Dr. Yun Suen Pai | HCI Researcher
Senior Lecturer, director of Inclusive Reality Lab.
yun.suen.pai[at]auckland.ac.nz
School of Computer Science, University of Auckland,
Auckland, New Zealand
My vision of the future is that of an Inclusive Reality. It is a future where the sense of reality can be leveraged to bridge social and ability gaps towards an inclusive prosocial space. To achieve this, I explore systems that
- understand cognitive, behavioral and emotional states,
- assist the self and others, and
- augment abilities to empower diverse individuals.
I graduated from the University of Malaya, Malaysia (UM) in 2013 with a degree in Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing Engineering. I then furthered my research at UM which focuses on the use of AR technology for simulating machining processes, to obtain my Masters in Engineering Science in 2015. In 2018, I earned my Ph.D in Media Design from the Keio University Graduate School of Media Design (KMD) with my thesis entitled “Convex Interactions: Towards Efficient Human Motion in Peripersonal Space Using Virtual Reality”. For my postdoctoral research, I travelled to New Zealand to join the Empathic Computing Laboratory (ECL) for 2 years. Afterwards, I was a Project Senior Assistant Professor at KMD, directing the Physionetic Interactions Group in the Embodied Media Laboratory until 2023. I am currently a Senior Lecturer in the University of Auckland, New Zealand where I direct the Inclusive Reality Lab (IRL) and co-direct ECL with Prof Mark Billinghurst.
Besides research, I also love travelling, camping, gaming, airsoft, customizing keyboards, collecting watches, and messing with my corgi, Bambi. Hit me up anytime if you are into any of these things!
news
| Nov 24, 2025 | The Inclusive Reality Lab attended a research retreat with the Empathic Computing Lab. We discussed our future vision, potential collaborations, and emerging research trends, all while enjoying great food and engaging activities. |
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| Oct 29, 2025 | We were delighted to host Prof. Grant Searchfield, Professor of Audiology and founder of TrueSilence Therapeutics, at the Inclusive Reality Lab. He shared his latest work on tinnitus research and engaged in insightful discussions with our team. |
| Oct 8, 2025 | I attended the ISMAR 2025 conference, where my PhD student collaborator, Kinga Skiers received an Honourable Mention (top 3%) for her paper “Portable Silent Room: Exploring VR Design for Anxiety and Emotion Regulation for Neurodivergent Women and Non-Binary Individuals.” Congratulations to her on this outstanding achievement! |
| Sep 1, 2025 | I’m organizing CHI Day(s), a workshop series running throughout August and September as a dedicated space for learning, thinking, and writing for CHI. Join us for snacks, discussions, short talks, and supportive review sessions! Planning for this to be an annual series as well. |
| Aug 30, 2025 | The Inclusive Reality Lab will be hosting a booth at the Faculty of Science Open Day! Come by to experience our interactive demos and chat with us about ongoing research and collaboration opportunities. |
| Jul 17, 2025 | I visited the University of Adelaide (invited by Prof. Mark Billinghurst) to speak at the AI for XR Winter School. My talk, “Why AI/XR? Bridging Empathy, Assistance and Augmentation,” explored how AI and immersive technologies can empower diverse users. |
| Jul 9, 2025 | I visited RMIT University (invited by Dr. Allison Jing) and Monash University (invited by Dr. Samitha from the Exergame Lab and Tanner Person from the Opportunity Tech Lab) for research sharing sessions. It was a great opportunity to connect with potential collaborators. |
| Apr 26, 2025 | I attended the CHI 2025 conference, where my PhD student Weijen Chen received an Honourable Mention (top 5%) for her paper “Living Bento: Heartbeat-Driven Noodles for Enriched Dining Dynamics.” Congratulations to her on this outstanding achievement! |
| Mar 19, 2025 | I recently visited the University of Malaya (invited by Prof. Raja Jamilah) and UCSI University (invited by Prof. Kah Hou) at Malaysia to share my latest research. It was a pleasure connecting with colleagues and exploring future collaborations. |
