People

Professor Nacke, Director of the HCI Games Group, is a pioneer in games, gamification, and user experience. As Professor of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in Games at the University of Waterloo, he explores how user experience of video and exercise games can drive engagement and change behaviours. Over the past 15 years, he has published more than 200 academic papers and a best-selling book on Games User Research. A sought-after keynote speaker, Dr. Nacke has advised organizations worldwide on effective gamification strategies. He was recognized among the top 10 HCI scholars of the last decade and the top 2% of scientists worldwide. His groundbreaking work continues to shape how we understand and apply games research.

Sabrina Sgandurra is the HCI Game group's Research Project Manager, responsible for managing the projects, members, collaborators, and external partners for the HCI Games group. In addition to her role with us, she is a PhD candidate specializing in the intersection of culture and oral storytelling traditions in the act of streaming story-focused video games. If you are interested in working with the HCI Games Group, please reach out through our contact us page.

Dr. Geneva Smith is a postdoctoral fellow in the HCI Games Group and TouchLab. She received her Ph.D. in Software Engineering from McMaster in 2023, where she worked in the G-ScalE Lab in the Department of Computing and Software. Her work focused on the development of methods for acknowledging and limiting subjectivity in CME development to improve their reusability, maintainability, and verifiability. The goal of her current research, funded through the Provost's Program for Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholars, is to examine the relationship between the programmed system, user interaction, and a user's perception of Interactive Digital Narratives (IDNs) to guide IDN development processes and tools for satisfying pro-social learning experiences.

Dr. Sebastian Cmentowski's research centers on developing and enhancing novel extended reality (XR) interactions and applications. During his PhD, he specialized in creating intuitive and innovative interaction concepts for virtual reality (VR) experiences that maximize the platform's potential. As a postdoctoral researcher at the HCI Games Group at the University of Waterloo, Canada, he focuses on XR exergames designed to combat sedentary lifestyles.

Dr. Eugene Kukshinov is a media psychology and HCI researcher at the HCI Games Group at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His focus is on understanding psychological processing of media and technology. This includes immersive experiences and their interrelationships in different contexts such as (Social) VR, video games, or storytelling.

Dr. Reza Hadi Mogavi is a postdoctoral research fellow with the HCI Games Group at the University of Waterloo. His research focuses on User Experience Research and Design, with broader interests in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Social Computing, and Educational Technologies. Mogavi obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in 2023. His academic journey has been marked by numerous accolades, including the Lupina Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Waterloo, the Best Paper Award at HCI International 2023, and the Method Recognition Award at CSCW 2022, among several other awards recognizing his contributions to research and teaching. At the HCI Games Group, Mogavi's goal is to further advance the field of user experience research and design by continuing to explore innovative solutions and methodologies that foster engaging and impactful interactions across diverse digital platforms.

Hilda Hadan is a Ph.D. candidate in Systems Design Engineering, collaborating with Dr. Lennart E. Nacke and Dr. Leah Zhang-Kennedy. Her research is centered around deceptive design, which was previously known as dark patterns, in games and game-related technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Beyond her work on deceptive design, Hilda has a keen interest in human-centred research, specifically in the areas of video games, usable privacy and security, and generative AI. She was awarded the 2023 Games Institute Seed Research Grant for her research on the privacy implication of XR. Hilda's dissertation research on deceptive design in VR received the support from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Contributions Program 2024-2025.

Joseph Tu is a Ph.D. candidate in Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, under the supervision of Dr. Lennart Nacke and Dr. Oliver Schneider. He is interested in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), mainly in the domain of physiological measures, emotions, games user research (GUR), and adaptive user interface. His goal is to maintain his hairline after completing his Ph.D. Joseph currently holds the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship in Science & Technology and the Dean Entrance, Doctoral Program Scholarship.

Derrick Wang is a Ph.D. student in Systems Design Engineering, collaborating with Dr. Lennart E. Nacke and Dr. Oliver Schneider. His research primarily focuses on exercise games ("exergames") and multiplayer experiences. Beyond his work on exergaming, Derrick is also interested in enhancing the game experience through juicy elements such as narrative and audiovisual stimuli. Derrick currently holds the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship in Science & Technology.

Iva Randelshofer is a video game industry professional, working as Associate UX Director at Ubisoft. There, she leads Design- and UX Research Operations for player facing services. She is also a PhD student at the Salzburg University in Austria, collaborating with the HCI Games Group at the University of Waterloo. Her research revolves around HCI and game interfaces with the focus on production processes and information visualizations.

Kaushall Senthil Nathan is a Master's student pursuing system's design engineering. His main goal for  research is enhancing the medium of video games. More specifically, the experience with machine learning fundamentals leads  to his belife that robust AI technologies can be developed to work alongside players in data-rich environments of video game worlds and serve as moderators to reduce problematic behavior and promote human flourishing. In this vein, Kaushall sees common themes with the research done in the HCI Games lab such as affective gaming and social relationship-building games. Furthermore, believes video games are a powerful medium that has changed millions of people’s lives for the better and so, wants to use the skills and tools available to him to make the medium more expressive and enjoyable to everyone. He believe the people of the HCI Games lab share this belief and I would be proud to work alongside them toward this goal. In the long term, he sees himself working with video game companies to develop and deploy these technologies to consumers around the world, to ensure that video games serve as a vibrant and accessible hobby to all.