Mirjana Prpa

Dr. Mirjana Prpa is an Assistant Professor in the Computational Media and Arts (CMA) Thrust, Information Hub at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University (Canada). She previously served as an Assistant Teaching Professor at the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, and earned her Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University.

Her research is positioned at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Human–Computer Interaction (HCI), and Extended Reality (XR), with a strong emphasis on experiential, human-centered, and interdisciplinary approaches to technology design. She investigates how intelligent systems can be designed and evaluated to better support human experience, creativity, and collaboration, particularly in health, well-being, and education contexts.

Dr. Prpa’s work spans three primary directions: (1) designing and evaluating embodied, immersive and AI-driven systems for health, well-being, and education; (2) developing and applying methods for deepening the understanding of user experience, including micro-phenomenology, recognized with the ACM CHI 2020 Best Paper Award; and (3) exploring experiential augmentation of synthetic data as a means to enhance human–AI collaboration and interaction.

Her interdisciplinary research has received international recognition, including presentations at the Cultural Program of the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, the Leonardo Journal Future of Science, Art, and Technology Award in 2018, and the CHI 2020 Best Paper Award.

Research Areas:
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Human–Computer Interaction (HCI), Extended Reality (XR), Human–AI Collaboration, Experiential and Phenomenological Methods, Health and Well-being Technologies, Technology for Education, Art–Science–Technology Integration

Dr. Prpa is actively recruiting PhD and MPhil students interested in interdisciplinary and practice-informed research across these areas.

Email: mirjanaprpa@hkust-gz.edu.cn