Director
Tim Gruenewald
I am the founding director of the eXtended Humanities Research Lab and an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong. Before moving to Hong Kong, I taught at the University of Chicago at Urbana-Champaign.
My current research focuses on narrative virtual reality, specifically on cinematic virtual reality, foundational VR film theory, narrative VR and genre, and memory in VR / AR. I also have a background in filmmaking with a broad interest in film studies and the future of immersive film.
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Research Director (AR / MR)
Peter J Cobb
I am an assistant professor in the School of Humanities at HKU and the Deputy Director of the BA program in Humanities and Digital Technologies within the Faculty of Arts. As part of his archaeological fieldwork and research, I aim to find innovative ways to use the full spectrum of XR technologies to improve archaeological practice and teaching. Current experiments involve using augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) for data collection and use on site, as well as using virtual reality (VR) to remotely teach everyone about archaeology and ancient Armenia.
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Research Director (VR)
Kal Ng
I am a professional practitioner and lecturer in the humanities and digital technologies programme at the Faculty of Arts. I apply interdisciplinary practices in the field of virtual realities, combining production practices of architectural spatial designs, filmmaking and gaming content into the developing field of VR. My research focuses on global development in spatial narrative and virtual worlds production in the broader interactive paradigm of XR.
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Principal Investigator
Alex K. Gearin
​I am a cultural anthropologist and assistant professor in the Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit in the LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU. My research and interests in virtual reality (VR) are focused on the sensory and affective dimensions of healing spaces. In collaboration with Dr Emily Yu Zong, I co-produced the VR film Bovine Calling, which explores notions of shared precarity between humans and nonhumans in Hong Kong. Currently, I’m interested in the power of VR to cultivate affective atmospheric literacies in users.
Principal Investigator
Lukas Liu
I am an Assistant Professor of Learning Design and Implementation Sciences at the Faculty of Education. I focus on designing and developing active game-based learning experiences to promote learning and transferrable skill development through problem-solving in digital environments such as XR. My research interests also include using mixed methods to understand learners’ behavior, competence, discourse, and interactions in context.
AFFILIATED RESEARCH FELLOWS
Senior Research Fellow
Matthew Boswell​
I am a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for the Creative Economy at Cardiff University and the Programme Manager for Media Cymru: a role that involves working with creative technologists and digital media companies to develop new XR products, services, and experiences.
My research explores the relationship between digital technologies and historical memory. My most recent book with Antony Rowland, Virtual Holocaust Memory (Oxford University Press, 2023), offers a critical account of a new era of Holocaust remembrance that is being shaped by immersive technologies such as VR and ‘interactive testimony’.​
Senior Research Fellow
Kath Dooley
​I am a filmmaker and associate professor based at UniSA Creative, The University of South Australia. My research focuses on VR storytelling and includes narrative theory and screen production methodologies for immersive and traditional film. I am the author of Virtual Reality Narratives (Palgrave, 2024) and Cinematic Virtual Reality (Palgrave, 2021), and the co-editor of Screenwriting for Virtual Reality (Palgrave, 2024). My creative work has screened at events such the Busan International Short Film Festival and the International Festival of Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories (FIVARS), Toronto.
Senior Research Fellow
Lisa Messeri
I am an associate professor of sociocultural anthropology at Yale University, where I am also affiliated with the Program in History of Science and Medicine.
My book In the Land of the Unreal (Duke, 2024) seeks to understand how the recent resurgence of virtual reality hinged on a belief that the technology could repair rifts in reality. More broadly I am interested in how science and technology shape how we conceptualize and interact with the world around us.
Research Fellow
Emily Zong
I am an environmental humanities scholar, curator, and assistant professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. My projects explore the limits and possibilities of digital storytelling in evoking more-than-human experiences of wellbeing in the context of planetary health. I am the director and co-producer, with Dr Alex Gearin, of Bovine Calling 喚/幻牛: A VR Story of Eco-Vulnerability in Hong Kong (2023), an immersive film exhibition that uses multispecies ethnography and field recording to explore the entangled worlds of buffalos, cows, and humans on Lantau Island. In collaboration with HKU Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit, I am currently working onHealing Atmospheres, a VR film that combines place-based poetry and immersive technology to chart a topo-poetic dialogue between sensorial worldmaking and disability justice.
POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWS
Cecilia Chen
I am a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Arts at HKU and the Faculty of Arts & Humanities at King’s College London. I study virtual reality film through the intersections of film theory and phenomenology. My research focuses on the representation of space, place, and time in narrative VR. I received my BA in History from University College London (UCL), focusing primarily on film and cultural history, and completed an MA in Literary and Cultural Studies at HKU.
Hayk Azizbkeyan
I am a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Arts at HKU, where I am exploring the use of augmented reality (AR) glasses to enhance archaeological practice. Specifically, my research focuses on information management during archaeological excavations, with the goal of enabling on-site data collection and data analysis in a 3D environment. Through a series of experiments and tests conducted at the Vedi Fortress in Armenia, I am pioneering new ways of interacting with information about the past.
Wuyan Yao
I am a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Arts at HKU, studying the intersection of tourism and digital humanities. For my PhD research, I focus on utilizing digital methods to enhance the interpretation of archaeological sites while elevating the tourism experience for the public. I am currently engaged in the design and evaluation of an augmented reality (AR) mobile application tailored for tourists visiting the Vedi River valley in Armenia.
Rui Lyu
I am a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Arts at HKU. My research investigates the evolving portrayals of AI in conventional cinema and immersive VR experiences, exploring how these representations reflect attitudes toward technology, identity, and reality. Through an interdisciplinary approach that draws from philosophy of AI, film theory, and posthumanist studies, I analyze AI's cultural significance and its impact on our understanding of human-machine relationships and ethical concerns in the age of advanced technology.
Yuqing Liu
I am a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Arts at The University of Hong Kong, with research interests in cultural studies and film studies. My research focuses on affectivity in VR films and how these films evoke affective experiences in viewers.
I examine how VR films construct these experiences through cinematic language and technological design, as well as their broader implications for individuals and society. Additionally, I investigate their narrative boundaries in relation to other emerging media, analyzing how varying degrees of interactivity and directorial control shape affective engagement.
Luna Wang
Starting in Academic Year 25/26, I will be a PHD candidate at the LKS Faculty of Medicine, HKU. I have a background in literature, film studies, and critical theory. My research focuses on an innovative intersection of technology and healthcare, specifically examining the relationship between virtual reality cinema and its application in illness narratives.