Welcome new PhD student Seher Singh!

Seher Singh is a new PhD student at the Nottingham School of Art and Design. She has an interdisciplinary background that consists of a MSc in Human Computer Interaction from the University of Nottingham and a BSc in Psychology from the University of Bath. She enjoys designing and conducting research studies; and her current areas of interest include Mixed Reality and User Experience. Her current work is all about Blending Real and Physical Interaction in Immersive Experiences. 

This PhD will investigate the combination of immersive displays (virtual reality) and rapid manufacturing (such as 3D printing) to create blended virtual-physical environments. Usually, everything in VR is completely virtual, but she will investigate using 3D printing, laser cutting and other low-cost, rapid fabrication processes to physically manufacture parts of the environment; then track and seamlessly integrate the physical components into the virtual environment. While this approach has been tried in several domains already, such as training and games, in this project she will take a fundamental principles approach, aiming to create a toolkit for creating and integrating physical and virtual environments. The research methods will involve human-computer interaction design, co-creation with users, iterative design and prototyping, qualitative and quantitative experiential testing in labs.