Ancret Szpak

Research Interests

Human Factors Sensory Processes, Perception and Performance Virtual and mixed reality Virtual Reality and Related Simulation

Mrs Ancret Szpak

Grant-Funded Researcher (B)

School of Psychology

College of Education, Behavioural and Social Science

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

I am a research fellow primarily based in the Behaviour-Brain-Body Research Centre and have ongoing research projects with the Cognitive Ageing and Impairment Neurosciences laboratory (CAIN) and the Sleep and Chronobiology laboratory (SCL).
I also have affiliations with the Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments (IVE) and the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning (C3L).
My research centres around the safe use of virtual reality (VR) technologies, the transferability of real-world skills from VR/AR training, and the use of sensors for monitoring psychophysiological changes.
I supervise Honours and PhD students.

Date Position Institution name
2023 - ongoing Research Fellow University of South Australia
2023 - ongoing Lecturer University of Adelaide

Date Institution name Country Title
2012 - 2016 Flinders University Australia PhD

Year Citation
2025 Zarei, T., Emery, M., Saredakis, D., Lee, G. A., Stubbs, B., Szpak, A., & Loetscher, T. (2025). 'Being there together for health': a systematic review on the feasibility, effectiveness and design considerations of immersive collaborative virtual environments in health applications. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2025(4269145), 1-24.
DOI
2024 Franze, A., Loetscher, T., Gallomarino, N. C., Szpak, A., Lee, G., & Michalski, S. C. (2024). Immersive virtual reality is more effective than non-immersive devices for developing real-world skills in people with intellectual disability.. J Intellect Disabil Res, 68(12), 1358-1373.
DOI Scopus9 WoS7 Europe PMC2
2023 Michalski, S. C., Gallomarino, N. C., Szpak, A., May, K. W., Lee, G., Ellison, C., & Loetscher, T. (2023). Improving real-world skills in people with intellectual disabilities: an immersive virtual reality intervention. Virtual Reality, 27(4), 3521-3532.
DOI Scopus21 WoS17 Europe PMC1
2022 Michalski, S. C., Szpak, A., Ellison, C., Cornish, R., & Loetscher, T. (2022). Using Virtual Reality to Improve Classroom Behavior in People With Down Syndrome: Within-Subjects Experimental Design. JMIR Serious Games, 10(2), e34373.
DOI Scopus11 WoS7 Europe PMC3
2021 Clark, R. A., Szpak, A., Michalski, S. C., & Loetscher, T. (2021). Rest intervals during virtual reality gaming augments standing postural sway disturbance. Sensors, 21(20), 6817.
DOI Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC1
2021 Michalski, S. C., Ellison, C., Szpak, A., & Loetscher, T. (2021). Vocational Training in Virtual Environments for People With Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(627301), 1-9.
DOI Scopus21 WoS20 Europe PMC6
2020 Szpak, A., Michalski, S. C., & Loetscher, T. (2020). Exergaming with Beat Saber: An Investigation of Virtual Reality Aftereffects. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(10), 1-14.
DOI Scopus77 WoS63 Europe PMC26
2020 Saredakis, D., Szpak, A., Birckhead, B., Keage, H. A. D., Rizzo, A., & Loetscher, T. (2020). Factors associated with virtual reality sickness in head-mounted displays: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 14(96), 96.
DOI Scopus532 WoS470 Europe PMC217
2020 Michalski, S., Ellison, C., Szpak, A., & Loetscher, T. (2020). Vocational Training in Virtual Environments for People With Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Systematic Review.
DOI
2020 Szpak, A., Michalski, S., & Loetscher, T. (2020). Exergaming With Beat Saber: An Investigation of Virtual Reality Aftereffects.
DOI
2019 Michalski, S. C., Szpak, A., Saredakis, D., Ross, T. J., Billinghurst, M., & Loetscher, T. (2019). Getting your game on: Using virtual reality to improve real table tennis skills. PLoS ONE, 14(9), 1-14.
DOI Scopus118 WoS87 Europe PMC31
2019 Szpak, A., Michalski, S. C., Saredakis, D., Chen, C. S., & Loetscher, T. (2019). Beyond Feeling Sick: The Visual and Cognitive Aftereffects of Virtual Reality. IEEE Access, 7, 130883-130892.
DOI Scopus84 WoS64
2019 Michalski, S. C., Szpak, A., & Loetscher, T. (2019). Using virtual environments to improve real-world motor skills in sports: a systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(SEP), 1-9.
DOI Scopus66 WoS62 Europe PMC30
2019 Szpak, A., Michalski, S. C., Saredakis, D., Chen, C., & Loetscher, T. (2019). Beyond feeling sick: the visual and cognitive aftereffects of virtual reality. IEEE Access, 7(8827502), 130883-130892.
DOI
2018 Saccone, E. J., Szpak, A., Churches, O., & Nicholls, M. E. R. (2018). Close interpersonal proximity modulates visuomotor processing of object affordances in shared, social space. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 80(1), 54-68.
DOI Scopus12 WoS12 Europe PMC9
2016 Szpak, A., Thomas, N. A., & Nicholls, M. E. R. (2016). Hemispheric asymmetries in perceived depth revealed through a radial line bisection task. Experimental Brain Research, 234(3), 807-813.
DOI Scopus8 WoS7 Europe PMC6
2016 Szpak, A., Nicholls, M. E. R., Thomas, N. A., Laham, S. M., & Loetscher, T. (2016). “No man is an island”: Effects of interpersonal proximity on spatial attention. Cognitive Neuroscience, 7(1-4), 45-54.
DOI Scopus9 WoS8 Europe PMC9
2015 Szpak, A., Loetscher, T., Churches, O., Thomas, N., Spence, C., & Nicholls, M. (2015). Keeping your distance: attentional withdrawal in individuals who show physiological signs of social discomfort. Neuropsychologia, 70, 462-467.
DOI Scopus23 WoS22 Europe PMC16
2015 Szpak, A., Loetscher, T., Bastian, J., Thomas, N., & Nicholls, M. (2015). Visual assymetries for relative depth judgements in a three-dimensional space. Brain and Cognition, 99, 128-134.
DOI Scopus7 WoS6 Europe PMC3

