Hai Ning Liang PhD

Professor

Dr. Hai-Ning Liang is a Professor in the Department of Computing at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU). He was the Founding Head of Department (2019-2023). He is also the Deputy Director of the Suzhou Municipal Key Lab for Intelligent Virtual Engineering, the Suzhou Key Lab for Virtual Reality Technologies, and the XJTLU Virtual Engineering Center.

Dr. Liang completed his PhD in computer science at the University of Western Ontario, in Canada. His PhD studies were supported by a Postgraduate Research Scholarship by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. He is an award-winning academic and researcher. Some of his awards include the 2015 Backbone Scientific and Education Talent, the 2014-2015 XJTLU Outstanding Teacher Prize, and the 2012-2013 XJTLU Most Innovative Teaching Practices Prize, Best Paper Award at IEEE VR'20 (nomination).

Dr. Liang's main research interests fall in the broad area of human-computer interaction, focusing on virtual/augmented reality and gaming technologies.

He has published more than 240 papers in top-rated conferences and journals. You can find the most updated list of publications in his GoogleScholar profile:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=UJPH5ioAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&authuser=1&sortby=pubdate

He has organized numerous special issues at leading journals and workshops at top conferences. He also serves regularly in the organization committee of several top ranked conferences.

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Recruiting PhD, MRes/MSc, and UG Students

I am always looking to recruit motivated students. I have a good track record of publishing papers at top venues with my research students. Past students have gone on to pursue their PhD and master's degrees at top universities.

If you are interested in doing projects with me, please send me an email (haining.liang@xjtlu.edu.cn) with your background information and CV+transcripts.
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  • PhD in Computer Science, The University of Western Ontario
  • BA (Honors) in Computer Science and Economics, The University of Western Ontario


  • 2021 - present, Professor, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
  • 2019 - present, Head of Department, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
  • 2017 - 2021, Senior Associate Professor, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
  • 2013 - 2017, Associate Professor, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
  • 2012 - 2013, Lecturer, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University


  • Human Computer Interaction
  • Virtual/Augemted Reality
  • Gaming Technologies
  • Visualization Technologies


  • Selected recent publications. For a more updated list, please go to this link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=UJPH5ioAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&authuser=1&sortby=pubdate
  • Difeng Yu, Hai-Ning Liang, Kaixuan Fan, Heng Zhang, Charles Fleming, and Konstantinos Papangelis (Accepted). Design and Evaluation of Techniques for Visualizing Off-Screen and Occluded Targets in Virtual Reality Environments. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol 25, DOI 10.1109/TVCG.2019.2905580. (SCI; IF: 2.840; JRC Q1)
  • Wenge Xu, Hai-Ning Liang, Yuxuan Zhao, Tianyu Zhang, Difeng Yu, Diego Monteiro, and Yong Yue (In Press). RingText: Dwell-free and hands-free Text Entry for Mobile Head-Mounted Displays using Head Motions. IEEE Transactions on Visualizations and Computer Graphics. DOI: 10.1109/TVCG.2019.2898736. (SCI; IF: 2.840; JRC Q1). To be presented at IEEE VR'19, 23-27 March, Osaka, Japan [The Premier International Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces] .
  • Hai-Ning Liang, Charles Fleming, and Ka Lok Man. (2019). Personal Mobile Devices at Work: Factors Affecting the Adoption of Security Mechanisms. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 78(3), pp 1-14. (SCI; IF: 1.530). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11042-019-7349-2
  • Difeng Yu, Kaixuan Fan, Heng Zhang, Diego Vilela Monteiro, Wenge Xu and Hai-Ning Liang (2018). PizzaText: Text entry for virtual reality systems using dual thumbsticks. IEEE Transactions on Visualizations and Computer Graphics, 24(11), 2927-2935. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2018.2868581 (SCI; IF: 2.840; JRC Q1). (Presented at ISMAR’18, 16-20 October, Munich, Germany [The Premier International Conference on Virtual and Augmented Reality Technologies] Acceptance rate: 13%).
  • Hai-Ning Liang, Feiyu Lu, Yuwei Shi, Vijayakumar Nanjappan, Konstantinos Papangelis. (2018). Evaluating the Effects of Collaboration and Competition in Navigation Tasks and Spatial Knowledge Acquisition within Virtual Reality Environments. Future Generation Computer Systems. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2018.02.029. Elsevier (SCI; IF: 3.997)
  • Diego Monteiro, Hai-Ning Liang, Wenge Xu, Marvin Brucker, Vijayakumar Nanjappan and Yong Yue (2018). Evaluating Immersion, Presence, and Emulator Sickness in Virtual Reality Games based on First- and Third-Person Viewing Perspectives. Journal Computer Animation & Virtual Worlds (CAVW), volume 29, Issue 3-4, e1830, 12 pages. John Wiley Press. (SCI; IF: 0.424)
  • Keyu Chen, Hai-Ning Liang, Yong Yue and Paul Craig. (2018). Infrared Motion Detection and Electromyographic Gesture Recognition for Navigating 3D Environments. Journal Computer Animation & Virtual Worlds (CAVW), volume 29, Issue 3-4, e1829, 12 pages. John Wiley Press. (SCI; IF: 0.424)
  • Konstantinos Papangelis, Melvin Metzger, Yiyeng Sheng, Hai-Ning Liang, Alan Chamberlain, and Ting Cao. 2017. Conquering the City: Understanding perceptions of Mobility and Human Territoriality in Location-based Mobile Games. Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol. 1, 3, Article 90 (September 2017), 24 pages. ACM Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3130955
  • Difeng Yu, Hai-Ning Liang, Feiyu Lu, Vijayakumar Nanjappan, Konstantinos Papangelis and Wei Wang (In press). Target Selection in Head-Mounted Display Virtual Reality Environments. Journal of Universal Computer Science (SCI; IF: 0.546)
  • Hai-Ning Liang and Kamran Sedig. Can interactive visualization tools engage and support pre-university students in exploring non-trivial mathematical concepts? Computers & Education, 54(4), pp.972-991, May 2010. Elsevier Science Press. (SCI; IF: 3.819).
  • Hai-Ning Liang and Kamran Sedig. Role of interaction in enhancing the epistemic utility of 3D mathematical visualizations. Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 15(3), pp.191-224, Oct 2010. Springer. (ESCI).


