Ancret Szpak

Research Interests

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

Dr Ancret Szpak

Lecturer

School of Psychology

College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences

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

I am a part-time Lecturer and Researcher in the School of Psychology at Adelaide University. I am currently teaching courses in the Online Graduate Diploma in Psychology (Advanced). My research focuses on the practical applications of using virtual reality and other wearable technologies to improve performance and well-being. I also research virtual reality side-effects and mitigation strategies.

My research focuses on leveraging virtual and augmented reality to develop and enhance real-world skills, particularly in healthcare, sports training, and cognitive performance. I specialise in the integration of immersive technologies to improve training, assessment, and well-being.

Research Themes:

  • Enhancing collaborative telehealth consultations with Augmented Reality.
  • Developing Virtual Reality training and assessment tools for remote community healthcare.
  • Integrating Extended Reality and wearable sensors to support health and well-being.
  • Examining skill transfer from Virtual Reality to real-world applications.
  • Investigating the aftereffects of Virtual Reality on vision, cognition, balance, and well-being.
  • Identifying factors that influence and mitigate cybersickness.

Date Position Institution name
2023 - ongoing Research Fellow Adelaide University
2023 - ongoing Lecturer Adelaide University
2018 - 2023 Research Associate University of South Australia
2016 - 2018 Research Fellow Flinders University

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 Scopus1 WoS1
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 Scopus15 WoS12 Europe PMC3
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 Scopus30 WoS23 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 Scopus14 WoS9 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 Scopus7 WoS5 Europe PMC1
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 Scopus87 WoS71 Europe PMC28
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 Scopus613 WoS533 Europe PMC229
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 Scopus131 WoS100 Europe PMC37
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 Scopus87 WoS72
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 Scopus75 WoS67 Europe PMC31
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 Scopus13 WoS13 Europe PMC10
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 WoS8 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 Scopus10 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 PMC4

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 Scopus8 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.

Jul 2023 Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Augmented Reality to Improve Telemedicine Delivery and Wound Research.

Sep 2020 Indigenous Australian’s Health Programme (Dept. of Health), Improving telemedicine delivery for Aboriginal people with diabetes-related foot complications using Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR).

Oct 2020 Augusta Zadow Awards (SafeWorkSA), Testing the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality-Based Training for Forklift Operation Safety Skills among Young People.

Oct 2020 Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation, Helping children with intellectual disabilities develop real-world life skills in virtual reality.

Jul 2020 Road Safety Innovation Fund (Dept. of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications), Testing user experience methods for older vulnerable road users.

I am a Lecturer in the School of Psychology and I am currently coordinating online courses in the Graduate Diploma of Psychology Advanced (GDPA).

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
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
2023 Co-Supervisor h4>Using Virtual Reality to deliver health care services to people with neurodevelopmental disorders - Doctorate Full Time Tohid Zarei
2022 Co-Supervisor Virtual Reality sensory rooms: creating a portable person-centred intervention for people with autism spectrum disorder - Doctorate Full Time Connor McCabe

Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
2026 - ongoing Principal Supervisor The Role of Cognitive Performance and Anxiety in Predicting Street-Crossing Behaviour in Older Adults Adelaide University - Honours Full Time Saeeda Jarfari
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 - 2025 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
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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