Prof. K.W. LAU

Expert in UX/UI in XR

Professional Profile: Prof. K. W. LAU

Prof. Lau is an established scholar specialising in extended reality (XR) technologies, human–computer interaction, and user experience research. He obtained his PhD from University College London (UCL), focusing on virtual reality and user experience, and holds additional degrees from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPolyU). His interdisciplinary expertise spans virtual technologies, design thinking, education, and the creative industries. With over 28 years of academic experience across universities and tertiary institutions, Prof. Lau has made significant contributions to international research. He has published more than 106 scholarly works, including journal articles (SCI, SSCI, ESCI indexed), books, book chapters, and conference papers, receiving recognition such as best presenter awards. His research portfolio includes 23 funded projects addressing virtual reality, augmented reality, serious games, and interactive technologies for diverse applications. Prof. Lau is widely recognised as an international expert, evidenced by his roles as keynote speaker, editor-in-chief, and editorial board member for over ten academic journals. Beyond academia, he contributes actively to professional and public sectors, serving as an advisor to UNESCO, a chief examiner at HKEAA, and a subject specialist for HKCAA. He also engages in consultancy for government bodies and NGOs, reflecting his broader societal impact.

Area of Interest: UX/UI in XR (Extended Reality which involves AR/VR/MR/SG)

Selected Publications Recommendation

XR environments support design thinking by providing a non-hierarchical explorative setting, a unique and engaging learning experience, and stimulating environments beyond traditional organisational boundaries.
XR-based platforms enhance communication and collaboration in distributed settings, thereby significantly improving employees’ design thinking capabilities.

Lau, K. W. (2026) Design Thinking & Virtual Reality: An Empirical Evidence on Creative Organizational Learning, Multimedia Tools and Applications, DOI: 10.1007/s11042-026-21405-4

The increasing need for an interdisciplinary approach in game design education to address the complexity and diversification of the global game industry, combining technical, creative, analytical, and managerial competencies.
Proposes an integrated interdisciplinary curriculum that emphasises applied learning, aiming to equip graduates with competencies in game design, programming, and artificial intelligence to address real-world challenges across gaming and related sectors.

Lau, K. W. (2026) Rethinking the Future Direction of Game Design Education: An Interdisciplinary Game Design Curriculum, Journal of Game, Game Art and Gamification, 11(1), 8-17.

Explores the use of Virtual Reality (VR) to preserve and revitalise heritage gameplay, positioning heritage games as a distinct research domain through experimental and historical approaches.
Develops and evaluates a VR-based prototype of a traditional Chinese “Tag Game,” with findings showing that challenge design, immersion, and sense of presence significantly enhance enjoyment and user satisfaction among elderly participants.
Culturally informed game design, grounded in historical and social context, is essential for meaningful heritage preservation, fostering richer cultural engagement and supporting the development of heritage gaming as a research field.

Lau, K. W. (2025) Bringing Our Elderly to Chinese Heritage Gaming in Virtual Reality: A Study of Preserving and Revitalising Heritage Gameplay Experiences and Cultural Memories, Presence: Virtual and Augmented Reality, 291–301.

Examines the evolution of interaction design from Human-Centred Interaction (HCI) to Experience-Centred Interaction (ECI), driven by advancements in virtual technologies and the increasing importance of immersive user experiences.
Utilises pattern analysis to investigate historical trends in digital interaction, identifying five key factors that shape the development of human virtual experiences and key milestones in HCI.
Suggests the need for new theoretical and practical approaches to enhance immersion in XR environments, offering insights and directions for future research despite not proposing a formal model.

Lau, K. W. (2025) Study on the Development of Human Virtual Experience from the 1890s to Present: The Change from Human-Centered Interaction to Experience-Centered Interaction in Extended Reality Environments, Innovation Discovery, 2(3), DOI: 10.53964/id.202500X

Examines the potential of Extended Reality (XR) technologies in enhancing organisational learning practices, particularly for fostering creativity within the creative industry, through comparison with traditional training approaches.
Highlights the advantages of XR platforms, such as immersive and interactive learning environments, which improve employee motivation, engagement, and conceptual understanding in distributed organisational settings.
Identifies key factors and practical considerations for implementing XR-based learning, emphasising its effectiveness in developing employees’ creative competencies within existing organisational communication and learning frameworks.

