Dr Nell Baghaei
Dr

Nell Baghaei

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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

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

Research impacts

  • 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.

  • 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

143 works between 2004 and 2025
All (143) Book (2) Journal Article (50) Edited Outputs (1) Conference Publication (88) Book Chapter (2)

121 - 140 of 143 works

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

The effects of domain and collaboration feedback on learning in a collaborative intelligent tutoring system

2010

Journal Article

Preface

Floreano, Dario, Zufferey, Jean-Christophe, Srinivasan, Mandyam V. and Ellington, Charlie (2010). Preface. Flying Insects and Robots, 13213 LNCS, v-vi. doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-89393-6

Preface

2010

Conference Publication

Tag clouds as social signallers

Christie, Timothy, Lueg, Christopher and Baghaei, Nilufar (2010). Tag clouds as social signallers. Conference of the Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group of Australia on Computer-Human Interaction, Brisbane, Australia, November 22-26. New York, NY, USA: ACM. doi: 10.1145/1952222.1952302

Tag clouds as social signallers

2010

Conference Publication

Improving health information access through social networking

Freyne, Jill, Berkovsky, Shlomo, Kimani, Stephen, Baghaei, Nilufar and Brindal, Emily (2010). Improving health information access through social networking. 2010 IEEE 23rd International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS), Perth, WA Australia, 12-15 October 2010. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/CBMS.2010.6042666

Improving health information access through social networking

2010

Conference Publication

Physical activity motivating games: virtual rewards for real activity

Berkovsky, Shlomo, Coombe, Mac, Freyne, Jill, Bhandari, Dipak and Baghaei, Nilufar (2010). Physical activity motivating games: virtual rewards for real activity. SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Atlanta, GA, United States, 10-15 April 2010. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/1753326.1753362

Physical activity motivating games: virtual rewards for real activity

2010

Conference Publication

Gender and role differences in family-based healthy living networks

Kimani, Stephen, Baghaei, Nilufar, Freyne, Jill, Berkovsky, Shlomo, Bhandari, Dipak and Smith, Greg (2010). Gender and role differences in family-based healthy living networks. CHI '10: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Atlanta, GA USA, 10-15 April 2010. New York, NY USA: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/1753846.1754129

Gender and role differences in family-based healthy living networks

2010

Conference Publication

Activity awareness in family-based healthy living online social networks

Kimani, Stephen, Berkovsky, Shlomo, Smith, Greg, Freyne, Jill, Baghaei, Nilufar and Bhandari, Dipak (2010). Activity awareness in family-based healthy living online social networks. IUI '10: 15th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, Hong Kong, China, 7 - 10 February, 2010. New York, NY, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/1719970.1720025

Activity awareness in family-based healthy living online social networks

2009

Conference Publication

Physical activity motivating games: you can play, mate!

Berkovsky, Shlomo, Freyne, Jill, Coombe, Mac, Bhandari, Dipak and Baghaei, Nilufar (2009). Physical activity motivating games: you can play, mate!. OZCHI '09: Proceedings of the 21st conference of the computer-human interaction special interest group of Australia on Computer-human interaction: design, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 23-27 November 2007. New York, NY USA: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/1738826.1738872

Physical activity motivating games: you can play, mate!

2009

Conference Publication

SOFA: an online social network for engaging and motivating families to adopt a healthy lifestyle

Baghaei, Nilufar, Freyne, Jill, Kimani, Stephen, Smith, Greg, Berkovsky, Shlomo, Bhandari, Dipak, Colineau, Nathalie and Paris, Cecile (2009). SOFA: an online social network for engaging and motivating families to adopt a healthy lifestyle. OZCHI '09: Proceedings of the 21st Annual Conference of the Australian Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group: Design: Open 24/7, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 23-27 November 2009. New York, NY USA: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/1738826.1738871

SOFA: an online social network for engaging and motivating families to adopt a healthy lifestyle

2008

Book Chapter

Quality of service support in mobile multimedia networks

Baghaei, Nilufar and Hunt, Ray (2008). Quality of service support in mobile multimedia networks. Wireless Quality of Service: Techniques, Standards, and Applications. (pp. 1-25) Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press.