Year Citation
2022 Szpak, A., Richards, A., Michalski, S. C., & Loetscher, T. (2022). Getting the Most out of Virtual Reality: Evaluating Short Breaks to Reduce Cybersickness and Cognitive Aftereffects. In Proceedings - 2022 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops, VRW 2022 (pp. 533-537). US: IEEE.
DOI Scopus7 WoS4
2021 Ellison, C., Michalski, S., Loechester, T., & Szpak, A. (2021). Innovative vocational training using virtual reality for individuals with intellectual disability. In JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES Vol. 34 (pp. 1211). WILEY.
2021 Ellison, C., Faulkner, P., & Szpak, A. (2021). Building capacity to participate in bike riding using virtual reality. In JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES Vol. 34 (pp. 1302). WILEY.
2021 Michalski, S., Ellison, C., Loechester, T., & Szpak, A. (2021). Engaging people with Down syndrome in a virtual drawing task: An experimental study. In JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES Vol. 34 (pp. 1354). WILEY.

Year Citation
2015 Szpak, A., Loetscher, T., Churches, O., Thomas, N. A., & Nicholls, M. E. R. (2015). Too close for comfort: The effect of interpersonal proximity on spatial attention. Poster session presented at the meeting of COGNITIVE PROCESSING. Rome, ITALY: SPRINGER HEIDELBERG.

Year Citation
2019 Michalski, S. C., Szpak, A., Saredakis, D., Ross, T., Billinghurst, M., & Loetscher, T. (2019). Getting Your Game On: Using Virtual Reality to Improve Real Table Tennis Skills.
DOI
2019 Saredakis, D., Szpak, A., Birckhead, B., Keage, H. A. D., Rizzo, A., & Loetscher, T. (2019). Factors associated with virtual reality sickness in head-mounted displays: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
DOI

  • Improving telemedicine delivery for people with chronic lower-extremity ulceration using augmented reality, Cwth Dept of Health Aged Care, 15/09/2021 - 30/06/2023

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Principal Supervisor Using Virtual Reality to induce positive affect and explore the impact on wellbeing and anhedonia. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Elliot Howard
2025 Principal Supervisor Using Virtual Reality to induce positive affect and explore the impact on wellbeing and anhedonia. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Elliot Howard
2024 Co-Supervisor The effectiveness of virtual reality on cognitive load and schema acquisition of STEM students Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Jaclyn Crystal Steffan
2024 Co-Supervisor The effectiveness of virtual reality on cognitive load and schema acquisition of STEM students Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Jackie Steffan
2023 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Tohid Zarei
2022 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Connor McCabe

Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
2025 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Fear in Focus: How Virtual Reality Shapes Attentional Responses to Threat The University of Adelaide - Honours Full Time Georgina De Battista
2025 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Investigating the Impact of Breathing Techniques on Cognitive Performance Following Physical and Cognitive Exertion in Virtual Reality The University of Adelaide - Honours Full Time Brooke Petrinjak
2024 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Testing the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Feedback-Based Training for Forklift Operation Safety Skills Among Young People University of Adelaide - Honours Part Time Emma O'Brien
2022 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Towards a digital mental health peer support program for autistic young adults: Participatory design of an immersive virtual reality experience University of South Australia - Doctorate Full Time Tohid Zarei
2022 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Virtual Reality sensory rooms: Creating a portable person-centred intervention for people with autism spectrum disorder University of South Australia - Doctorate Full Time Connor McCabe
2020 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Demand effects in assessing virtual reality sickness University of South Australia - Honours Full Time Madison Bellchambers
2019 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Training life skills in people who have intellectual disabilities using virtual reality University of South Australia - Doctorate Full Time Stefan Michalski
2019 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Differing Levels of Immersion on Relaxation in Virtual Reality University of South Australia - Honours Full Time Sabrina Chou
2019 - 2019 Co-Supervisor When Virtual Reality Becomes Reality: Pushing Presence to the Limit University of South Australia - Honours Full Time Gavin Bell
2019 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Evaluating whether short breaks can reduce VR sickness University of South Australia - Honours Full Time Adan Richards
2018 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Learning Sports Skills in Virtual Reality University of South Australia - Honours Full Time Stefan Michalski

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