Lau, K. W. (2025) Can Extended Reality (XR) be effectively applied in Organizational Learning Practices for Creative Industry? A Pilot Study, Development and Learning in Organizations, doi.org/10.1108/DLO-03-2025-0089

Explores the potential of Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) for preserving and archiving heritage gameplay activities in digital libraries, with a focus on telepresence and activity-based collection.
Demonstrates that IVEs enhance heritage representation by providing vivid visualisation, high interactivity, immersive experiences, and improved learning and engagement for digital library users.
Proposes a conceptual framework for applying IVEs in heritage archiving, offering insights for librarians despite its exploratory nature without empirical validation.

Lau, K. W. (2025) The Potential Use of Immersive Virtual Environments for Collecting and Archiving Heritage Gameplay Activities in Digital Libraries, Digital Library Perspectives, DOI: 10.1108/DLP-05-2024-0075

Investigates the role of social Virtual Reality (VR) in enhancing the well-being of older adults, particularly in addressing social isolation and supporting technology-mediated communication.
Applies the Technology Acceptance Model to analyse older adults’ attitudes, revealing that context of use significantly influences perceived ease of use, while demonstrating generally positive engagement and enjoyment with VR platforms.
Highlights the potential of social VR to facilitate virtual interaction and social activities, while noting low adoption awareness, emphasising the need for improved human–computer interaction design for elderly users.

Lau, K. W. (2024) Social Virtual Reality as a Solution for Aging Services and Gerontology: Understanding the Older Adults’ Acceptance of Virtual Reality Applications, Advances in Gerontology, 14(4), 161–170.

Investigates the use of immersive game environments to stimulate students’ creativity and support self-regulated learning in game innovation education, using tailored games and the Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) model.
Identifies three key learning dimensions, Cognitive Processing for Creative Thinking (CPC), Personal Learning Motivation (PLM), and Environmental Stimulation in Game (ESG), which collectively enhance students’ learning experiences.
Concludes that immersive, situated learning approaches effectively promote “learn-by-doing”, exploration, and creative problem-solving, offering an innovative pedagogical strategy for curriculum development in interactive media education.

Lau, K. W. (2023). Learning Game Innovations in Immersive Game Environments: A Factor Analytic Study of Students’ Learning Inventory in Virtual Reality, Virtual Reality, DOI:10.1007/s10055-023-00811-1

Explores the application of the metaverse in facilitating tacit knowledge transfer within remote workplaces, focusing on employee acceptance, knowledge-sharing experiences, and the role of immersion and interactivity.
Investigates how immersive virtual environments influence organisational learning and knowledge management, suggesting the metaverse can transform traditional models of knowledge transfer.
Proposes an extension to the SECI model by introducing an additional “integration” component, offering theoretical insights into enhancing tacit knowledge transfer despite the study’s exploratory nature.

Lau, K. W. (2022). Rethinking the Knowledge Transfer Process through the Use of Metaverse: A Qualitative Study of Organizational Learning Approach for Remote Workplace, PRESENCE: Virtual and Augmented Reality, 31, 229-244. DOI: 10.1007/s10055-023-00811-1

Investigates the role of virtual learning environments (VLEs) in fostering a knowledge-sharing culture and enhancing employees’ transformative learning through immersive stereoscopic 3D technologies.
Based on survey data from 326 participants, findings indicate that well-designed VLEs improve learning motivation, learning processes, and overall user satisfaction.
Identifies three key implementation components: careful selection of VLE platforms, effective pedagogical design, and the use of virtual stimuli (e.g., 3D visualisation, telepresence, and multisensory interaction) to support engaging learning experiences.

