Aleksandra Zheleva
Junior researcher at the research group for Media, Innovation and Contemporary Technologies, Department of Communication Sciences, Ghent University.
User experience
Augmented reality
Virtual reality
Acceptance of innovative technologies
Aleksandra is an FWO PhD fellow. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from the University of Malta and a Research Master's Degree in Behavioral Science from Radboud University. Her research focuses on enhancing the quality of user experience (QoE) in immersive technologies. Specifically, Aleksandra has been working on developing a unifying Quality of Experience model and creating a methodological framework to assess it effectively. Over the past two years, her research has delved into the social dynamics and identity-building processes within social virtual realities like VRChat, exploring how users navigate and adapt to emerging social norms and how these virtual environments shape interpersonal interactions and community formation. Additionally, Aleksandra has contributed to developing an extended reality (XR) platform, "ExperienceTwin," which captures and evaluates human behaviour during XR-based training, assessments, and user testing.