  • In my field, conferences are a preferred venue of publication. IEEE VR, IEEE ISMAR, and ACM CHI are recognized as top-tier conferences in HCI and VR/AR
  • Selected recent publications. For a more updated list, please go to this link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=UJPH5ioAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&authuser=1&sortby=pubdate
  • Wenge Xu, Hai-Ning Liang, Yuxuan Zhao, Difeng Yu, and Diego Monteiro (Accpeted). DMove: Directional Motion-based Interaction for Augmented Reality Head-Mounted Displays. 2019 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'19). [#1 Conference in HCI; AR: 23.8%]. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300674.
  • Difeng Yu, Hai-Ning Liang, Tianyu Zhang, and Wenge Xu (Accepted). DepthMove: Hands-free Interaction in Virtual Reality Using Head Motions in the Depth Dimension. [Poster Paper] To be presented at IEEE VR'19, 23-27 March, Osaka, Japan. [The Premier International Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces]
  • Xueshi Lu, Difeng Yu, Hai-Ning Liang, Xiyu Feng, and Wenge Xu (Accepted). DepthText: Leveraging Head Movements towards the Depth Dimension for Hands-free Text Entry in Mobile Virtual Reality Systems. [Poster Paper] To be presented at IEEE VR'19, 23-27 March, Osaka, Japan. [The Premier International Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces]
  • Diego Monteiro, Hai-Ning Liang, and Nilufar Baghaei (Accepted). Correlating Gamers’ Brainwaves to their Subjective Feelings in Virtual Reality Games under Different Viewing Perspectives. The 16th ACM International Conference on Virtual Reality Continuum and Its Applications in Industry, 2-3 Dec, Tokyo, Japan. (4 double-column pages).
  • Diego Monteiro, Hai-Ning Liang, Andrew Abel, Nilufar Baghaei and Rita Monteiro (Accepted). Evaluating Engagement of Virtual Reality Games based on First- and Third-Person Viewing Perspectives using EEG and Subjective Metrics. The First IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality (AIVR’18), 10-12 Dec, Taichung, Taiwan. (8 double-column pages).
  • Diego Monteiro, Hai-Ning Liang, Jialin Wang, Luhan Wang, Xian Wang, and Yong Yue (Accepted). Evaluating the Effects of a Cartoon-like Character with Emotions on Users’ Bahavior within Virtual Reality Environments. The First IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality (AIVR’18), 10-12 Dec, Taichung, Taiwan. (8 double-column pages).
  • Feiyu Lu, Difeng Yu, Hai-Ning Liang, Wenjun Chen, Konstantinos Papangelis, and Nazlena Mohamad Ali (2018) Evaluating engagement level and analytical support of interactive visualizations in virtual reality environments. 17th IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR’18), 16-20 October, Munich, Germany. (The Premier International Conference on Virtual and Augmented Reality Technologies; Acceptance Rate: 15.1%; 10 double column pages).
  • Ilesanmi Olade, Hai-Ning Liang, and Charles Fleming. (2018). A Review of Multimodal Facial Biometric Authentication Methods in Mobile Devices and recommendation for HMD authentication. The 4th IEEE International Conference on Internet of People (IoP’18), October 8-12, Guangzhou, China. (8 double column pages).
  • Diego Monteiro, Hai-Ning Liang, Yuxuan Zhao, and Andrew Abel. (Accepted). Comparing Event Related Arousal-Valence and Focus among Different Viewing Perspectives in VR gaming. In the 9th International Conference on Brain-Inspired Cognitive System (BICS’18), 7-8 July, Xi'an, China. (10 single column pages).
  • Konstantinos Papangelis, Yiyang Sheng, Hai-Ning Liang, Alan Chamberlain, Vassilis-Javed Khan, and Ting Cao. 2017. Unfolding the interplay of self-identity and expressions of territoriality in location-based social networks. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers (UbiComp '17). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 177-180. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3123024.3123081
  • Konstantinos Papangelis, Melvin Metzger, Yiyang Sheng, Hai-Ning Liang, Alan Chamberlain, and Vassilis-Javed Khan. 2017. "Get Off My Lawn!": Starting to Understand Territoriality in Location Based Mobile Games. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '17). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1955-1961. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3027063.3053154
  • Hai-Ning Liang, Yuwei Shi, Feiyu Lu, Jizhou Yang, Konstantinos Papangelis (2016). VRMController: An Input Device for Navigation Activities in Virtual Reality Environments. In Proceedings of the 15th ACM SIGGRAPH International Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and its Applications in Industry (VRCAI 2016), 3-4 December 2016, Zhuhai, China. (Acceptance rate: 35/140 = ~25%).
  • Zhen Yu, Hai-Ning Liang, Charles Fleming, Ka Lok Man (2016). An exploration of usable authentication mechanisms for virtual reality systems. In Proceedings the 2016 IEEE Asia Pacific Conference on Circuits and Systems (APCCAS’16), 26-28 October, 2016, Jeju, South Korea.


