Sylvia Xueni Pan

Professor Sylvia Xueni Pan is a leading researcher in Virtual Reality at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she holds the position of Professor of Virtual Reality in the Department of Computing. She co-leads the Goldsmiths Computing MA/MSc in Virtual and Augmented Reality and directs the SeeVR Lab. With nearly 20 years of experience in VR research, she has developed a unique interdisciplinary profile spanning both VR technology and social neuroscience. Previously, she worked as a research associate at University College London (UCL) in both the Computer Science Department (2009-2013) and the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (2013-2015), where she maintains an honorary research fellowship.

Professor Pan received her PhD in Virtual Reality from UCL in 2009, fully funded by EPSRC and the Rabin Ezra Scholarship, under the supervision of Professor Mel Slater. She earned an MSc in Vision, Imaging, and Virtual Environments (VIVE) from UCL in 2005, and completed her BEng in Computer Science at Beihang University in Beijing, China in 2004. She attended Beijing Jingshan School and Beijing No.4 High School before moving to London in 2004.

Professor Pan's research focuses on the intersection of Virtual Reality technology and social neuroscience, with particular emphasis on how immersive environments can be used to study and influence human behavior. Her work spans multiple application domains including cognitive neuroscience, social interaction studies, professional training, education, and psychotherapy. She has pioneered research in areas such as virtual character animation (particularly facial expressions and motion capture), photogrammetry-built virtual environments, and the application of VR for medical ethics training and mental health interventions. Her research on how people interact with virtual humans has been featured in prominent media outlets including BBC Horizon and New Scientist magazine.

Analysis of Professor Pan's recent publications reveals a consistent focus on applying VR to understand and improve human social interaction across diverse contexts. Her work demonstrates a strong interdisciplinary approach, bridging computer science, psychology, neuroscience, and clinical practice. Recent research has expanded into novel applications including music performance anxiety, schizophrenia stigma reduction, smoking cessation, climate change education, and multisensory experiences like bubble tea drinking. Her publications consistently explore how different aspects of VR design (avatar appearance, haptic feedback, environmental fidelity) influence user experience, behavior, and physiological responses.

Professor Pan has secured significant research funding from prestigious organizations including:

• Leverhulme Trust (for projects on moral judgment in VR and ethical challenges in professional practice)
• Wellcome Trust (in collaboration with HENCEL for VR ethics projects)
• European Research Council (ERC) for the INTERACT project studying subconscious copying in VR
• UCL Laws and UCL Computer Science (for collaborative projects)

As an educator, Professor Pan has developed and taught several influential courses at Goldsmiths including 3D Virtual Environments and Animation, Data Visualisation, Audio-Visual Computing, and Perception and Multimedia Computing. She has also created a highly successful Coursera VR Specialisation with over 100,000 registered learners internationally. Her supervision focuses on the application of Immersive Virtual Reality in cognitive neuroscience, social interaction, training, education, and psychotherapy.

Professor Pan leads the SeeVR Lab at Goldsmiths, which focuses on understanding how people see and interact in virtual environments. The lab brings together researchers from computer science, psychology, and neuroscience to develop and study novel VR applications. Current research directions include exploring multisensory VR experiences, developing VR for mental health interventions, and investigating how digital twins can enhance social interaction in location-based VR settings.