Deniz Mevlevioglu

PhD Candidate

About Me

Smiling young academici with short brown hair CV

Hello, I'm Deniz. I'm a Computer Science PhD candidate at University College Cork. I am currently researching real-time anxiety classification in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy. My research interests include on-body physiological sensors, machine learning and Virtual Reality. I am passionate about computer vision and natural language processing and love to include them in my personal projects. I am an avid gamer, so focussing on design choices that put the user first is very important for me. I am experienced in teaching and tutoring various computer science topics including VR development, Web Development, Java programming and Python programming.

If you would like to work with me or learn more about my research, feel free to send me an email.

Research

Current Research

PhD Thesis Title: Real-time anxiety classification in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Abstract: The study sets out to integrate real-time anxiety prediction into Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) for better decision-making. VRET is a therapy method that involves gradual exposure to a certain stimulus that the user is uncomfortable with, and couples this exposure with relaxation techniques. There have been many controlled experiments that provide evidence that VRET produces effective and long-lasting results. This study focuses on using wearable physiological sensors to collect information from the user and using a neural network to predict the anxiety level. This prediction can be used to enhance therapy by better tailoring it to the user’s needs.

Publications

Journal Paper

Real-time Classification of Anxiety in Virtual Reality Therapy Using Biosensors and a Convolutional Neural Network

Deniz Mevlevioğlu, Sabin Tabirca, and David Murphy. 2024.

MDPI Biosensors 14 (3)

DOI: 10.3390/bios14030131

Journal Paper

Anxiety Classification in Virtual Reality Using Biosensors: A Mini Scoping Review

Deniz Mevlevioğlu, Sabin Tabirca, and David Murphy. 2023.

PLoS One 18 (7)

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287984

Conference Paper

Emotional Virtual Reality Stroop Task

Deniz Mevlevioğlu, Sabin Tabirca, and David Murphy. 2023.

IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops and other Affiliated Events (PerCom Workshops)

DOI: 10.1109/PerComWorkshops56833.2023.10150350

Conference Paper

Emotional Virtual Reality Stroop Task: an Immersive Cognitive Test

Deniz Mevlevioğlu, Sabin Tabirca, and David Murphy. 2022.

In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences (IMX '22).

DOI: 10.1145/3505284.3532988

Conference Paper

Real-time Anxiety Prediction in Virtual Reality Therapy.

Deniz Mevlevioğlu, Sabin Tabirca, and David Murphy. 2021.

Proceedings of the 12th ACM Multimedia Systems Conference (MMSys '22).

DOI: 10.1145/3524273.3533926

Conference Paper

Emotional Virtual Reality Stroop Task: Pilot Design.

Deniz Mevlevioğlu, Sabin Tabirca, and David Murphy. 2021.

In Proceedings of the 27th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST '21).

DOI: 10.1145/3489849.3489952

Conference Paper

Visual Respiratory Feedback in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy: A Pilot Study.

Deniz Mevlevioğlu, Sabin Tabirca, and David Murphy. 2021.

In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences (IMX '21).

DOI: 10.1145/3452918.3458799

Conference Paper

Real-time Anxiety Prediction in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy.

Deniz Mevlevioğlu, David Murphy, and Sabin Tabirca. 2021.

In Adjunct Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences (IMX '21).

DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14699751.v1

Grants

DateFunding BodyProject
2020-2024ADVANCE CRTPhD Grant
2018University College CorkCollege of Science, Engineering and Food Science Postgraduate Scholarship

Professional Memberships

ACM SIGCHIThe Special Interest Group on Computer–Human Interaction
IEEE WIEWomen in Engineering
UCC MAVRICMixed Augmented Virtual Reality and Immersive Computing Research Lab

Education

  • University College Cork

    School of Information Technology & Computer Science

    Research Title: Real-time anxiety prediction in virtual reality exposure therapy

    PhD in Computer Science

    2020 - Present

  • University College Cork

    School of Information Technology & Computer Science

    Thesis Title: Visual Respiratory Feedback in Virtual Reality

    First Class Honours

    MSc in Interactive Media

    2018 - 2019

  • Bahcesehir University

    Faculty of Arts and Sciences

    2.94/4 (GPA)

