Overview
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
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Virtual Reality, Game-based Learning, AI in Education, Persuasive Technology
Research impacts
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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
2021
Conference Publication
Supporting decision-making in the construction and property sectors through persuasive virtual reality: a pilot study
He, Peijin, Samarasinghe, Don, Liu, Cyrus, Jelodar, Mostafa Babaeian, Playne, Daniel and Baghaei, Nilufar (2021). Supporting decision-making in the construction and property sectors through persuasive virtual reality: a pilot study. The Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA 2021), Melbourne, VIC Australia, 27-29 October 2021.
2021
Conference Publication
Assessing telepresence, social presence and stress response in a virtual reality store
Zhao, Yinshu, Baghaei, Nilufar, Schnack, Alexander and Stemmet, Lehan (2021). Assessing telepresence, social presence and stress response in a virtual reality store. IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct), Bari, Italy, 4-8 October 2021. Piscataway, NJ, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/ISMAR-Adjunct54149.2021.00020
2020
Journal Article
Studying the effect of display type and viewing perspective on user experience in virtual reality exergames
Xu, Wenge, Liang, Hai-Ning, Zhang, Zeying and Baghaei, Nilufar (2020). Studying the effect of display type and viewing perspective on user experience in virtual reality exergames. Games for Health Journal, 9 (6), 405-414. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2019.0102
2020
Journal Article
Supporting disease prevention and lifestyle changes through gaming
Baghaei, Nilufar, Fowler, Allan and Maddison, Ralph (2020). Supporting disease prevention and lifestyle changes through gaming. Games for Health Journal, 9 (6), 387-388. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2020.0161
2020
Journal Article
Health benefits of digital videogames for the aging population: a systematic review
Xu, Wenge, Liang, Hai-Ning, Baghaei, Nilufar, Wu Berberich, Bing and Yue, Yong (2020). Health benefits of digital videogames for the aging population: a systematic review. Games for Health Journal, 9 (6), 389-404. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2019.0130
2020
Conference Publication
Enhancing customers' knowledge and decision making using augmented reality
Boonrat, Wisanoo, Vaidya, Vimita, Baghaei, Nilufar, Sharifzadeh, Hamid, Ahmed, Ali and Casey, John (2020). Enhancing customers' knowledge and decision making using augmented reality. ICCE 2020 - 28th International Conference on Computers in Education, Online, 23 - 27 November 2020. Taoyuan County, Taiwan: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
2020
Conference Publication
Distance learning practices: A reflective study
Ahmed, Ali, Watterson, Craig, Baghaei, Nilufar and Lundqvist, Karsten (2020). Distance learning practices: A reflective study. ICCE 2020 - 28th International Conference on Computers in Education, Online, 23 - 27 November 2020. Taoyuan County, Taiwan: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
2020
Conference Publication
An in-depth exploration of the effect of 2D/3D views and controller types on first person shooter games in virtual reality
Monteiro, Diego, Liang, Hai-Ning, Wang, Jialin, Chen, Hao and Baghaei, Nilufar (2020). An in-depth exploration of the effect of 2D/3D views and controller types on first person shooter games in virtual reality. 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR), Porto de Galinhas, Brazil, 9-13 November 2020. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/ISMAR50242.2020.00102
2020
Conference Publication
Teaching cyber-security for distance learners: a reflective study
Ahmed, Ali, Lundqvist, Karsten, Watterson, Craig and Baghaei, Nilufar (2020). Teaching cyber-security for distance learners: a reflective study. 2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Uppsala, Sweden, 21-24 October 2020. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9274062
2020
Conference Publication
LAMCO: A Layered Approach to Mobile Application Computation Offloading
Ballan, Yousef, Ahmed, Ali and Baghaei, Nilufar (2020). LAMCO: A Layered Approach to Mobile Application Computation Offloading. 16th International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference, IWCMC, Limassol, Cyprus, June 15-19. NEW YORK: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. doi: 10.1109/IWCMC48107.2020.9148493
2020
Conference Publication
Time to get personal: Individualised virtual reality for mental health
Baghaei, Nilufar, Stemmet, Lehan, Hlasnik, Andrej, Emanov, Konstantin, Hach, Sylvia, Naslund, John A., Billinghurst, Mark, Khaliq, Imran and Liang, Hai-Ning (2020). Time to get personal: Individualised virtual reality for mental health. 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Honolulu, HI, United States, 25-30 April 2020. New York, NY, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3334480.3382932
2020
Journal Article
Editorial: designing technologies for youth mental health
Baghaei, Nilufar, Naslund, John A., Hach, Sylvia and Liang, Hai-Ning (2020). Editorial: designing technologies for youth mental health. Frontiers in Public Health, 8 45. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00045
2020
Conference Publication
SwarMotion: a 3D point cloud video recording tool for classification purposes
