Saliha Akbas, Ph.D.
HCI Researcher | XR & Embodied Interaction
I study how virtual bodies shape the ways people sense, learn, and connect — across movement practice, immersive spaces, and embodied AI.
I am drawn to the creative possibilities that emerge when the body is reimagined through technology.
Research Themes
Across these themes, I ask how the body—virtual, physical, or embodied by intelligent agents—becomes a site for learning, expression, and meaning-making in immersive environments.
Virtual Embodiment
Exploring the virtual body as a reflective medium—an active encounter that can open new ways of understanding ourselves and relating to others.
Movement Practice
Working with dancers, athletes, and other movement practitioners to understand movement as both a design material and a form of embodied knowledge—one that immersive technologies can reflect, extend, and transform.
Embodied AI
Exploring how embodied conversational agents shape interaction in immersive environments, and examining their roles in social experiments, simulations, and creative practice.
Featured Research
MoveCraft
Practitioner-informed design space for reflective embodiment through avatar abstraction.
Psychosis
Co-designing immersive experiences for reflection on lived experiences of psychosis.
Cosmoception
Exploring virtual embodiment through remote dance collaboration and creative practice.
Migration Experiences
Exploring social interaction in civic settings through VR and an embodied LLM interview agent.
Wound Care XR
Exploring embodied AI coaching for situated learning in immersive clinical simulation.
Selected Publications
Movement Qualities of the Augmented Body in XR: Insights from Dance Practitioners
Saliha Akbas, Kemal Kuscu, Terry Eskenazi, Asim Evren Yantac
AHs ’26: Proceedings of the Augmented Humans International Conference 2026
Reflective Embodiment through Avatar Abstraction: Insights from Movement Practitioners
Saliha Akbas, Kemal Kuscu, Terry Eskenazi, Asim Evren Yantac
MOCO ’26: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Movement and Computing
Virtual Dance Mirror: A Functional Approach to Avatar Representation through Movement in Immersive VR
Saliha Akbas, Asim Evren Yantac, Terry Eskenazi, Kemal Kuscu, Sinem Semsioglu, Onur Topal Sumer, Asli Ozturk
MOCO ’22: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Movement and Computing
Qualitative Dimensions of Technology-Mediated Reflective Learning: The Case of VR Experience of Psychosis
Saliha Akbas, Kemal Kuscu, Asim Evren Yantac, Gizem Erdem, Sinem Semsioglu, Onur Gurkan, Asli Günay, Ali Vatansever, Terry Eskenazi
VRST ’21: Proceedings of the 27th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology