School of Product Design

Adrian is an Associate Professor in the School of Product Design, where he is involved in teaching and research related to the Game Development major in the Bachelor of Digital Screen (Honours).

Adrian was one of the lead academics in the design of the Bachelor of Digital Screen (Honours) degree - especially in the Animation, Game Arts, and Game Development majors, and also lead the design of the Digital Product Design major in the Bachelor of Product Design.

Adrian's current research areas are in Augmented Reality, Computer Vision, Game Design, Computer Graphics, and AI. He completed his PhD in Computer Science at the HIT Lab NZ, where he developed a robust natural feature registration framework called OPIRA Optical-flow Perspective Invariant Registration Augmentation.

Following the completion of his PhD, Adrian invented "Colourable Augmented Reality", which lead to him cofounding "QuiverVision" (www.quivervision.com), an Augmented Reality company specialising in Augmented Reality Colouring mobile application (Quiver) for education and entertainment which has been downloaded over 22 million times. Adrian worked as Head of Research and Development at QuiverVision for 7 years before returning to academia.

Nikki Dunsire is a seasoned production artist and educator with more than two and a half decades of industry experience and 18 years in higher education. She currently serves as Senior Lecturer and Director of Studies for the Game Arts program in the School of Product Design at the University of Canterbury. Her professional expertise spans 3D production, motion graphics, visual effects (VFX), game art, and technical direction.

Nikki holds a diverse academic background that bridges art and computer science, including a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media Studies (Minor in Art & Design) from the University of Denver, a Bachelor of Science in Media Arts and Animation from The Art Institute of Portland, and a Master of Science in Computer Science with a specialization in 3D Technical Direction and Development from DePaul University in Chicago.

Nikki’s career journey began as a web developer and Production Coordinator, ultimately leading her to the role of 3D Technical Director at Animation Dynamics Inc. (ADi). During this phase of her career, she collaborated with technology firms, game and application developers, independent filmmakers, and Fortune 500 companies, becoming an expert in a wide range of 3D production specialties and Visual Effects (VFX).

In 2008, Nikki began teaching while still working in industry, instructing an advanced 3D lighting and texturing course at The Art Institute of Portland. That initial experience grew into a full-time academic career, including roles at the University of Oregon and the Oregon Reality Lab, where she served as Career Faculty and Oregon Reality Lab Manager. Across her teaching career, she has developed and delivered 50+ courses at institutions including The Art Institute of Portland, Washington State University, Portland State University, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Clackamas Community College, and the University of Oregon, in addition to her current work at the University of Canterbury. She has also contributed as a career advisor, academic department director, and coach for The Art Institute of Portland’s inaugural eSports team.

Nikki’s commitment to student growth is reflected in alumni outcomes, with former students working at studios and organizations such as Blizzard Entertainment, SuperGenius Studio, Sony Entertainment, Bungie, EA Games, 343 Industries, Liquid Development, Hinge Digital, LAIKA and more.

In 2016, she contributed to a grant team awarded the Microsoft Hololens Academic Research Grant in partnership with Clackamas Community College and Oregon Storyboard, supporting the development of augmented reality applications for trade-based education. The other recipients included Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, Virgina Tech, and UC Berkeley.

In advance of the 2022 World Athletics Championships at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, Nikki expanded her Introduction to Motion Graphics course into a studio-style production experience culminating in a 30‑second opening title sequence competition for global broadcast. Serving as instructor, executive producer, collaborator, and production artist, she helped structure the project to mirror professional practice while also building a backup option alongside students. One student’s sequence was selected for broadcast, while another earned a World Athletics internship the following summer, later receiving Capstone Project of the Year recognition for work developed across Nikki’s Motion Graphics and Immersive Media production courses.

In 2024, Nikki contributed rigged and animated assets for Otter Rock: Beneath the Surface, produced by a cross-disciplinary team of University of Oregon graduate and doctoral students through the Snap AR Scholars program (led by Danny Pimentel) in collaboration with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. In addition to her production contribution, she supported the team by training many of the production artists on the project, through her immersive media and 3D production courses. The project was nominated for the 2025 Auggie Awards in the Best Societal Impact category.

Nikki is a SIGGRAPH Pioneer member, a former board member of the Cascade SIGGRAPH chapter, a member and one of four founders of the Portland, Oregon chapter of Women in Animation, and a member of ASIFA. She is driven by a strong commitment to environmental conservation, animal rights, and social justice, and she actively seeks projects that combine storytelling craft with meaningful impact.

I am a senior lecturer and Associate Head of the School of Product Design, where I teach engineering design and analysis skills for Industrial Product Design students. I have a passion for teaching and am inspired by the creativity and flexibility of product design students. I am interested in the integration of engineering science, digital design, analysis, and manufacturing in the product design curriculum and considering how these techniques impact productivity and project outcomes.

My background is in engineering design and applied simulation methods, developed through my work as a mechanical design engineer and a PhD within the University of Sheffield's Centre for Sports Engineering Research. My doctoral work used simulation methods and physical testing to diagnose the causes of suspected non-accidental injury in children, providing a framework for the design and analysis focus that has underpinned my academic career. I have worked as an academic in the UK, in Australia, and now in New Zealand. Since early 2018 I have taught Product Design degree pathways, helping students to harness technical design, testing, and analysis practice through their design work.

