Overview
Background
Dr Nilufar (Nell) Baghaei is a Senior Lecturer 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.
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: 2,600+).
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:
- Not 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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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
2017
Conference Publication
Providing regular assessments and earlier feedback on moodle in an introductory computer science course: A user study
Nehring, Natalia, Dacey, Simon and Baghaei, Nilufar (2017). Providing regular assessments and earlier feedback on moodle in an introductory computer science course: A user study. 25th International Conference on Computers in Education, Christchurch, New Zealand, December 4-8. Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
2016
Journal Article
Diabetic Mario: designing and evaluating mobile games for diabetes education
Baghaei, Nilufar, Nandigam, David, Casey, John, DIreito, Artur and Maddison, Ralph (2016). Diabetic Mario: designing and evaluating mobile games for diabetes education. Games for Health Journal, 5 (4), 270-278. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2015.0038
2016
Conference Publication
Designing mobile games for improving self-esteem in children with ADHD
Baghaei, Nilufar, Casey, John, Ahmad, Yvette, Liang, Hai-Ning and Yu, Zhen (2016). Designing mobile games for improving self-esteem in children with ADHD. ICSLE 2015, Sinaia, Romania, 23 - 25 September 2015. Singapore: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-981-287-868-7_6
2015
Conference Publication
Determinants of patients' intention to adopt diabetes self-management applications
Maniam, Ananthidewi, Dhillon, Jaspaljeet Singh and Baghaei, Nilufar (2015). Determinants of patients' intention to adopt diabetes self-management applications. CHINZ 2015: 15th New Zealand Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Hamilton, New Zealand, 3-4 September 2015. New York, NY USA: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/2808047.2808059
2015
Conference Publication
Personalized learning: current status and potential
Nandigam, David, Tirumala, Sreenivas Sremath and Baghaei, Nilufar (2015). Personalized learning: current status and potential. 2014 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-Management and e-Services (IC3e), Hawthorne, VIC Australia, 10-12 December 2014. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/IC3e.2014.7081251
2015
Conference Publication
Improving learning outcomes by designing engaging educational tools
Casey, John, Baghaei, Nilufar and Nand, Kalpana (2015). Improving learning outcomes by designing engaging educational tools. 2014 IEEE Frontiers in Education (FIE), Madrid, Spain, October 22-25. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. doi: 10.1109/FIE.2014.7044042
2015
Conference Publication
Evaluating mobile games for diabetes education
Baghaei, Nilufar, Nandigam, David, Casey, John, Direito, Artur and Maddison, Ralph (2015). Evaluating mobile games for diabetes education. Unknown, Unknown, Unknown. Taoyuan City, Taiwan: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
2014
Conference Publication
Enhancing children's numeracy & te reo skills using computer games
Nand, Kalpana, Baghaei, Nilufar and Casey, John (2014). Enhancing children's numeracy & te reo skills using computer games. 22nd International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE), Nara, Japan, 30 November - 4 December, 2014. Taoyuan City, Taiwan: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
2013
Conference Publication
Enhancing engagement and collaborative learning skills in multi-touch software for UML diagramming
Basheri, Mohammed, Burd, Liz, Munro, Malcolm and Baghaei, Nilufar (2013). Enhancing engagement and collaborative learning skills in multi-touch software for UML diagramming. Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, Madison, Wisconsin, June 15-19.