Quality of service support in mobile multimedia networks

2007

Conference Publication

Performance of evolving IEEE 802.11 security architectures

Gin, Andrew, Baghaei, Nilufar and Hunt, Ray (2007). Performance of evolving IEEE 802.11 security architectures. 5th New Zealand Computer Science Research Student Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, April 10-13.

Performance of evolving IEEE 802.11 security architectures

2007

Journal Article

Supporting collaborative learning and problem-solving in a constraint-based CSCL environment for UML class diagrams

Baghaei, Nilufar, Mitrovic, Antonija and Irwin, Warwick (2007). Supporting collaborative learning and problem-solving in a constraint-based CSCL environment for UML class diagrams. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 2 (2-3), 159-190. doi: 10.1007/s11412-007-9018-0

Supporting collaborative learning and problem-solving in a constraint-based CSCL environment for UML class diagrams

2007

Conference Publication

From modelling domain knowledge to metacognitive skills: extending a constraint-based tutoring system to support collaboration

Baghaei, Nilufar and Mitrovic, Antonija (2007). From modelling domain knowledge to metacognitive skills: extending a constraint-based tutoring system to support collaboration. 11th International Conference, UM 2007, Corfu, Greece, 25-29 July 2007. Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-73078-1_25

From modelling domain knowledge to metacognitive skills: extending a constraint-based tutoring system to support collaboration

2006

Conference Publication

A constraint-based collaborative environment for learning UML class diagrams

Baghaei, Nilufar and Mitrovic, Antonija (2006). A constraint-based collaborative environment for learning UML class diagrams. 8th International Conference Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Jhongli, Taiwan, June 26-30. Springer Verlag. doi: 10.1007/11774303_18

A constraint-based collaborative environment for learning UML class diagrams

2006

Journal Article

Problem-solving support in a constraint-based intelligent system for unified modelling language

Baghaei, Nilufar, Mitrovic, Antonija and Irwin, Warwick (2006). Problem-solving support in a constraint-based intelligent system for unified modelling language. Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning, 4 (2), 113-137.

Problem-solving support in a constraint-based intelligent system for unified modelling language

2006

Conference Publication

A collaborative constraint-based adaptive system for learning object-oriented analysis and design using UML

Baghaei, Nilufar (2006). A collaborative constraint-based adaptive system for learning object-oriented analysis and design using UML. 4th International Conference, AH 2006, Dublin, Ireland, 21-23 June 2006. Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/11768012_58

A collaborative constraint-based adaptive system for learning object-oriented analysis and design using UML

2005

Conference Publication

A constraint-based tutor for learning Object-Oriented analysis and design using UML

Baghaei, Nilufar, Mitrovic, Antonija and Irwin, Warwick (2005). A constraint-based tutor for learning Object-Oriented analysis and design using UML. 13th International Conference on Computers in Education, Singapore, November 28 - December 2.

A constraint-based tutor for learning Object-Oriented analysis and design using UML

2005

Conference Publication

COLLECT-UML: Supporting individual and collaborative learning of UML class diagrams in a constraint-based intelligent tutoring system

Baghaei, Nilufar and Mitrovic, Antonija (2005). COLLECT-UML: Supporting individual and collaborative learning of UML class diagrams in a constraint-based intelligent tutoring system. 9th International Conference of Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, Melbourne, Australia, September 14-16. Springer Verlag. doi: 10.1007/11554028_64

COLLECT-UML: Supporting individual and collaborative learning of UML class diagrams in a constraint-based intelligent tutoring system

2004

Conference Publication

Channel estimation complexity reduction using caching

Baghaei, Nilufar and McLoughlin, I. V. (2004). Channel estimation complexity reduction using caching. IEEE 6th Circuits and Systems Symposium on Emerging Technologies: Frontiers of Mobile and Wireless Communication, Shanghai, China, 31 May-2 June 2004. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Channel estimation complexity reduction using caching

2004

Conference Publication

IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN security performance using multiple clients

Baghaei, Nilufar and Hunt, Ray (2004). IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN security performance using multiple clients. 12th IEEE International Conference on Networks (ICON 2004), Singapore, Singapore, 16-19 November 2004. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/ICON.2004.1409151

IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN security performance using multiple clients

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