My research interests include design and analysis of sports and rehabilitative equipment, safety, injury prevention, and sustainability, and the integration of digital design and analysis tools in the product design process. I am also interested in the use of materials, in particular engaging lower impact and waste materials within design. My teaching and service roles have driven an interest in pedagogical research, including the integration of engineering science in industrial product design, as well as the structuring and delivery of technical design programs.

My 2026 research sabbatical focusses around a goal-setting study into the sustainability of mountain biking as a destination activity. This year-long project engages MTB stakeholders from across the globe in pursuit of a research framework to support the design and implementation of successful trail experiences for years to come.

I am co-author, with Tom Allen, John Hart, and Stefan Schwanitz, of Introductory Sports Engineering and Technology (Routledge, 2026), a primer for undergraduate and master's students covering the core principles, case studies, and applied methods that underpin sports equipment design, performance analysis, and injury reduction.

My research, Transformational Computing, integrates cutting-edge technology and health, with a strong emphasis on creating impactful solutions to improve health outcomes. It spans diverse areas including neurorehabilitation, mental health, health-focused assistive technologies, and learning and training technology. My focus is on reshaping the design, development, and deployment of technology to enhance human health and functional capacity.

Neurorehabilitation:

Early contributions included pioneering the use of Extended Reality (XR) applications to support recovery for individuals with acquired brain injuries. This work continues to inform my development of innovative rehabilitation technologies for conditions such as stroke recovery and multiple sclerosis.

Mental Health:

I have developed augmented intelligence systems to support online community moderators and virtual AI companions designed to assist individuals navigating complex life circumstances. These initiatives reflect a commitment to leveraging technology to enhance mental well-being and resilience.

Health Training and Simulation:

My projects include creating immersive virtual environments for emergency responders and healthcare professionals, enhancing their preparedness and decision-making skills through validated simulation systems.

Food Psychology and Behaviour:

Recent collaborations have focused on understanding cravings and eating behaviours using immersive virtual reality, with applications in behavioural psychology, obesity prevention and smoking cessation.

Through these interdisciplinary endeavours, I aim to advance user-centred solutions that are both innovative and evidence-based, fostering collaboration between researchers, health professionals, technologists, educators, domain experts and end-users.

I am a senior lecturer and director of studies of Chemical Formulation Design major in the School of Product Design. I have a PhD in Chemistry (Biophysical Chemistry) from the University of Münster, Germany, with many years of experience working on interdisciplinary research projects. 

My ongoing projects are:

- Use of insects for biowaste valorisation
- Enzymes that produce biopolymers, their function and regulation.
- Bacterial communities involved in degradation of bioplastics
- Biocomposites and their perception
- Novel usage of 3D printing
- Sustainable product development

At the intersection of Human–Computer Interaction (HCI), Extended Reality (XR), and agentic AI, my research investigates how immersive technologies and intelligent agents can transform how people perceive, act, learn, and collaborate in the world. I focus on designing human-centred XR systems that mediate real–virtual interaction, support distributed collaboration, and augment human perception, cognition, and creativity through principled interaction design rather than automation alone.

Through QUADRIC (Qualia Design for Realities with Interaction and Collaboration), my research group develops XR and AI systems that are sensitive to context, culture, and lived experience, with particular attention to challenges relevant to Aotearoa New Zealand in areas such as wellbeing, sustainability, and future ways of working. We combine intuitive intelligent user interfaces (IUIs), embodied agents, and immersive environments to improve transparency, trust, and meaningful human–AI collaboration.

A central commitment of our work is the recognition of human qualia, the subjective, felt quality of experience that shapes how people understand and relate to technology. This perspective informs our research on UX, emotion, agency, ethics, and personalisation, ensuring that XR and AI systems are not only functional but also respectful of human values and cultural diversity.

Conceptually, much of my work is guided by the Self++ framework, which organises human–AI coupling across three layers of support: perceptual and skill augmentation, cognitive and decision support, and social and existential alignment. Within this framework, we explore how different forms of AI agency can complement human autonomy, competence, and relatedness while remaining transparent, adaptive, and negotiable.

Overall, my goal is to advance XR and agentic AI as technologies that expand human capability, strengthen collaboration, and align with the social and cultural values of Aotearoa, rather than replace or constrain them.

I design next generation tools for expert computing, focused on making complex systems tractable, explorable and explainable.

I collaborate widely across lots of different fields. My research applies frameworks from the study of design patterns, semiotics, language, logic, and graph computing to problems involving complex emergent systems, generative possibility spaces, and conflicting conceptual models and data sets. My work aims to influence and inspire new forms of storytelling based on digital screen convergence; novel approaches to AI, interaction design, and software architecture; and new ways of engaging with "wicked problems" that challenge science and society.

I am a creative and technical leader with more than 25 years experience working on websites, media campaigns, design frameworks, distributed systems, digital products, apps and games across many different industries at a variety of scales.

Through my teaching practice, project supervision, and engagement with local industries and communities, I play a leading role in guiding and supporting Aotearoa New Zealand's next generation of designers, game developers, and digital artists.

My research focuses on the application and evaluation of emerging technologies to enhance design practices and user experiences. I work with tools such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), exploring their potential to drive innovation and tackle complex challenges.

My work spans areas such as improving health and wellbeing through design solutions, advancing design creativity, and transforming education. I aim to integrate cutting-edge technologies with human-centred approaches to create impactful design outcomes.