Technische Universitat Ilmenau | Egypt
Elhassan Makled is a PhD researcher in Computer Science and Automation at the Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany, specializing in Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), cross-reality interaction, and immersive digital environments. He currently serves as a Research Assistant in the Virtual Worlds and Digital Games (VWDS) research group, where his research explores avatar representation, embodiment, mediated reality, and multi-user cross-reality systems that enable seamless interaction between remote VR participants and on-site AR users. His doctoral work focuses on developing full-body avatar representation for smartphone users through inverse kinematics and body tracking to enhance immersion, presence, and authenticity in shared virtual environments. His research has been published in leading international venues including IEEE ISMAR, ACM VRST, ACM CHI, Cyberworlds, and Springer’s The Visual Computer, contributing to advancements in XR user representation, interaction, and collaborative virtual spaces. Elhassan holds a Master of Science in Digital Media Engineering and Technology from the German University in Cairo (GUC), where he specialized in HCI, VR, and collaborative virtual environments, and played an instrumental role in founding the university’s Virtual Reality Cluster to support XR research, teaching, and innovation. His academic journey also includes serving as a teaching and research assistant at GUC, where he developed and taught a Unity Game Development course, supervised undergraduate and postgraduate research projects in VR, AR, and HCI, contributed to the establishment of an XR research lab, and authored multiple academic publications. Alongside academia, Elhassan has extensive industry experience that bridges scientific research with real-world practice. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of Null Digital Illusion and Entertainment Studio (Null DIES), an indie game and interactive media studio through which he has directed and developed over 16 interactive experiences and games across VR, PC, and mobile platforms for commercial and creative applications, collaborating with clients such as Toshiba, Persil, and the Egyptian Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation. He additionally served as the XR Lead at Robusta Studio, managing multidisciplinary XR teams and delivering nine enterprise-level immersive solutions for major organizations, leading creative strategy, design, development, and execution of interactive media products. His industry expertise includes game direction, interactive experience design, XR prototyping, technical leadership, stakeholder communication, and cross-functional team management. Elhassan also contributed to academic curriculum design as Adjunct Faculty at the American University in Cairo (AUC), where he co-created and taught a game design course that enabled students from computer science and design disciplines to collaboratively build and prototype original games within six weeks. Passionate about the future of immersive interaction, video games, and extended reality, he is driven by the vision of enabling humans to play, co-create, communicate, and co-exist within interconnected physical–digital hybrid worlds—summed up in his own words: “TL;DR: Trying to build the Matrix.”
Featured Publications
Makled, E., & Co-author, A. (Year). Title of the paper. Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR).
Makled, E., & Co-author, B. (Year). Title of the paper. Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST).
Makled, E., & Co-author, C. (Year). Title of the paper. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI).
Makled, E., & Co-author, D. (Year). Title of the paper. Cyberworlds.
Makled, E., & Co-author, E. (Year). Title of the paper. The Visual Computer.