  • Zheng Ruichen, Hai-Ning Liang, Ruiqi Xie, Feiyu Lu, Yuwei Shi, Wenge Xu, and Konstantinos Papangelis (2019). BlockTower: A Multi-player Cross-Platform Competitive Social Game. In VR, Simulations and Serious Games for Education, pp. 85-98. Springer, Singapore.
  • Vijayakumar Nanjappan, Hai-Ning Liang, Wei Wang, Ka Lok Man (2016). Big Data: A Classification of Acquisition and Generation Methods. In Hui-Huang Hsu, Chuan-Yu Chang, Ching-Hsien Hsu (Eds.), Big Data Analytics for Sensor-Network Collected Intelligence. Elsevier.
  • David Afolabi, Nan Zhang, Hai-Ning Liang, Ka Lok Man, Dawei Liu, Eng Gee Lim, T. O. Ting, Yue Yang, Lixin Cheng. Vibration and Reflection Reduction in Images Captured from Moving Objects Connected Through a Wireless Sensor Network. In Transactions on Engineering Technologies Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, Volume 275, 2014, pp. 71-81. Springer.


  • I have a good track record of obtaining external and internal grants. Below are some recents ones.
  • Hai-Ning Liang (PI). Funding Period: 2017-2020. Funding Agency: XJTLU Key Programme Special Fund. Project: Gaming Technologies for the Elderly (面向老龄人群的游戏技术研发). (1 million RMB)
  • Hai-Ning Liang (PI). 2017 Jiangsu English Taught Elite Modules for Foreign Students (计算机编程基础知识; Fundamentals of Computer Programming). Project Value: RMB¥ 100,000. Funding period: 2018-2019. Funding Agency: Department of Education of Jiangsu Province.


  • CSE002 - Professional Skills in Computer Science
  • CSE003 - Principles of Computer Programming
  • CSE310 - Principles of Computer Games Design


  • IEEE
  • Association for Computing Machinery
  • Member, Suzhou Association for Artificial Intelligence
  • Member, International Chinese Association of Computer Human Interaction (ICACHI)


  • 2022 ACM SIGGRAPH VRCAI Best Paper Award
  • 2020 IEEE VR Best Paper Award (Nomination)
  • 2020 Suzhou Outstanding Teaching Team
  • 2019 XJTLU Research Development Award
  • 2016 Suzhou Teaching Achievement Award (First Prize)
  • 2016 XJTLU National Teaching Innovation Award (Runner Up Prize)
  • 2015 SIP Backbone Scientific and Education Talent
  • 2014-2015 XJTLU Outstanding Teaching Prize
  • Best Paper Award at IEEE CTI 2015
  • Merit (Best) Paper Award at IEEE TALE’13
  • 2012-2013 XJTLU Most Innovative Teaching Practice Prize
Hai Ning Liang