PhD Candidate at UCL

I’m a human-computer interaction researcher studying interpersonal and human-AI collaboration in mixed reality. Through the design of novel interactive systems and evaluation of their use in context, I investigate how spatial environments can be computationally parsed, represented, and transformed to support new forms of situated action and shared understanding. My PhD research in the VECG Group at University College London examines asymmetric collaboration in mixed reality, analyzing how spatial configurations and context shape interaction when collaborators have differing roles, capabilities, or interfaces. By combining methods and concepts from human-computer interaction, generative AI, computer vision, and computer-supported cooperative work, my work connects sensing and inference with interaction design and evaluation.

I hold a BSc and MSc in Computer Science and have completed research internships at Google (BIRD Lab), Niantic Labs, Microsoft Research (EPIC Group), and TNO Research (Intelligent Imaging), and worked as a data scientist at IBM before starting my PhD.

Education
Jul. 2021 — Dec. 2025London, UK

Ph.D. Computer ScienceUniversity College London

Research group: Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics (VECG). Topic: “Constructing Shared Space: Designing for Asymmetry in Collaborative Mixed Reality”. Supervisors: Prof. Anthony Steed (primary) and Prof. Simon Julier (secondary).
Feb. 2018 — Oct. 2020Delft, Netherlands

M.Sc. Computer ScienceDelft University of Technology

Track: Data Science & Technology; Thesis: “Generative RGB-D Face Completion for Head-Mounted Display Removal”; Supervisors: Prof. Pablo Cesar (TU Delft, CWI) and Dr. Frank ter Haar (TNO).
Sept. 2013 — Feb. 2018Leiden, Netherlands

B.Sc. Computer ScienceLeiden University

Thesis: “A Comparative Performance Analysis of Feature Description Algorithms”. Supervisor: Prof. Michael Lew.
Work Experience
May. 2025 — Sept. 2025Mountain View, CA, USA

Research / Software Engineering InternGoogle

  • Continued my research projects at the BIRD Lab while collaborating with researchers and engineers across the Google XR organization.
  • Led the research and writing of a first-author paper (in preparation) introducing a novel system driven by 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS). Additionally, served as a core contributor to three other publications including Sensible Agent (ACM UIST ‘25) and XR Blocks.
Dec. 2024 — May. 2025Seattle, WA, USA

Student ResearcherGoogle

Oct. 2023 — Jun. 2024London, UK

Research InternNiantic Labs

  • Conducted research on the future of location-based AR authoring under the mentorship of Jessica van Brummelen and Gabriel Brostow as a part-time internship during my Ph.D. studies.
  • Authored a first-author paper on CoCreatAR at ACM CHI ‘25, which received a Best Paper Honorable Mention award and had a related non-provisional patent application filed. I presented a follow-up work titled AdjustAR as a poster at ACM UIST ‘25.
May 2023 — Sept. 2023Redmond, WA, USA

Research InternMicrosoft Research

Oct. 2020 — Jul. 2021Amsterdam, Netherlands

Data ScientistIBM

  • Built and deployed custom ML models to solve client-specific problems and improve enterprise processes.
  • Presented insights to technical and non-technical stakeholders to support strategic decisions.
Feb. 2020 — Oct. 2020Amsterdam, Netherlands

Cloud Solution Architect Intern (Data & AI)Microsoft

  • Developed data models and analytics solutions for global clients and internal teams.
  • Designed a proof-of-concept system using a data-driven approach to improve data center construction management.
Jul. 2019 — Aug. 2020The Hague, Netherlands

Research InternNetherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO Research)

  • Conducted research towards a novel approach to head-mounted display (HMD) removal within RGB-D images at the Intelligent Imaging group under the mentorship of Frank ter Haar.
  • Designed and evaluated a generative adversarial network (GAN) for the joint inpainting of RGB-D images. Described the results in my MSc thesis as well as a paper at the VHCIE workshop at IEEE VR 2021.
Publications
Conference & Journal Papers
Aug. 2025 ACM UIST 2025

Sensible Agent: A Framework for Unobtrusive Interaction with Proactive AR Agents

Geonsun Lee, Min Xia, Nels Numan, Xun Qian, David Li, Yanhe Chen, Achin Kulshrestha, Ishan Chatterjee, Yinda Zhang, Dinesh Manocha, David Kim, Ruofei Du
Sep. 2025 arXiv 2025

XR Blocks: Accelerating Human-Centered AI + XR Innovation

David Li*, Nels Numan†, Xun Qian†, Yanhe Chen†, Zhongyi Zhou†, Evgenii Alekseev, Geonsun Lee, Alex Cooper, Min Xia, Scott Chung, Jeremy Nelson, Xiuxiu Yuan, Jolica Dias, Tim Bettridge, Benjamin Hersh, Michelle Huynh, Konrad Piascik, Ricardo Cabello, David Kim, Ruofei Du*
Aug. 2024 ACM CHI 2025

CoCreatAR: Enhancing Authoring of Outdoor Augmented Reality Experiences Through Asymmetric Collaboration

Nels Numan, Gabriel Brostow, Suhyun Park, Simon Julier, Anthony Steed, Jessica Van Brummelen
  • ★ Best Paper Honorable Mention (top 5% of submissions)
  • Patent Pending
Aug. 2024 ACM UIST 2024

