Award-Winning HCI PhD Candidate A11y Researcher
I study how to make virtual reality (VR) easier to use for people who have vision or hearing disabilities. I've published my research in top journals and won awards for my work. Because I have experience studying disabled users and have a disability myself, my goal is to turn research into real-world tools that help everyone use VR.
I am currently researching sensory augmentation to make VR more accessible for people with sensory impairments. My work is published in leading HCI venues, including a first-author full paper at CHI '25, a first-author article in the Q1 IJHCI journal during my first year of PhD research, and a Graduate Gold Medal at the ASSETS '22 Student Research Competition as a MSc student. Drawing on my academic background in mixed-methods research with users with complex access needs and my own lived experience of disability, I am dedicated to translating research into practical solutions that increase access to immersive technologies for disabled users.
This paper analyses 330 of the most-used commercial VR apps, revealing common accessibility failures and providing a framework for more inclusive design. doi for Asleep at the Virtual Wheel (opens in a new tab) - PDF for Asleep at the Virtual Wheel (opens in a new tab) - Video for Asleep at the Virtual Wheel (opens in a new tab) - Poster for Asleep at the Virtual Wheel (opens in a new tab)
In this work, we reviewed locomotion methods in popular VR apps, categorising them to understand current trends and identify opportunities for more accessible techniques. doi for From Teleportation to Climbing (opens in a new tab) - PDF for From Teleportation to Climbing (opens in a new tab) - Poster for From Teleportation to Climbing (opens in a new tab)
This award-winning research explored methods for presenting sign language interpreters within 360-degree videos to improve accessibility for d/Deaf users. doi for Sign Language Interpreter Rendering (opens in a new tab) - PDF for Sign Language Interpreter Rendering (opens in a new tab) - Video for Sign Language Interpreter Rendering (opens in a new tab) - Poster for Sign Language Interpreter Rendering (opens in a new tab)
First-person perspective in a commercial virtual reality game, demonstrating visual evaluations of in-game accessibility features during movement.
A video of swimming in virtual reality, highlighting how the user must swing their arms in a breast stroke manner to swim in the virtual water.
A virtual classroom setting containing a flat-panel video of a woman performing sign language, positioned in the lower centre of the screen.