Lau, K. W., & Lee, P. Y. (2021). Virtual Reality for Professional Training Practices: Exploring the factors of applying stereoscopic 3D technologies in knowledge transfer and sharing strategy, Virtual Reality, DOI: 10.1007/s10055-021-00504-7

Examines the application of stereoscopic virtual reality (StereoVR) in retailing, focusing on consumers’ shopping experiences and the potential of immersive technologies for interactive business environments.
Develops a prototype virtual retail platform (“FutureShop”) and evaluates key factors such as purchase intention, interactive shopping behaviour, and hedonic shopping experience through simulated shopping tasks.
Finds that StereoVR enhances consumer engagement and enjoyment, suggesting its strong potential to create more interactive and immersive apparel retail experiences.

Lau, K. W., & Lee, P. Y. (2019). Shopping in Virtual Reality: A Study on Consumers’ Shopping Experience in a Stereoscopic Virtual Reality, Virtual Reality, S. I. (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Commerce). DOI: 10.1007/s10055-018-0362-3

Explores the application of stereoscopic virtual technology in textiles and fashion education through the development of a Stereoscopic Chemical Laboratory (SCL) for conducting virtual experiments.
The SCL platform enables students to perform chemical experiments in a 3D multisensory environment, enhancing understanding of procedures, tools, and safety practices.
Suggests that immersive virtual laboratories, supported by tailored teaching materials and interactive design (e.g., Maya and Unity), offer an effective alternative approach to improving experiential learning in specialised disciplines.

Lau, K. W., Kan, C. W. & Lee, P. Y. (2017). Doing textiles experiments in game-based virtual reality: A design of the stereoscopic chemical laboratory (SCL) for textiles education, International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 34(3), 242-258.

The study explores employees’ assumptions about creativity competency in the creative industry, aiming to inform recruitment, training design, and the development of creative organisations.
Findings highlight the importance of understanding employees’ assumptions to support the development of organisational learning models and creativity training, contributing to future research and professional practice.

Lau, K. W. (2016). Understanding Creativity Competency for Organizational Learning: A Study of Employees’ Assumptions on Creativity in Creative Industry, Journal of Management Development, 35(10), 1198-1218. DOI 10.1108/JMD-12-2015-0174.

Organisations should enhance the quality and clarity of communication in ISG-based corporate training, as digital natives exhibit high expectations of such methods (average expectation above 4.0).
ISGs cannot fully replace traditional training; instead, an optimal combination of game-based and conventional approaches is necessary to maximise training effectiveness.
Employers need to manage expectations more clearly and further customise ISGs to better align with the specific learning needs of digital-native employees.

Lau, K. W., & Lee, P. Y. (2016). Designing Employees’ Training by Immersive Serious Games? A Study of Digital Natives’ Satisfaction, Perception and Expectation in Corporate Training Practices, Development and Learning in Organizations, 30(4), 1-3. DOI 10.1108/DLO-10-2015-0083.

he roles of simulation and immersive virtual environments in creativity education is crucial, with a focus on enhancing university students’ learning experiences.
The trends in virtual simulation and presents empirical evidence suggesting that virtual reality can improve learning through interactive and heuristic environments.
The potential of virtual simulation to enrich student learning and discusses its implications for designing more effective educational experiences.

Lau, K. W. & Lee, P. Y., (2015). The use of virtual reality for creating unusual environmental stimulation to motivate students to explore creative ideas, Interactive Learning Environments. 23(1), 3-18. DOI:10.1080/10494820.2012.745426

The study investigates the effectiveness of stereo3D virtual reality in organizational training by comparing employees’ learning outcomes with conventional in-house training approaches.
Findings reveal no significant difference between the two training formats, suggesting that virtual and traditional learning methods currently achieve similar results in organizational learning contexts.
The research proposes a new organizational learning framework comprising blended in-house training, distributed stereo3D virtual learning, and an organizational memory system.

Lau, K. W. (2015). Organizational Learning Goes Virtual? A Study of Employees’ Learning Achievement in Stereoscopic 3D Virtual Reality, Learning Organization, 22(5), 289-303.