Research Interests

In September 2023, I started my PhD studies devoted to the research topic called Enhancing the Reading Experience with Virtual Reality. This journey already began with my Master's thesis, in which I explored the current state of the art of reading fiction through virtual reality. I found out that this potential genre of reading has not been explored in depth yet, and decided to make it my main research focus. 

My intention is to find a balanced fusion of the traditional reading experience, digital narratives, and extended realities. I aim to identify, study and blend narrative aspects specific for reading and VR experiences, and demonstrate their combinations in various VR reading prototypes.

Upcoming Events

Publications

"Stories with Style: Narrative, Virtual, and Imaginary Spaces of Reading Fiction in Virtual Reality",
with Adam Štepánek, Daniel Echeverri, Danielle K. Langlois, Simone Kriglstein, in Proceedings of MUM '24 (2024). 

"Bookwander: From Printed Fiction to Virtual Reality—Four Design Approaches for Enhanced VR Reading Experiences",
with Daniel Echeverri, in Interactive Storytelling (2023). 

Awards

2023 Best Paper Award in the Student Paper category for the paper
"Bookwander: From Printed Fiction to Virtual Reality—Four Design Approaches for Enhanced VR Reading Experiences"
at the International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS)

2023 Dean's Award for an Outstanding Final Thesis for Master's thesis "Immersive Reading in VR"
at the Faculty of Informatics at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

2020 Dean's Award for an Outstanding Final Thesis for Bachelor's thesis "3D Printed Fabric"
at the Faculty of Informatics at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Special Mentions

2024 Special Mention in the #Students Demo Competition
at LAVAL VIRTUAL 2024

Nikola Kunzová | PhD Student, Visual Explorer & Digital Experimentalist
Feel free to contact me at nikkun (at) mail.muni.cz .