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

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 Proceedings of ACM Designing for Interactive Systems (DIS ’25), 1–6. Madeira, Portugal: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3715668.3736349.