    BA in Psychology

    2012 - 2016

Other Education

  • Oxford University Press

    Epigeum Online Course System

    Research Integrity: Core

    2020

  • Oxford University Press

    Epigeum Online Course System

    Human subjects protections

    2020

  • Marmara University

    Ataturk Faculty of Education

    Pedagogical Formation

    2018

Experience

  • Visiting Researcher

    Research topic: Physiological synchrony between socially anxious dyads

    Related Skills: Machine Learning, Research

    University of Virginia Link Lab

    2023 - Present

  • Web Development Tutor

    Provided theoretical and practical lessons in introductory level web development to give students the necessary skills to make a beautiful portfolio website in 5 weeks.

    Related Skills: Teaching, HTML, CSS, JS

    Munster Programming Training

    2020 - Present

  • Teacher Assistant

    Demonstrated in the practical lessons delivered to MSc and BSc students in Computer Science.

    Modules: Graphics for Media, 3D Graphics and Modelling, Authoring, Digital Video Capture and Packaging, Usability Engineering, Web-based applications, Future and Emerging Technologies, Human-Computer Interaction and Digital Video Compression and Delivery and Web Development

    Responsibilities:

    • Demonstrated tasks relating to labs and tutorials
    • Aided students when they need technical help to follow the tutorials
    • Delivered tutorials

    Related Skills: Teaching, PHP, Java, JavaScript, jQuery, three.js, WebGL, Virtual Reality, Python, HTML, Blender

    University College Cork

    2019 - Present

  • Web Developer

    Responsibilities:

    • Designed and developed personal and e-commerce websites
    • Came up with dynamic solutions based on customer needs
    • Worked with a team of designers and developers
    • Made sure the websites follow accessibility standards
    • Provided SEO

    Related Skills: WordPress, HTML, CSS, JS, PHP

    Freelance

    2019 - 2020

  • Concepts and Collaboration in Digital Humanities I Tutor

    Responsibilities:

    • Provided step-by-step tutorials for creating a portfolio website using WordPress
    • Familiarised students with technologies they need during their study
    • Aided students in technical assignments or any technical issues related to their website
    • Provided tutorials for making a website from scratch using HTML and CSS

    Related Skills: Web Development, HTML, CSS, JS, PHP

    University College Cork

    2019

  • Intern School Counsellor

    Responsibilities:

    • Made a year-long education plan after assessing needs.
    • Held introductory seminars to students and employees explaining counselling services.
    • Assisted in making individualised education programs for students with special needs.

    Related Skills: Interpersonal communication, Teaching

    Feridun Tumer Secondary School

    2017-2018

Activities

Student Volunteer Chair, ACM IMX 2022 Acted as a member of the organising committee for ACM Interactive Media Experiences, the leading international conference for research into interactive media experiences.
Student Presentations Panellist, ADVANCE Research Colloquium 2022 Acted as a member of the organising committee for SFI Centre for Research Training in Advanced Networks for Sustainable Societies Research Colloquium 2022. Contributed to deciding on the content of the colloquium as well as being responsible for the student presentations with one other colleague.
Guest Lecturer, University College Cork Delivered a guest lecture with the topic “Using Python for Scripting in Blender” to MSc Interactive Media Students, including a tutorial.
Team Xhalers Member, VR4Rehab Hackathon Worked with a team of physiotherapists, nurses, physicians and other computer scientists to design and prototype “Short games for long covid”; a VR application for aiding in the management of long-covid symptoms in the VR4Rehab hackathon by Interreg.

Projects

EVRST

Emotional Virtual Reality Stroop Task for assessing anxiety levels.

VR scene with a screen and platform
Visual Heights VR

A virtual reality experience for treating fear of heights.

Virtual Reality scene of an elevator
Discord chatbots

Intelligent chatbots using GPT-3 and GPT-J pretrained language models.

Discord logo and two bots, top one named Llan and the bottom one Deniz
ooOoOo

A personal project of a fun little game inspired by Katamari Damacy.

A top-down shooter with cute animals

Contact

Feel free to send me an email through d.mevlevioglu@cs.ucc.ie