research impacts

  • I was awarded the 2025 Faculty Research Excellence Award in the supervision category.

  • My thesis student, Sarah Abdulkhalek, was named Valedictorian of the Class of 2025.

  • EECS 2024 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.

  • My thesis student, Andrew Wong (co-supervised by Dr 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

  • My PhD student, Yinshu (Claire) Zhao, 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".

  • My thesis student, Suki Zhang, 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

150 works between 2004 and 2025
All (150) Book (2) Journal Article (51) Edited Outputs (1) Conference Publication (94) Book Chapter (2)

41 - 60 of 150 works

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

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

2022

Journal Article

Extended reality for mental health evaluation —a scoping review

Omisore, Olatunji, Odenigbo, Ifeanyi, Orji, Joseph, Beltran, Amelia, Orji, Rita, Baghaei, Nilufar and Sandra, Meier (2022). Extended reality for mental health evaluation —a scoping review. JMIR Serious Games, 6 e38413, 1-21. doi: 10.2196/38413

Extended reality for mental health evaluation —a scoping review

2022

Journal Article

Ready Player Two: A randomized controlled pilot trial investigating the feasibility of using games to improve healthy lifestyle knowledge in youth (9-16 years) at risk for type two diabetes

Maddison, Ralph, Baghaei, Nilufar, Calder, Amanda Jane, Murphy, Rinki, Parag, Varsha, Heke, Ihirangi, Dobson, Rosie and Marsh, Samantha (2022). Ready Player Two: A randomized controlled pilot trial investigating the feasibility of using games to improve healthy lifestyle knowledge in youth (9-16 years) at risk for type two diabetes. JMIR Formative Research, 6 (6) e33089, e33089. doi: 10.2196/33089

Ready Player Two: A randomized controlled pilot trial investigating the feasibility of using games to improve healthy lifestyle knowledge in youth (9-16 years) at risk for type two diabetes

2022

Conference Publication

PassImg: a secure password generation and management scheme without storing

Yin, Yuhua, Jang-Jaccard, Julian and Baghaei, Nilufar (2022). PassImg: a secure password generation and management scheme without storing. 2022 IEEE 25th International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (CSCWD), Hangzhou, China, 4-6 May 2022. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/CSCWD54268.2022.9776045

PassImg: a secure password generation and management scheme without storing

2022

Journal Article

A systematic and comparative review of behavior change strategies in stress management apps: opportunities for improvement

Alhasani, Mona, Mulchandani, Dinesh, Oyebode, Oladapo, Baghaei, Nilufar and Orji, Rita (2022). A systematic and comparative review of behavior change strategies in stress management apps: opportunities for improvement. Frontiers in Public Health, 10 777567, 1-19. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.777567

A systematic and comparative review of behavior change strategies in stress management apps: opportunities for improvement

2022

Journal Article

Editorial: virtual reality and mental health: opportunities to advance research and practice

Baghaei, Nilufar, Liang, Hai-Ning, Billinghurst, Mark, Naslund, John and Oyekoya, Oyewole (2022). Editorial: virtual reality and mental health: opportunities to advance research and practice. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 3 838036, 1-3. doi: 10.3389/frvir.2022.838036

Editorial: virtual reality and mental health: opportunities to advance research and practice

Current funding

  • 2026 - 2031
    Reducing ageism in healthcare
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant

Availability

Dr Nell Baghaei is:
Available for supervision

Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.

Available projects

  • 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

Completed supervision

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?

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

communications@uq.edu.au