Deniz Ural

profile

Position:

MSc student

Contact:


http://ispace.iat.sfu.ca/person/deniz-ural/

Affiliations:

Biography

Deniz Ural is an award-winning designer, researcher, and speaker ded­i­cated to cre­at­ing inno­v­a­tive, respon­sive, and holis­tic expe­ri­ences that help people heal. Growing up as a dancer, she devel­oped a deep under­stand­ing of move­ment and pres­ence, which later influ­enced her first tech project—choreographing a robot dance for a children’s exhi­bi­tion. She stud­ied indus­trial design and spent five years in the design indus­try in var­i­ous roles, includ­ing fore­sight designer for the future of spa­tial com­put­ing, UX/UI designer, and free­lancer. Now pur­su­ing a master’s at SIAT, SFU, she researches tech­no­log­i­cally medi­ated and sen­sory expe­ri­ences that foster heal­ing and deeper human connection.

Projects

Who Defines Embodiment? Cultural Bias in Interoceptive Wellness Technologies

If interoception is culturally learned rather than biologically universal, how should we design for this variability? Interoception—the perception of internal bodily states such as heartbeat, hunger, and emotion—is foundational to well-being. Despite its significance in wellness technologies within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), existing designs often impose a universalized model of bo...


Sensorium

This mixed-methods study investigates how real versus sham visual biofeedback influences subjective and physiological relaxation, self-connection, body awareness, flow, and self-transcendence within Sensorium 1.5 — an individual, immersive installation combining body-scan meditation, ambient sound, and HRV-responsive LED lighting. Fifty participants will experience both real and sham feedback in...


BRieFLY - A meditative VR experience


Breathe, connect, and watch fireflies respond to your touch and breath BRieFLY is an exploratory VR prototype combining mindful breathing with playful interaction. This 6-minute meditative experience immerses users in a mixed reality environment where shimmering fireflies dynamically respond to their movements, as illustrated in the video below. The session begins with a 3-minute narrated b...


Publications

Ural, D., Inkster, R., Desnoyers-Stewart, J., & Riecke, B. E. (2025, November 26). BRieFLY: A meditative VR experience:  Breathe, connect, and watch fireflies respond to your touch [Virtual Reality Exhibition]. Virtual Reality Showcase: IAT 848 - Mediated, Virtual, and Augmented Reality, Surrey, BC, Canada. http://ispace.iat.sfu.ca/riecke/teaching/iat848/
Ural, Deniz G., Rayne Inkster, John Desnoyers-Stewart, Faranak Farzan, and Bernhard E. Riecke. 2025. “BRieFLY: Mindful Breathing and Playful Interaction to Foster Self-Connection in Mixed Reality.” In ACM CHI EA ’25, 1–11. Yokohama, Japan: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3720237.
Ural, Deniz G, Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda, and Bernhard E Riecke. 2025. “Who Defines Embodiment? Cultural Bias in Interoceptive Wellness Technologies.” In Companion Publication of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 363–68. DIS ’25 Companion. Madeira, Portugal: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3715668.3736349.