Special Teaching Staff

Qualifications

PhD in Computing (University of Central Lancashire Cyprus, 2021-2025)

BSc (Hons) Computing (University of Central Lancashire Cyprus, 2021)

Specialization

Games Development, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Immersive Learning, Virtual Reality (VR), Agent Technologies and Pedagogical Agents

Employment Track

• Special Teaching Staff, UCLan Cyprus (2025 – present)
• Research Associate, UCLan Cyprus (2021-2025)
• Student Researcher Intern, INSPIRE Lab (2021)

Memberships (Academic/Professional)

• Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE)

Research Interests

Engaging in multidisciplinary research, specializing in the mixture of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligent Agents, Pedagogical Agents and Intelligent Tutoring Systems with Immersive Technologies such as Virtual Reality to support learning.

Research interests include Virtual Reality, Immersive Learning Technologies, Serious games, Artificial Intelligence and its application in education, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Virtual Worlds and Virtual Learning Environments.

Roles and Responsibilities (including past roles and responsibilities)

• Teaching, Lab Instruction and Course Leadership:
  • Game Concepts (2021-2025) – Lab Instructor
  • Artificial Intelligence (2022-2023) – Lab Instructor
  • Algorithms and Data Structures (2023-2025) – Lab Instructor
  • Double Project (2022-2025) – BSc final year (thesis) Project Supervisor

Selective Publications 

• Posters:
  • Hadjiliasi A., Nisiotis L., and Polycarpou I. (2022) – Utilising Pedagogical Agents and Virtual Reality as a unified technology to support immersive learning [Poster] at the 2nd IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Reality (ICIR 2022) conference.
  • Hadjiliasi A., Nisiotis L., and Polycarpou I. (2022) – Utilising Pedagogical Agents and Virtual Reality as a unified technology to support immersive learning [Poster] at the 9th ACM Celebration of Women in Computing: womENcourage 2022 celebration.
• Conference Papers:
  • Hadjiliasi A., Nisiotis L. and Polycarpou I. (2024) A Comparative Assessment of Technology Acceptance and Learning Outcomes in Computer-based versus VR-based Pedagogical Agents. 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct), Bellevue, WA, USA, 2024, pp. 513-516, doi: 10.1109/ISMAR-Adjunct64951.2024.00148.
  • Nisiotis, L. and Hadjiliasi, A., 2023. Work-in-progress—assessing the feasibility of playtesting video games using immersive technologies as a learning method. Immersive Learning Research-Academic, pp.24-28.
• Book Chapters:
  • Nisiotis L., Hadjiliasi A., Alexandrou F. and Alboul L. (2023) Inrerwoven Spaces with XR, AI and Robots: Merging Realities in Space and Time. In: Museums and Technologies of Presence. Routledge. ISBN 9781003334316

 Scholarships/Awards

• Scholarships:
  • 2017-2021: UCLan Cyprus 50% Scholarship for 4 years towards a BSc (Hons) Computing
  • 2021-2024: UCLan 100% Scholarship for 3 years towards a PhD in Computing
• Awards:

• 2022 – Coached the Winning UCLan Cyprus team of the Pancyprian Game Development Challenge competition
• 2021 – Dean List Award – for graduating with first class honors
• 2021- 2nd place award – IEEE ACIR/ICIR competition – for the development of an intelligent VR museum to support cultural heritage and enhance user experience

Other Scholarly and Outreach Activities

• Studio Manager, Rays and Vectors – UCLan Cyprus (2021-Present)
• Mentor and Judge, Logipegnion Game Development Competition (2021-22)
• Conference and Events Volunteer:
  • IEEE Future Tech Forum Roundtable – User Adoption of the Metaverse (2023)
  • 9^th ACM womENcourage celebration (2022)
  • 2^nd IEEE ICIR Conference (2022)
• Conference Paper Peer Reviewer:
  • IEEE International Symposium of Emerging Metaverse 2024 (ISEMV2024)