This research explores how virtual reality can develop intercultural competence in young English learners. Through an immersive VR game comparing Chinese and New Zealand cultures, children build cultural understanding, openness, and critical awareness. The project also establishes design principles to help educators create accessible intercultural learning experiences through VR.

This research explores whether altering bodily sensations can change emotional experiences. By manipulating perceived heartbeat, blinking, and muscle tension through wearable devices and virtual reality, it demonstrates that emotions can be reshaped without changing physiology, opening new possibilities for treating trauma, anxiety, eating disorders, and other mental health conditions

This research teaches AI to understand and generate the sense of touch by combining visual information with high-resolution tactile data. The technology enables realistic digital textures, improves online shopping, enhances virtual experiences, and creates accessible tactile graphics for blind and low-vision users, making AI more inclusive and human-centred.

This research investigates the role of force feedback in virtual reality training. By comparing users with and without haptic feedback, it examines effects on brain activity, skill acquisition, and real-world performance. The study aims to improve VR training systems by incorporating sensory input essential for effective motor learning and skill transfer.

This talk describes research on how the brain learns and remembers by recording neural activity in mice navigating virtual environments. By studying hippocampal and cortical neurons, the work reveals how the brain builds cognitive maps of space and experience, offering insights into memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease.

This research develops a framework for designing haptic technologies in virtual reality that balance immersion and practicality. By accounting for differences in body sensitivity, it introduces affordable, scalable devices—gloves, facial haptics, jackets, and floors—that enable full-body tactile feedback, bringing realistic touch into VR experiences.

This research examines how architectural spaces shape emotional experience through their acoustic environments. Using binaural audio, 360° video, VR, biosensors, and self-reports, the study shows that spaces amplifying low frequencies enhance positive emotions. The goal is to develop architectural guidelines that create restorative, well-being-enhancing environments in schools, hospitals, offices, and public spaces.

This project uses virtual reality to turn drug design into a spatial puzzle game. By fitting molecular “drug” shapes into protein grooves—much like Tetris—players can exploit human spatial intuition to explore new treatments. Using Nano Simbox software, VR proved over ten times more effective than other platforms for complex molecular tasks.