Donald Degraen

Dr. Donald Degraen is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His research focuses on haptic design, virtual reality, and digital fabrication technologies. His PhD dissertation, Designing Tactile Experiences for Immersive Virtual Environments, explored how to enhance tactile experience design in virtual environments by leveraging real-world knowledge to provide innovative methods for designers. His research aims to advance the next generation of haptic design tools, enabling designers to seamlessly integrate tactile aesthetics into the creation of virtual reality experiences. Dr. Degraen was previously a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Human-Computer Interaction Group of Ulm University in Germany and a Visiting Researcher at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). His recent project, Designing Touch: Combining 3D Printing and Virtual Reality to Create Objects with Realistic Touch Sensations, was awarded the Marsden Fast-Start Grant to support his exploration of creating realistic tactile experiences within virtual environments.

• 2023–Present·HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury·Lecturer
  • Leading research on haptic design and virtual reality, supervising graduate students and project development.
• 2020–2023·University of Duisburg-Essen·Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Conducted research on haptic design and digital fabrication technologies within the Human-Computer Interaction group.
• 2018–2020·DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence)·Visiting Researcher
  • Engaged in academic research on artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

• 2014–2018·University of Saarland·PhD
  • Research focus: Haptic Design and Virtual Environments
• 2012–2014·Hasselt University·Master’s Degree
  • Research focus: Human-Computer Interaction and Digital Technologies