People

Mgr. Jiří Chmelík, Ph.D. is an Assistant professor at Masaryk University. His research focuses on the “technology end” of HCI – how we can use AR, VR or 3D print technologies in research and education. Previous and current projects include “AR glasses for pilots of ultralight aircraft” or “Collaborative VR platform for education”. At FI MUNI, he teaches courses mainly on game development, computer graphics and HCI.

Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Simone Kriglstein is Associate Professor at the Masaryk University and Senior Scientist at Austrian Institute of Technology. She specializes in designing and evaluating user interfaces and interaction methods in different fields, including games. Her work has been published in international conference proceedings such as the Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems and journals like Computer & Graphics and Computers in Human Behavior. Simone has received or has been nominated for several awards for her work on games.

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RNDr. Vít Rusňák, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at Masaryk University. His research interests include the user-centered design of interactive visualizations, visual analysis, and collaborative user interfaces. In the past, he also did the research in the interaction with large high-resolution displays and computer-supported collaborative work. His teaching activities include several HCI, gamedev and visualization courses.

RNDr. Vojtěch Brůža is a Ph.D. student and focuses his research on designing and creating applications for education in collaborative virtual reality. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Bioinformatics, he started to dive into computer graphics, visualizations and VR. He then received his master’s degree in Applied Informatics from the Masaryk University. Since 2019 he studies a Ph.D. here at FI MUNI. Apart from his doctorate, he is also a keen musician, loves to dance and do sports. He also enjoys creative activities such as generative design and music composition. Lately, he has been also into indie game development and finding ways how to use computer games for education and collaboration.

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Since 2019, Florian Gnadlinger, M.Sc. has been working as a research fellow within the Creative Media – R&D research group at the Research Centre for Culture and Computer Science (FKI) at the University of Applied Sciences Berlin. Aside from this position, he is part of the Human-Computer Interaction laboratory (HCILab) at the Masaryk University in his role as a Ph.D. student since 2022. In those roles, Florian focuses on the ideation and development of AI supported learning environments and game-based learning applications. From 2011 to 2018, he has been working as game development lead for commercial companies in the area of educational and serious games in Vienna, Austria. Next to his occupational and academic career, Florian taught, in the area of game development at different educational institutes in Austria and Germany.

Mgr. Magdaléna Kejstová, is a PhD student at Masaryk University since 2022. She focuses on visualizations and studies possibilities in increasing learning of visualization literacy using computer games. Before the PhD study, she studied Visual Informatics at the Faculty of Informatics and worked as a user experience designer and front-end developer.

Danielle Langlois, MA, is a Ph.D. student at Masaryk University’s Human-Computer Interaction laboratory (HCILab). She studies Esports training procedures. She moved to Czechia from the U.S.A. in 2022. Prior to the move, she taught university level psychology and worked on HCI research at various American institutions.

Mgr. Tomáš Pagáč, is a Ph.D. student at Masaryk University since 2022. Previously he studied Visual Informatics at the Faculty of Informatics. His research focus is on gaming communities and esports; improving the experience of watching streams and tournaments, and involving the audience in gaming events.

Mgr. Vinaya Tawde is a part of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCILab) at Masaryk University in her role as a PhD student. Before the PhD study, Vinaya worked as a user experience designer and researcher in India and New Zealand to support teenagers with their physical and mental health through technology. Her research interests include user-centred design in game-play, user behaviour analysis, and using design thinking to create user interface design patterns in the context of mental health. At Masaryk University, Vinaya focuses her research on designing applications for mental health in collaborative augmented reality.
Besides research, she also enjoys playing music and going for hikes. Her website: https://www.vinayatawde.com/ 

Mgr. Bc. Nicol Dostálová is a Ph.D. student at Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts at the Department of Educational Sciences. Previously, she studied Optics and optometry also at Masaryk University. Her research is focused on reading and dyslexia research using eye-tracking technology.