Chenhui Tang

Research title: Improving Human Sensorimotor Performance through Virtual Reality Training

Supervisors: Professor Juno Kim and Dr Yoshiro Okubo

Abstract

Safe walking depends on our ability to notice obstacles and adjust our movements quickly. When this ability is reduced, everyday environments can become difficult to navigate and the risk of trips and falls may increase.

Virtual Reality (VR) provides a way to study these movements in a controlled setting and to practise tasks that may be difficult or unsafe to repeat in the real world. However, it is still unclear how closely performance in virtual environments reproduces real-world movement, or whether improvements made through VR training carry over into daily life.

My research compares how people perform obstacle-avoidance and other sensorimotor tasks in virtual and real environments. I will also examine whether skills practised in VR are retained over time and can be applied to new tasks. This work aims to improve our understanding of when VR training is effective and how it could be used in sensorimotor rehabilitation and falls prevention.

Education

• PhD student in Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW Sydney (2026-present)
• MSc in Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• BEng in Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University.

Biography

I completed a Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering at Shenzhen University and a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 2026, I commenced my PhD in the School of Optometry and Vision Science at UNSW Sydney.

Before joining UNSW, I worked as a research assistant in CUHK on projects involving VR-based pupillometry and eye tracking, gaze-based medical image segmentation and robotic surgery. I also gained experience in clinical data collection through my work at Hong Kong Eye Hospital.

My previous research has focused on the use of virtual reality, eye tracking and medical imaging in healthcare. My current research examines how VR can be used to assess and train sensorimotor performance, particularly obstacle avoidance, and whether skills practised in VR can transfer to real-world tasks.

Awards

University International Postgraduate Award (UIPA) at UNSW (2026); Research Excellence Award at CUHK (2025)