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Iranian-born experiences designer,聽,聽country-hopped from Sweden to Canada before joining Sydney in 2016, and it has given her a unique edge in her field.

鈥淟iving in different continents from year to year is not the easiest thing to do, but it鈥檚 definitely been an advantage in my field. If you鈥檙e going to design for people, you need to understand them, and their culture.鈥�

Naseem, an early-career researcher from the , has just kicked off a new project at Westmead, developing virtual and augmented reality experiences to distract young children (aged six and up) while they鈥檙e having medical procedures 鈥� such as stitches, vaccinations and before surgery.

Working in collaboration with paediatricians and anaesthetists聽at the Children鈥檚 Hospital at Westmead, Naseem is gearing up to research the virtual and augmented reality experiences already available in this space, figuring out what鈥檚 working and what鈥檚 not.

From there, the plan is to run focus groups for children, parents and clinicians, to see what each of these groups need, before developing interactive technologies and testing them in two clinical settings 鈥� induction of anaesthesia before paediatric surgeries and vaccination of children with severe needle phobia that prevents them completing their required immunisation schedule.

Once developed, the technologies could be rolled out in emergency and outpatient departments as well as during day surgery procedures and radiology scans.聽

鈥淲e鈥檙e not sure what form the tools will take yet,鈥� Naseem says. 鈥淭hey could include a completely immersive experience, where the child wears virtual reality goggles and is transported to another world, or they could include an iPad app or a physical object that distracts the child without isolating them from their environment entirely.鈥�

Whatever form they take, this will be the first time such technologies have been designed in collaboration with children, so Naseem says the efficacy is likely to be higher than current tools.

There鈥檚 strong evidence to suggest that virtual reality can be very beneficial in medical environments.聽聽that burn patients who used a virtual reality app that transported them into a field of snow felt cooler and experienced less pain.

Meanwhile, Sydney researchers in the School of Psychology are creating an app that allows surgeons to 鈥榩hysically鈥� walk around in a patient鈥檚 body while they prepare for complex surgeries.

Naseem, who also has an engineering background and is a member of the University's聽,聽says the opportunity to work with clinicians at Westmead has been exhilarating 鈥� an opportunity to really make a difference to patients鈥� lives.

鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to spending more time at Westmead this year. It鈥檚 such a collaborative environment. You know if you come up with a great idea, people will listen and help you make it happen.鈥�

Collaboration is an important part of Naseem鈥檚 research ethos. Last year, with the聽help of industry engagement funding from the University, she embarked on another project with healthy ageing company聽聽to design an online tool to assess the wellbeing of older Australians and help them chose the right products to keep them living in their own homes for longer.

鈥淢y intention is to make an impact, to make a difference in people鈥檚 lives. Working with industry, and clinicians who are at the coalface, makes sense because it allows you to see how your research is applied in practice and translate it so that it can be used every day by those who need it.鈥