| Jan 7, 2025 | I’m excited to announce the launch of the Inclusive Reality Lab at the University of Auckland! The lab explores how bioresponsive, multisensory, and XR technologies can foster more inclusive and empowering human experiences. |
| Jan 1, 2025 | Weijen Chen, my PhD student from Keio University Graduate School of Media Design, will be a visiting student at UoA! Weijen’s research is on human-food interaction and she explores how food can be used as a medium to bridge social communication. |
| Dec 4, 2024 | Siggraph Asia 2024 have started at the Tokyo International Forum! Come find me at the Experience Hall as I will be chairing the XR session. |
| Sep 21, 2024 | Danyang Peng and Shengyin Li, PhD students from Keio University Graduate School of Media Design, will be visiting students at UoA! Danyang’s research is on multimodal mindfulness in XR and Shengyin is exploring the use of AI for self reflection. |
| May 15, 2024 | Weijen Chen is presenting our CHI paper today! The work is about leveraging cymatics to change the perception of taste, read more about it here. |
| May 2, 2024 | Thanks a lot to Mark Billinghurst and Gun Lee for inviting me as a speaker for the UniSA IVE Seminar Series! Full video of the talk can be found here. |
| Feb 3, 2024 | Yulan Ju, PhD student from Keio University Graduate School of Media Design, will be a visiting student at UoA! Her research is on understanding the individual differences in affective haptic communication. |
| Dec 3, 2023 | Starting my new position as a Lecturer at the School of Computer Science, University of Auckland today! If you’re nearby, come drop by at my office at 303-519 to say hi! |
| Nov 24, 2023 | Will be travelling to Germany to attend the Dagstuhl Seminar on Social XR. Looking forward to many thought-provoking discussions! |
| Oct 26, 2023 | Giulia Barbareschi and I were recently interviewed by JST regarding our research in Moonshot program on increasing accessibility and understanding emotions, do have a look! (Podcast link included) |
| Oct 14, 2023 | Our previously published paper at IMWUT, Total VRecall, has been awarded the IMWUT Vol. 6 Distinguished Paper Award at Ubicomp/ISWC 2023! Only 8 out of 210 papers received the award, big congratulations especially to Kunal! You can read more about the paper here. |
| Jul 1, 2023 | My interview by Eva Wolfangel regarding the future of spatial computing is now out in the German version of MIT technology review! The article is available online here, yet it requires paid subscription. Luckily, since you’re here, this links to the PDF file directly ;) |
| May 20, 2023 | My research topic is now online on Frontiers! Anyone doing research on XR for prosocial behaviour change, empathy and assistive XR, please feel free to submit your work here! The abstract submission deadline is 18 June, and the manuscript deadline is 16 October. |
| Apr 12, 2023 | Thanks a lot to Mark and Alaeddin for inviting me as speaker at the Empathic Computing Lab. Full video of the talk can be found here. Always good to be back! |
| Mar 13, 2023 | Our paper got accepted for the CHI 2023 workshop - Towards an Inclusive and Accessible Metaverse. Papers are uploaded here already! See you at CHI! |
| Jan 15, 2023 | Our CHI paper on co-designing and evaluating AR dementia for medical workers got accepted! More details coming soon. |
| Nov 1, 2022 | Thanks a lot to Shendong and Suranga for inviting me as speaker at the NUS-HCI lab. Full video of the talk can be found here. Looking forward to future collaborations! |
| Aug 18, 2022 | More works accepted! 2 papers to ISMAR, 1 to Siggraph Asia XR, 2 to UIST! Congrats to Prasanth and Anish for the ISMAR papers, Kinga for the Siggraph paper, and Shunyi and Zhang Qing for the UIST papers! |
| Aug 15, 2022 | Working on XR or telexistence-related research and wish to visit Japan end of the year? Highly recommend to submit your work to ICAT-EGVE! The deadline for full paper submission has been extended to September 10. |
| Aug 1, 2022 | The new website is finally updated and online! |
| Jun 26, 2022 | Our UIST paper on smart glasses to simulate visual impairment got accepted! More details coming soon. |
| Apr 24, 2022 |
Our IMWUT paper on emotional autobiograhical memory in VR got accepted! Congrats to all the authors, especially Kunal. 
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