On 21 March 2026, the IEEE VR 2026 was held in Daegu, South Korea. IEEE VR is a leading international conference in the fields of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), and is ranked as a Class A conference by the China Computer Federation (CCF).

Professor Eugene CH'NG, Dean of the School of Culture and Creativity, and Dr Ji Yuhan from the Animation and Interactive Media (AIM) programme were invited to attend the conference and deliver presentations. Professor CH'NG gave a keynote presentation at the ARCHERIX @ IEEE VR workshop and also served as the Chair for the roundtable discussion, and Dr Ji Yuhan presented a technical report.

Prof Eugene CH’NG keynote presentation asks - What if digital heritage is no longer something we look at, but something we inhabit? 

Immersive Mediality and the Field of Cultural Heritage

VR, as an embodied medium, extends not only our sight, but also our physical presence and spatial location. I argued that digital heritage is no longer just about documentation or representation. It is evolving into an interdisciplinary, computational, and immersive field where XR, AI, visualisation, and storytelling are reshaping how culture is interpreted, communicated, and experienced. The challenge now is not simply achieving presence, but designing meaningful immersive mediality: experiences grounded in theory, cultural value, and the right medium for the heritage being presented.

Dr Yuhan JI’s research explores agent traits that embed personality types, specifically verbal extraversion, to examine their impact on users' experience. Utilizing a VR museum of Chinese bronze chime bells as the experimental platform, the study employs systematic linguistic modulation to vary the AI guide's personality while maintaining visual and technical consistency.

Does AI’s Personality Matter? Comparing Verbally Extraverted and Introverted AI-Driven Guides in a VR Museum Experience

Dr Ji Yuhan is a scholar with extensive expertise in human–computer interaction (HCI), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR). Her research integrates artificial intelligence with AR/VR technologies, with a particular focus on digital cultural heritage, forming a coherent and in-depth research trajectory. As first author or co-author, she has published in multiple SCI-indexed journals, contributing impactful studies on the applications of AR/VR in cultural heritage, education, and psychology. Under her supervision, students’ work has also been accepted by international conferences.

Beyond her research, Dr Ji Yuhan actively contributes to the academic community through extensive involvement in international conference organization and peer review, fostering scholarly exchange and dissemination in related fields. She is currently exploring innovative applications of large language model (LLM) agents in the domain of digital cultural heritage.