Last year, I had the chance to join a research project that was a collaboration between the University of Glasgow (my university) and Carnegie Mellon University. The work ended up being published at IEEE VR — my first ever published paper, which is a big point of pride for me. It was also my first real experience working as part of a research team, and it gave me a front-row view of how studies in HCI are designed, built, and actually run with participants.
The project looked at different ways of delivering audio-visual notifications in augmented reality (AR) — from simple icons and tones to full text-to-speech messages — and asked how these designs affected people’s attention and usability.

You can read the published paper here.

My Role

I was responsible for three main areas:

• Helping to design the study — I worked with the team to figure out what participants would actually do, what kinds of notifications they’d encounter, and how we’d measure their responses. It was eye-opening to see how much thought goes into balancing realism with experimental control.
• Developing the Unity application – I built the app that ran the study, delivering notifications, logging data, and handling interactions in XR. This developed my Unity knowledge further than ever before — I had to make something robust enough to behave consistently across dozens of participant sessions.
• Running the study itself – I helped guide participants through the tasks, answered their questions, and made sure everything ran smoothly. This was where I learned the most about working directly with people: giving clear instructions, knowing when to step in and offer help, and adapting on the fly when the tech (inevitably) misbehaved.

What I Learned

This project wasn’t just about coding or collecting data — it taught me a lot about the process of doing research:

• Planning around schedules – I quickly learned the importance of structuring study sessions, managing participant time, and keeping everything on track without making the study feel rushed.
• Interacting with participants – running a study isn’t just technical; it’s about people skills. Clear communication and a calm presence go a long way to making participants feel comfortable.
• Collaboration in practice – Working with researchers across institutions taught me how differently people contribute to a project. Seeing how these pieces fit together showed me that research isn’t about doing everything yourself — it’s about trusting your collaborators' expertise, coordinating across time zones and schedules, and making sure your part supports the bigger picture.

Being part of this project was hugely rewarding. It gave me practical experience in everything from Unity development to participant management, and it showed me how much thought and care goes into making a study run smoothly.
Most importantly, it marked my first step into the world of research — and having that work recognised at IEEE VR was very motivating. I left the project not only with new technical skills, but also with a stronger sense of how to collaborate, communicate, and contribute meaningfully to a shared research goal.