Biography

I am a Principal Lecturer and Director of Postgraduate Programmes for the School of Creative Technologies, where I oversee all Masters Curriculum development (MSc Creative Technologies and MSc Digital Media).  I also coordinate the postgraduate research programmes (PhD and MPhil) within the areas of Digital and Creative Technologies .

I completed my PhD in 2001, at the University of Portsmouth, focusing on Projection Augmented Models. This is a novel XR technology that combines physical models and projected data.  The same year, I joined the academic staff, teaching multimedia production, virtual reality and research methods at Masters level. 

My research focuses on user interaction, with a particular interest in Augmented and Virtual Reality, Computer Games, Computer Animation, and physical interaction technologies for museums, libraries and other heritage organisations.  I have supervised 15 PhD students to successful completion in areas, such as VR, AR, Sematic Metadata, Game Design, Character Animation and Computer Vision, all with a focus on User Experience Design.  I am a Member of the British Computing Society and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Previous Completions as First Supervisor
•    Peter Howell (Games in 2016) - Disruptive game design: a commercial design and development methodology for supporting player cognitive engagement in digital games
•    Mitu Khandaker (Games in 2015) - An Empirical Exploration of Aesthetic Distance Through Mimetic Interface Design in Videogames
•    Getaneh Alemu (Business Technology Analysis in 2014) - A Theory of Digital Library Metadata: The Emergence of Enriching and Filtering
•    Vaughan Powell (Virtual Reality in 2013) - Visual Properties of Virtual Target Objects: Implications for Reaching and Grasping Tasks in a Virtual Reality Rehabilitation Context
•    Aryel Beck (Animation in 2012) - Perception of Emotional Body Language Displayed by Animated Characters
•    Wendy Powell (Virtual Reality in 2012) - Virtually Walking: Factors Influencing Walking and Perception of Walking in Treadmill-Mediated Virtual Reality to Support Rehabilitation
•    Dan Pinchbeck (Games in 2009)  - Story as a Function of Gameplay in First Person Shooters and an Analysis of FPS Diegetic Content 1998-2007
•    Emily Bennett (Augmented Reality in 2006) - Visual and Haptic Factors That Affect The Projection Augmented Model Illusion
•    Naz Awan (Multimedia in 2006) – Learning From Diagrams in Computer Aided Learning Environments: The Explicit and Implicit Depiction of Motion and its Effect on Accurate and Meaningful Learning.

Previous Completions as Second/Third Supervisor

•    Yiming Wang (Visual Analysis in 2018) - Face frontalization for facial expression recognition in the wild
•    Si Qiao (Animation in 2016) - The relationship between three dimensional human cephalic animation, audiences perception and emotional response
•    Peter Nolan (Health Technology in 2016) - Implicit theory domains of technology ability and health related to people with Parkinson's engaging with a speech therapy smartphone application   
•    Yingfeng Fang (Robotics in 2015) - Interacting with Prosthetic Hands via Electromyography Signals
•    Neil Dansey (Games in 2013) - A Grounded Theory of Emergent Benefit in Pervasive Game Experiences
•    Adrian Jones (Business Technology Analysis in 2009) An Industry in Transition: A Participative Investigation into the Process of Change in the Broadcasting Industry

PhD degrees previously examined in:
•    Computer Vision
•    Health Technology