Monteiro, Diego, Wang, Jialin, Liang, Hai-Ning, Baghaei, Nilufar and Abel, Andrew (2020). SwarMotion: a 3D point cloud video recording tool for classification purposes. 13th International Conference on Multimedia and Ubiquitous Engineering (MUE 2019), Xi'an, China,, 24-26 April 2019. Singapore, Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-32-9244-4_27
2020
Conference Publication
Persuasive virtual reality: promoting earth buildings in New Zealand
Samarasinghe, Don Amila Sajeevan, Baghaei, Nilufar and Stemmet, Lehan (2020). Persuasive virtual reality: promoting earth buildings in New Zealand. 15th International Conference on Persuasive Technology, PERSUASIVE 2020, Aalborg, Denmark, 20-23 April 2020. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-45712-9_16
2019
Conference Publication
Feature enhancement and denoising of a forensic shoeprint dataset for tracking wear-and-tear effects
Francis, Xavier, Sharifzadeh, Hamid, Newton, Angus, Baghaei, Nilufar and Varastehpour, Soheil (2019). Feature enhancement and denoising of a forensic shoeprint dataset for tracking wear-and-tear effects. Ajman, United Arab Emirates, 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology (ISSPIT), 10-12 December 2019. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/ISSPIT47144.2019.9001841
2019
Conference Publication
An Adaptive Method for Vein Recognition Enhancement Using Deep Learning
Varastehpour, Soheil, Sharifzadeh, Hamid, Ardekani, Iman, Francis, Xavier and Baghaei, Nilufar (2019). An Adaptive Method for Vein Recognition Enhancement Using Deep Learning. IEEE International Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology (ISSPIT), Ajman, United Arab Emirates, 10-12 December 2019. Piscataway, NJ, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/ISSPIT47144.2019.9001834
2019
Conference Publication
Increasing self-compassion in young people through virtual reality
Baghaei, Nilufar, Hach, Sylvia, Khaliq, Imran, Stemmet, Lehan, Krishnan, Jamuna, Naslund, John, Liang, Hai-Ning and Sharifzadeh, Hamid (2019). Increasing self-compassion in young people through virtual reality. 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct), Beijing, China, 10-18 October 2019. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/ISMAR-Adjunct.2019.00042
2019
Journal Article
MoodJumper: an exploration of game interface preferences in users with/out mood disorder
Baghaei, Nilufar, Hach, Sylvia, Liang, Hai-Ning and Brucker, Marvin (2019). MoodJumper: an exploration of game interface preferences in users with/out mood disorder. Frontiers in Public Health, 7 220. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00220
2019
Conference Publication
Learning wear patterns on footwear outsoles using convolutional neural networks
Francis, Xavier, Sharifzadeh, Hamid, Newton, Angus, Baghaei, Nilufar and Varastehpour, Soheil (2019). Learning wear patterns on footwear outsoles using convolutional neural networks. 18th IEEE International Conference On Trust, Security And Privacy In Computing And Communications/13th IEEE International Conference On Big Data Science And Engineering (TrustCom/BigDataSE), Rotorua, New Zealand, 5-8 August. LOS ALAMITOS: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. doi: 10.1109/TrustCom/BigDataSE.2019.00067
2019
Journal Article
Engaging children with educational content via Gamification
Nand, Kalpana, Baghaei, Nilufar, Casey, John, Barmada, Bashar, Mehdipour, Farhad and Liang, Hai-Ning (2019). Engaging children with educational content via Gamification. Smart Learning Environments, 6 (1) 6, 1-15. doi: 10.1186/s40561-019-0085-2
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Nell Baghaei is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
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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
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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
Exploring Mobile Games for Screening Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression: A Game Analytics Approach
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Ben Matthews, Professor Julie Henry
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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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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
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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
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
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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Doctor Philosophy
Introducing Intelligent Avatars in a Virtual Simulated Store
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Marie Boden
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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: Professor Julie Henry, Dr Jarrod Knibbe
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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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Master Philosophy
Experience Saturation: Quantifying Demotivation and Disengagement
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Julie Henry, Dr Alina Bialkowski
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Doctor Philosophy
Capturing digital biomarkers of mental health in the virtual world.
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Sarah Grainger, 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
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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
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Nell Baghaei directly for media enquiries about:
- AI in Education
- Persuasive Technology
- Serious Games
- User Modeling
- Vitual Reality
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