SpaceBlender: Creating Context-Rich Collaborative Spaces Through Generative 3D Scene Blending

Nels Numan*, Shwetha Rajaram*, Balasaravanan Thoravi Kumaravel, Nicolai Marquardt, Andrew D. Wilson
  • Patent Pending
Aug. 2024 ACM UIST 2024

BlendScape: Enabling End-User Customization of Video-Conferencing Environments Through Generative AI

Shwetha Rajaram*, Nels Numan*, Balasaravanan Thoravi Kumaravel, Nicolai Marquardt, Andrew D. Wilson
Mar. 2024 IEEE VR 2024
Oct. 2023 ACM Web3D 2023

Extending the Open-Source Social Virtual Reality Ecosystem to the Browser in Ubiq

Sebastian Friston, Ben Congdon, Nels Numan, Klara Brandstätter, Lisa Izzouzi, Felix Thiel, Jingyi Zhang, Daniele Giunchi, David Swapp, Anthony Steed
Mar. 2023 Frontiers in VR

Immersive Competence and Immersive Literacy: Exploring How Users Learn about Immersive Experiences

Anthony Steed, Lisa Izzouzi, Daniel Archer, Nels Numan, Kalila Shapiro, David Swapp, Dinah Lammiman, Rob Lindeman
Oct. 2022 ACM VRST 2022
Aug. 2022 Frontiers in VR

Ubiq-Exp: a Toolkit to Build and Run Remote and Distributed Mixed Reality Experiments

Anthony Steed, Lisa Izzouzi, Klara Brandstätter, Sebastian Friston, Benjamin J. Congdon, Otto Olkkonen, Daniele Giunchi, Nels Numan, David Swapp
Posters & Workshop Papers
Aug. 2025 ACM UIST 2025

AdjustAR: AI-Driven In-Situ Adjustment of Site-Specific Augmented Reality Content

Nels Numan, Jessica Van Brummelen, Ziwen Lu, Anthony Steed
Mar. 2024 IEEE VR 2024 (VRW)
Mar. 2024 IEEE VR 2024 (Poster)

AIsop: Exploring Immersive VR Storytelling Leveraging Generative AI

Elia Gatti, Daniele Giunchi, Nels Numan, Anthony Steed
Mar. 2023 IEEE VR 2023 (OAT)

Ubiq-Genie: Leveraging External Frameworks for Enhanced Social VR Experiences

Nels Numan, Daniele Giunchi, Benjamin Congdon, Anthony Steed
Mar. 2023 IEEE VR 2023 (ReDigiTS)

Towards Outdoor Collaborative Mixed Reality: Lessons Learnt from a Prototype System

Nels Numan, Ziwen Lu, Benjamin Congdon, Daniele Giunchi, Alexandros Rotsidis, Andreas Lernis, Kyriakos Larmos, Tereza Kourra, Panayiotis Charalambous, Yiorgos Chrysanthou, Simon Julier, Anthony Steed
Mar. 2021 IEEE VR 2021 (VHCIE)
Mar. 2019 IEEE VR 2019 (SHS)

Star Tag: a Superhuman Sport to Promote Physical Activity

Nels Numan, Ayla Kolster, Niels Hoogerwerf, Bernd Kreynen, Jeanique Romeijnders, Tomas Heinsohn Huala, Nestor Z. Salamon, J. Timothy Balint, Stephan Lukosch, Rafael Bidarra
Service & Teaching
Reviewer
  • ★ Special Recognition for Outstanding Review (2025)
  • ★ Special Recognition for Outstanding Review (2026)
  • 2× ★ Special Recognition for Outstanding Review (2025)
  • ★ Special Recognition for Outstanding Review (2024)
2025—2026

Web Co-Chair

2021—2024

Postgraduate Teaching AssistantUniversity College London

  • Virtual Environments (COMP0113) with Prof. Anthony Steed
  • Systems Engineering (COMP0016) with Prof. Dean Mohamedally
2022—2025

Mentor

Grants & Awards
Apr. 2025

Best Paper Honorable Mention at ACM CHI '25

CoCreatAR: Enhancing Authoring of Outdoor Augmented Reality Experiences Through Asymmetric Collaboration
Jan. 2025

Departmental Travel Grant

UCL Computer Science
Oct. 2024

Best Paper Honorable Mention at ACM UIST '24

BlendScape: Enabling End-User Customization of Video-Conferencing Environments Through Generative AI
Oct. 2024

Departmental Travel Grant

UCL Computer Science
Jul. 2021 — Jul. 2024

Ph.D. Studentship

European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (Project RISE), grant no. 739578.
Oct. 2023

Honorable Mention for Best Design Award at ISMAR 2023 Student Competition

Reviving the Euston Arch: A Mixed Reality Approach to Cultural Heritage Tours
Jun. 2022

UCL Nominee for Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship

Mar. 2019

Conference Travel Grant

Delft Sports Engineering Institute
Skills
Programming Languages and Frameworks
  • Python
  • C++
  • C#
  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • Node.js
  • TypeScript
  • PHP
  • R
  • SQL
  • TensorFlow
  • PyTorch
  • MRTK
  • Niantic ARDK
Software and Services
  • Unity
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe InDesign
  • TouchDesigner
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • GCP
Current Work Eligibility
  • European Union
  • United Kingdom (part-time)
  • United States