Research

I have always been interested in the entanglement of technology and culture. My artistic endeavours into blending physical and virtual realities (VR/AR/XR) and enhancing social interactions through my interactive installation work inspired my journey into completing a MASc in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) exploring multi-user computer interactions and a PhD in Information Technology (IT) exploring how to make VR more inclusive within social learning spaces.

Presently, I am an Assistant Professor in Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Computer Science directing VRiend Lab; and my adjunct research professor role at Carleton University involves continued collaboration with other research groups such as uni-vr-sity and Kwän Dék’án’ Do.  I am very interested in how immersive technologies such as VR can bring people together, inspire new social interactions and creativity, and transform our individual and collective perspectives on reality.

Research Profiles

• Google Scholar
• ResearchGate

Research Publications

• Scavarelli, A., Cole D., Sharma, V., Di Nobile, A., Al-Helali, A., Ly, C., McMullin, C., Nelligan, C., Gagne, D., Souannhaphanh, E., Zhang, K., Fang, L., Lyall, M., “Lessons Learned Teaching Virtual Reality in an Undergraduate Design Studio,” In Proceedings of the 52nd Graphics Interface Conference 2026 (GI ’26). Waterloo, Canada, 2026.
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  • In this paper, we capture data on teaching VR in an undergraduate design studio over two years to highlight the challenges, opportunities, and future directions towards standardizing VR/AR/XR teaching that better embeds accessibility, reducing platform bias and flawed developer expectations, and highlighting open-source frameworks.
• Scavarelli, A., Cole, D., DiVito, L., “Exploring the Developer Challenges of Creating Multi-Platform VR Museum Experiences in a Post-Secondary Design Studio,” 2026 12th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN), Athens, Greece, 2026.
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  • In this paper, we highlight the challenges and opportunities of multi-platform museum VR experience development within an undergraduate design studio with a Canadian museum client.
• Scavarelli, A., Arya, A., & Teather, R. J., “Circles: A Framework for Creating Inclusive Virtual Reality Learning Activities in Social Learning Spaces,” Immersive Learning Research – Academic, 1(1), 1–11, 2024.
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  • In this paper we describe the current state of a VR learning framework being developed for researchers and creators to create more inclusive VR learning activities. We highlight the core theoretical and practical motivations, elements, and features, several use-case studies of the framework by others, and a small developer usability study.
• Scavarelli A., Arya, Teather, R.J., Wakelin, R., Gauen, S., & McCann, J., “Exploring the inclusive design and use of social multi-platform virtual reality for a post-secondary gender diversity workshop,” In Immersive learning research network. Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham, 272–283, 2025.
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  • The paper explores the development and use of a multiple virtual learning environments developed as an embedded learning activity to highlight the challenges women face in a post-secondary faculty workshop.
• Scavarelli, A., Teather, R. J. & Arya, A., “Exploring Selection and Search Usability Across Desktop, Tablet, and Head-Mounted Display WebXR Platforms,” 2023 9th International Conference on Virtual Reality (ICVR), 2023, pp. 505-514, 2023.
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  • In this paper, we evaluate selection and search usability and performance across desktop, mobile, and HMD VR platforms using a WebXR Learning framework called Circles.
• Kroma A., Grinyer K., Scavarelli A., Samimi E., Kyian S. and Teather R.J., “The Reality of Remote Extended Reality Research: Practical Case Studies and Taxonomy,” Front. Comput. Sci., 2022.  [open access]
  • This paper offers a big-picture summary of how we conducted six remote XR studies, our research design considerations, our findings in these case studies, and what worked well and what did not in different scenarios. Also, we propose a taxonomy for devising such studies in a systematic and easy-to-follow manner. We argue that the XR community should move from theoretical proposals and thought pieces to testing and sharing practical data-informed proposals and guidelines.
• Scavarelli, A., Arya, A. & Teather, R.J., “Virtual reality and augmented reality in social learning spaces: a literature review,” Virtual Reality 25, 257–277, 2021.
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  • In this survey, we discuss the current state of learning with VR/AR within social learning spaces while discussing some future directions for increased accessibility and the interplay between physical and virtual realities.
• Scavarelli, A., Arya, A., & Teather, R. J., “Circles: exploring multi-platform accessible, socially scalable VR in the classroom,” 2019 IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference (GEM), 1–4, 2019.
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  • This paper discusses a WIP framework for developing more accessible and social VR for learning.
• Scavarelli, A., Teather, R. J., & Arya, A. “Towards a Framework on Accessible and Social VR in Education,” 2019 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), 1148–1149, 2019.
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  • In this extended abstract, we explore the foundations of a design framework for VR in learning while demonstrating the use of symmetric interactions within a WIP framework called Circles.
• Scavarelli, A., & Teather, R. J., “VR Collide! Comparing Collision-Avoidance Methods Between Co-Located Virtual Reality Users,” Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’17), 2915–2921, 2017.
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  • In this Late-Breaking Work (LBW) we explore using several visualization techniques to prevent collisions between multiple VR users sharing the same physical space.
• Scavarelli A., Arya A. “An Exploration of Shape in Crowd Computer Interactions,” In: Kurosu M. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction: Interaction Technologies. HCI 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 9170. Springer, Cham., 2015.
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  • In this paper, we explore crowd-computer interactions using a crowd shape generated from participating crowd members, both simulated and non-simulated, in three primary shape forms (blobby, precise, and a combination of the two) to explore whether such an interactive form and which of the three forms, can be both a viable and enjoyable method of having many people collaboratively interacting with large public displays in public spaces.
• Scavarelli, A., & Arya, A. “CINDR: A Proposed Framework for Ethical Systems in Video Games,” 2014 IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference (GEM), 1-5, 2014.
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  • In this paper, we will propose CINDR, a video game ethics framework, and use it as a semantic context for examining and classifying several example video games that represent various video game genres. Consequently, we will discuss ways in which the gaming industry could, in the future, create games while seriously considering the ethical issues virtual worlds can cause for players and their communities.