Dr Huiwen Zhao
- 01202 965101
- hzhao at bournemouth dot ac dot uk
- http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5430-0258
- Senior Lecturer in Games Design
- Poole House P250, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
Biography
Dr Huiwen Zhao is a Senior Lecturer in Games Design at the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA), Bournemouth University. She has a multidisciplinary background spanning games design, interactive storytelling, user experience and creative technology. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Peer Review College, an external examiner in higher education, and an Ambassador for Women in Games. She serves as a reviewer for the Entertainment Computing journal, Computer-Aided Design and Applications, and the International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS). She also has experience in doctoral and postgraduate supervision and examination.
Her teaching and research interests centre on player experience, interactive narrative, user-centred game design and emerging technologies in games and creative media. Her work has explored areas including affective and interactive storytelling, user experience, 3D customisation and, more recently, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) within interactive and educational experiences... She was an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow and has led and collaborated on a range of externally and internally funded research projects in these areas.
Her current research is particularly focused on understanding player experience in game design and exploring how AI and emerging technologies can support new forms of game design and creative practice.
moreExpertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person's work contributes towards the following SDGs:
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
"Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation"
Journal Articles
- Xu, J., Tang, Z., Zhao, H., Zhang, J., 2020. Hand gesture-based virtual reality training simulator for collaboration rescue of a railway accident. Interacting with Computers, 31 (6), 577-588.
- Zhao, H., McLoughlin, L., Adzhiev, V., Pasko, A., 2019. "Why do we not buy mass customised products?" - An investigation of consumer purchase intention of mass customised products. International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 10 (2), 181-190.
- Zhao, H., McLoughlin, L., Adzhiev, V., Pasko, A., 2019. 3D mass customization toolkits design, Part I: Survey and an evaluation model. Computer Aided Design and Applications, 16 (2), 204-222.
- Zhao, H., McLoughlin, L., Adzhiev, V., Pasko, A., 2019. 3D mass customization toolkits design, Part II: Heuristic evaluation of online toolkits. Computer Aided Design and Applications, 16 (2), 223-242.
- Zhao, H., Zhang, J.J., McDougall, S., 2011. Emotion-driven interactive digital storytelling. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, 6972 LNCS, 22-27.
Books
- Zhao, H., Zhang, J.J., 2012. Web User Experience and Interaction Design. Higher Education Press.
Conferences
- Liu, D., Zhao, H., Tang, W., Yang, W., 2025. AIKII: An AI-Enhanced Knowledge Interactive Interface for Knowledge Representation in Educational Games. Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds, 36 (3).
- Zhao, H., 2022. Engaging Females with a Model for Affective Storytelling. Proceedings 2022 IEEE International Conference on E Business Engineering Icebe 2022, 19-23.
- Kitromili, S., Hargood, C., Millard, D., Zhao, H., Pope, J., 2022. Locative Authoring: Evaluating the StoryPlaces Authoring Tool. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, 13762 LNCS, 483-498.
- Zhao, H., Kelly, A., Hulusic, V., Charles, F., 2021. The application of virtual reality in student recruitment. Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology VRST.
- Zhao, H., McLoughlin, L., Adzhiev, V., Pasko, A., 2018. "Why do we buy mass customised products?"-consumer's perspective of success factors for online mass customisation. In: 8th International Conference on Mass Customization and Personalization – Community of Europe (MCP - CE 2018) 19/09/2018 Novi Sad, Serbia.
- Zhao, H., McLoughlin, L., Adzhiev, V., Pasko, A., 2018. An Evaluation Model for Web-based 3D Mass Customization Toolkit Design. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, 113, 375-390.
- Zhao, H., 2013. Emotion in Interactive Storytelling. In: the 8th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games 14/05/2013 Crete, Grace.
- You, L.H., Zhao, H.W., Chaudhry, E., You, X.Y., Zhang, J.J., 2009. Surface modeling with boundary constraints and partial differential equations. Proceedings 2009 11th IEEE International Conference on Computer Aided Design and Computer Graphics CAD Graphics 2009, 306-311.
Others
Grants
- Player Agency in Visual Novels (Bournemouth University, 01 Jan 2026). Awarded
- The Application of VR in Student Recruitment (Bournemouth University, 01 Jan 2021). Completed
- Consumer Experience Design Model for Mass Customisation (EU Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships, 21 Sep 2015). Completed
- Visual-Audial Research on Narrative under circumstance of media convergence (National Social Science Foundation, P.R.China, 02 Jun 2014). Completed
- Translation of the book Digital Storytelling: A creator's guide to interactive entertainment (Ministry of Education of the P.R.China and Ministry of Culture of the P.R.China, 03 Mar 2014). Completed
- Interactive Storytelling in the New Media Era (Communication University of China, 01 Apr 2013). Completed
- User Experience and Interaction Design Research (Ministry of Education of the P.R. China and Ministry of Culture of the P.R.China, 01 Sep 2010). Completed
- Making Interactive Video Using Existing Materials (The Centre for Excellence in Media Practice, Bournemouth University, 01 Jun 2010). Completed
- Emotion-driven Interactive Storytelling (China Scholarship Council, 20 Oct 2008). Completed
External Responsibilities
- Nottingham Trent University, External Examiner for BA (Hons) Games and FdA Game
Journal Reviewing/Refereeing
- Entertainment Computing, 01 Sep 2020
- Computer-Aided Design and Applications, 01 Sep 2020
- Proceedings of International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, 01 Sep 2020
Qualifications
- PhD in Emotion-driven Interactive Storytelling (China Scholarship Council, 2012)
Memberships
- Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Peer Review College, Member,
- Higher Education Academy (HEA), Senior Fellow,
Networks
- Individual ambassador for Women in Games