2013
Conference Publication
Designing a socially assistive companion robotic wheel chair: RoboChair
Jayawardena, Chandimal, Baghaei, Nilufar, Ganeshan, Kathiravelu and Sarrafzadeh, Abdolhossein (2013). Designing a socially assistive companion robotic wheel chair: RoboChair. 6th IEEE Conference on Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics (RAM), Manila and Pico de Loro, Philippines, 12-15 November. IEEE Computer Society. doi: 10.1109/RAM.2013.6758589
2012
Conference Publication
A multi-touch interface for enhancing collaborative UML diagramming
Basheri, Mohammed, Burd, Liz and Baghaei, Nilufar (2012). A multi-touch interface for enhancing collaborative UML diagramming. OzCHI '12: The 24th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 26-30 November 2012. New York, NY USA: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/2414536.2414541
2012
Conference Publication
Massively distributed authorship of academic papers
Tomlinson, Bill, Ross, Joel, Andre, Paul, Baumer, Eric P. S., Patterson, Donald J., Corneli, Joseph, Mahaux, Martin, Nobarany, Syavash, Lazzari, Marco, Penzenstadler, Birgit, Torrance, Andrew W., Callele, David J., Olson, Gary M., Silberman, Six, Ständer, Marcus, Palamedi, Fabio Romancini, Salah, Albert Ali, Morrill, Eric, Franch, Xavier, Mueller, Florian, Kaye, Joseph, Black, Rebecca W., Cohn, Marisa L., Shih, Patrick C., Brewer, Johanna, Goyal, Nitesh, Näkki, Pirjo, Huang, Jeff, Baghaei, Nilufar and Saper, Craig (2012). Massively distributed authorship of academic papers. CHI '12: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Austin, TX, United States, 5-10 May 2012. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/2212776.2212779
2012
Conference Publication
Collaborative software design using multi-touch tables
Basheri, Mohammed, Burd, Liz and Baghaei, Nilufar (2012). Collaborative software design using multi-touch tables. International Conference on Engineering Education (ICEED), Penang, Malaysia, 5-6 December. IEEE Computer Society. doi: 10.1109/ICEED.2012.6779276
2011
Conference Publication
Designing games to educate diabetic children
Chen, Gang, Baghaei, Nilufar, Sarrafzadeh, Abdolhossein, Manford, Chris, Marshall, Steve and Court, Gudrun (2011). Designing games to educate diabetic children. OzCHI '11: The Annual Meeting of the Australian Special Interest Group for Computer Human Interaction, Canberra, ACT Australia, 28 November-2 December 2011. New York, NY USA: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/2071536.2071546
2011
Journal Article
Editorial
Kimani, Stephen and Baghaei, Nilufar (2011). Editorial. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 80 (12), 813-814. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2011.09.001
2011
Journal Article
Engaging families in lifestyle changes through social networking
Baghaei, Nilufar, Kimani, Stephen, Freyne, Jill, Brindal, Emily, Berkovsky, Shlomo and Smith, Greg (2011). Engaging families in lifestyle changes through social networking. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 27 (10), 971-990. doi: 10.1080/10447318.2011.555315
2011
Conference Publication
Personalized techniques for lifestyle change
Freyne, Jill, Berkovsky, Shlomo, Baghaei, Nilufar, Kimani, Stephen and Smith, Gregory (2011). Personalized techniques for lifestyle change. 13th Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine,, Bled, Slovenia, July 2- 6. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-22218-4_18
2011
Conference Publication
Promoting and supporting healthy living by design
Baxter, Gordon, Dow, Lisa, Kimani, Stephen and Baghaei, Nilufar (2011). Promoting and supporting healthy living by design. 13th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, 5-9 September 2011. Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-23768-3_140
2011
Conference Publication
PETAC: from visualisation to personalisation of tag clouds
Christie, Timothy, Lueg, Christopher and Baghaei, Nilufar (2011). PETAC: from visualisation to personalisation of tag clouds. CHINZ '11: 12th Annual Conference of the New Zealand Chapter of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction, Hamilton, New Zealand, 4-5 July 2011. New York, NY USA: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/2000756.2000766
2011
Conference Publication
The effects of domain and collaboration feedback on learning in a collaborative intelligent tutoring system
Holland, Jay, Baghaei, Nilufar, Mathews, Moffat and Mitrovic, Antonija (2011). The effects of domain and collaboration feedback on learning in a collaborative intelligent tutoring system. 15th International Conference Artificial Intelligence in Education, Auckland, New Zealand, June 28 - July 2011. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-21869-9_72
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Nell Baghaei is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
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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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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: Professor Julie Henry, Dr Jarrod Knibbe
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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
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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
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
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