Assistant Professor in HCI · University of Birmingham

Making virtual
worlds feel
more human.

I'm Daniele Giunchi, an Assistant Professor in Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) at the University of Birmingham and an Honorary Lecturer at UCL.

I explore how artificial intelligence and immersive technologies can help us create, collaborate, and interact more naturally. My work brings together HCI, computer graphics, and intelligent XR interfaces.

Daniele Giunchi beside a window overlooking a city
At the intersection of people & technology
Birmingham, United Kingdom52.45° N / 1.93° W
A few things I think aboutExtended realityHuman–AI interactionCollaborative environmentsPerception & graphics

01 / Selected research

Ideas you can step into.

Explore publications ↗

Projects & resources

From collaborative interfaces to the physics of image formation.

02 / Selected publications

The work behind the ideas.

Selected papers, with research images, citation details, and links to the published work.

Full bibliography ↗

Citation badges are supplied by Dimensions when available. Counts can differ from Google Scholar; a missing badge does not mean zero citations.

Showing 5 selected publications

2026

Tuning Immersion and Performance with Adaptive Generative Music in VR

J. Wen, Daniele Giunchi, P. Cascarano, R. Bovo, E. Ofek, A. Steed

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer GraphicsJournal article
Cite this paper

J. Wen, Daniele Giunchi, P. Cascarano, R. Bovo, E. Ofek, A. Steed (2026). Tuning Immersion and Performance with Adaptive Generative Music in VR. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2026.3679907

03 / A little background

From cosmic structures
to virtual worlds.

I'm an Assistant Professor in HCI at the University of Birmingham, working on scene understanding and smart environments, and an Honorary Lecturer at University College London.

At Birmingham's VR Lab, I work with Prof. Massimiliano Di Luca and Prof. Eyal Ofek. My research spans computer graphics, human–computer interaction, machine learning, computer vision, and large language models, exploring individual and collaborative interaction in VR, AR, and XR.

Until April 2025, I was a Research Associate in UCL's Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics group. I completed my PhD at UCL in 2021, supervised by Anthony Steed and Niloy Mitra, with a European Commission Marie Curie Fellowship. During my PhD, I undertook a research internship at Microsoft and a research visit to the Max Planck Institute for Informatics.

My path into immersive computing began with astronomy at the University of Bologna and years of industry experience. I later studied optics and quantum information at Sapienza University of Rome, connecting this background with my interests in perception and digital environments.

My university profile ↗

Master in Optics and Quantum Information

Sapienza University of Rome

Quantum holography thesis ↗

PhD in Computer Science

University College London · Marie Curie Fellow

MSc in Astronomy

University of Bologna

04 / Teaching & supervision

Learning by making.

Current teaching at the University of Birmingham, alongside selected past teaching and mentoring.

Teaching archive ↗

University of Birmingham

  • Current
    Intelligent Interactive Systems and Visualization

    University of Birmingham

UCL

  • Virtual Environments

    Immersive computing and virtual environments.

  • Computer Graphics
  • Python programming induction

    For Computer Graphics and Virtual Environment.

  • Image processing

Selected past student projects

  • Social VR Approach to Classrooms

    Jhundon De Leon Mendi · MSc, Birmingham

  • Continuous World Generation in XR

    Youngbin Park · BSc, Birmingham

  • Embodied LLM-based Programming

    Rowan Meng · summer intern, UCL

  • Asynchronous Collaborative Art Creation

    Ana David · thesis project, Lisbon University

Mentoring archive ↗

05 / Research community

Beyond the papers.

Selected activity

Experience & research support

  • Research Associate · UCL

    Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics.

  • Research internship & visit

    Microsoft research internship and a research visit at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics.

  • Marie Curie Fellowship

    European Commission funding supporting my doctoral research at UCL.

Let's connect

Good ideas start with a conversation.

Interested in immersive interaction, collaboration, or a research conversation?