Christoph Bartneck

Associate Professor  |  Director of PG Studies

christoph.bartneck@canterbury.ac.nz

Human robot interaction | Visual design | Information visualisation | Science and technology studies | Philosophy

PhD students: Merel Keijsers and D.D. Allan

Courses taught: HITD602 – Human Interface Technology – Design and Evaluation, HITD690 – Thesis in Human Interface Technology, HITD790 – Human Interface Technology PhD, DATA476 – Information is Beautiful

Come see Christoph with questions about: Quality, uncertainty, life, the universe and everything, LEGO and how to fail at nearly everything.

Heide Lukosch

Associate Professor | AIGI Lead

heide.lukosch@canterbury.ac.nz

Applied Immersive Gaming | Virtual Training | Educational Games | Games for Disaster Management and Communication | Fidelity

Courses taught: HITD602 Design and Evaluation, HITD603 Prototyping and Projects, PROD221 Game Design in Context, PROD322 Gaming Project Studio 2

Come see Heide with questions about: Applied immersive gaming initiative, Immersive game design and research, Mixed methods research design, Inclusive research, Confidential (study) advice

More about Heide: Heide has designed over 20 analogue and digital applied games for research and learning, and is driven by her interest in understanding design principles of games to have an impact on people, organizations, and society. She is chair of the International Simulation and Gaming Association, and associated editor of the Simulation & Gaming Journal. Heide is a dedicated player of board and digital games. She is also a gardener, reader, yogi, and mother of two children. She enjoys living with her family in the South of Christchurch from where she commutes by eBike to the HIT Lab NZ.

Stephan Lukosch

  Professor | Postgraduate Coordinator

stephan.lukosch@canterbury.ac.nz

 AR | VR | Mixed Reality | Game Design | Mobile & Ubiquitous Computing | Design Patterns | UX | Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) | Human-Computer Interaction

Courses taught: HITD602 Design and Evaluation, HITD603 Prototyping and Projects, HITD690 Thesis in Human Interface Technology, COSC477 Mixed Reality, SSCI403 Innovation in Sport Science

Come see Stephan with questions about: Research projects, degree planning and thesis supervision

More about Stephan:  My current research focuses on human augmentation to enhance our capabilities. In order to create a design framework for developers, designers and future users, I explore human augmentation in different domains such as sports, health, safety, security, and engineering. My work includes the evaluation of human factors on acceptance, engagement and experience of human augmentation. In my research, I build on my earlier work on intelligent and context-adaptive collaboration support, collaborative storytelling for knowledge elicitation and decision-making, and design patterns for computer-mediated interaction.

Andy Phelps

  Professor

Gaming Design | Game Development | Serious Games| Games for Learning | Digital Art

Courses taught: I ‘teach into’ courses in product design on topics like game history and game production. If you want an overview of the kinds of things I have taught in other places and the kinds of degrees I have built and my curricular work, see https://andyworld.io/teaching.html

Come see Andy with questions about: Game design, game development, computer art, VR/AR in web-based environments, streaming and more. Check out his website to learn about many of his interests and see his recent writings and talks (hint: if these interest you, go talk to him). Most importantly, see him if you are engaged with or interested in the Applied Immersive Gaming Initiative (AIGI).

More about Andy: Andy maintains a professional website with his bio, CV, recent talks and publications, artwork, games and little bits of weird trivia and experiments at https://andyworld.io/

Chris Buyarski

Centre Manager

chris.buyarski@canterbury.ac.nz

Information: Chris manages the day-to-day operations of the HIT Lab NZ. He also oversees the finances and is responsible for the overall organisation and well-being of the lab.

Come see Chris with questions about: All topics, day-to-day stuff, health and safety, purchasing approvals, travel and general life questions.

More about Chris: Chris was born in Wisconsin in the US on a small dairy farm. He has two masters’ degrees (MBA and MS in biology). Prior to joining the HIT Lab NZ, Chris worked for over 10 years as a scientist and lab manager at the University of Minnesota. In his spare time he likes to bike, hike, hangout on the beach, and play with his dog Larry.

Mel Lloyd

Special Projects Administrator

Information: Mel works on special projects for the HIT Lab NZ, building the Alumni Network and organising significant events such as our 20th Anniversary celebrations.

Come see Mel with questions about: Anything! Especially the curly questions, so never hesitate to ask. She loves exploring NZ so ask her if you want advice about places to check out or have questions about Christchurch. 

More about Mel: I grew up in Invercargill, but have lived in Christchurch for quite a few years having graduated from Lincoln University. She grew up playing PlayStation and PC games which she says helped her to fit in quickly when she started at the HIT Lab NZ.  

Katharina Jenner

Administrator

Ryan McKee

Games Programmer | IT Manager

Information: Software, lab hardware, general IT support.

Come see Ryan with questions about: Unity/Unreal development, hardware and software, game design, UX, 3D art and modelling, 3D printing, VR/AR, and IT troubleshooting.

More about Ryan: I am from Virginia, USA and have lived in NZ since 2007. I like cars, cats and game development. I solo developed two games on Steam – Vector36 and Animosity.

Adrian Clark

Senior Lecturer | AIGI Researcher

 adrian.clark@canterbury.ac.nz

Adrian completed his PhD in Computer Science at the HIT Lab NZ in 2009, where he developed a robust natural feature registration framework called OPIRA Optical-flow Perspective Invariant Registration Augmentation.

Adrian’s research interests include Computer Vision, Computer Graphics, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. He also enjoys teaching, and has tutored a range of Computer Science courses ranging from Introduction to Programming, to Networking, to Advanced Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence.

Adrian was born in Christchurch, but spent his childhood in Papua New Guinea. He is a keen sportsman, and is particularly fond of indoor netball, karate and sea kayaking. He also enjoys trying all things motorsport, be it cars, motorbikes, jet skis, or gas powered skateboards.

Simon Hoermann

Research Scientist  |  Academic Staff

simon.hoermann@canterbury.ac.nz

Thammathip Piumsomboon

Senior Lecturer | AIGI Researcher

tham.piumsomboon@canterbury.ac.nz