— Ancret Szpak
Lecturer
School of Psychology
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
I am a part-time Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide. 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 primary area of interest is using virtual reality to develop or enhance real-world skills. I have expertise in virtual and augmented reality in healthcare, sports training, and cognitive abilities.
My research covers the following themes:
- Improving collaborative telehealth consultations with Augmented Reality.
- Virtual Reality training and assessment for remote community healthcare.
- Combining Extended Reality technologies and wearable sensors to improve health and well-being.
- Transferring skills learnt in Virtual Reality to the real world.
- Investigating virtual reality aftereffects on vision, cognition, balance and well-being.
- Factors that influence and mitigate cybersickness.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2023 - ongoing Research Fellow University of South Australia 2023 - ongoing Lecturer University of Adelaide -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2012 - 2016 Flinders University Australia PhD -
Research Interests
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Journals
Year Citation 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. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 16 pages.
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.
Scopus82022 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.
Scopus8 WoS2 Europe PMC12021 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.
Scopus4 WoS32021 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, 1-9.
Scopus12 WoS72020 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.
Scopus57 WoS30 Europe PMC152020 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, 17 pages.
Scopus375 WoS230 Europe PMC1092020 Michalski, S. C., Ellison, C., Szpak, A., & Loetscher, T. (2020). Vocational Training in Virtual Environments for People With Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Systematic Review.
2020 Szpak, A., Michalski, S. C., & Loetscher, T. (2020). Exergaming With Beat Saber: An Investigation of Virtual Reality Aftereffects.
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.
Scopus89 WoS47 Europe PMC152019 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.
Scopus54 WoS382019 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), 9 pages.
Scopus41 WoS24 Europe PMC142018 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.
Scopus12 WoS10 Europe PMC52016 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.
Scopus6 WoS4 Europe PMC32016 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.
Scopus9 WoS8 Europe PMC92015 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.
Scopus21 WoS19 Europe PMC122015 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.
Scopus5 WoS3 Europe PMC3 -
Conference Papers
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). Christchurch, New Zealand: IEEE.
DOI Scopus4 WoS12021 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. -
Conference Items
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. -
Preprint
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
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).
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