معرفی
Eugene Kukshinov is a postdoctoral researcher at the HCI Games Group within the Games Institute at the University of Waterloo (Canada), supported by the Lupina Foundation fellowship. He holds a PhD in Media and Communication from Temple University (2021), an MA in Political Science/Integrated Communications from the National Research University Higher School of Economics (2011), and a BA in Political Science from State University Higher School of Economics (2009).
His research focuses on media psychology, human-computer interaction (HCI/UX), virtual reality (VR), social VR, immersive storytelling, and critical theory. Key areas include presence and immersion in digital environments, the social dynamics of virtual spaces, and the ethical implications of immersive technologies.
Dr. Kukshinov has authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications, including award-winning work on collective embodiment in social VR and the methodological challenges in presence studies. His work has been recognized with the IEEE VR 2025 Best Paper Award and the European Commission’s Seal of Excellence for his Horizon Europe MSCA proposal.
He actively contributes to academic discourse through conferences, workshops, and peer-review activities for journals like Virtual Reality and conferences such as ACM CHI and ICA. His teaching experience includes leading workshops on VR research at Temple University and mentoring PhD candidates in dissertation research.
Current projects explore character-avatar relationships, the effects of VR transitions on presence, and mitigating toxic behavior in video games. He also investigates miscommunication in social VR and breaks-in-presence phenomena.
