Sepehr Vaez Afshar

IMMERSE Graduate Student Council

Sep is a PhD student in Informatics at the University of Illinois, advised by Professor Laura Shackelford. With a background in architecture and historic preservation, he explores the intersection of serious games, XR, and digital heritage. As XR Lead at the GSD stu/dio, he oversees immersive development across all studio projects and establishes standards for XR design and user experience. In addition, he serves as Associate Producer for two large-scale VR projects, VRchaeology and VRRocketry, managing production workflows and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
As a member of the IMMERSE Graduate Student Council (IGSC), Sep contributes to building cross-campus collaborations around XR, immersive education, and digital heritage 

His research in Cultural Informatics explores the adoption of immersive technologies in U.S. museums, the design of educational VR frameworks, and the intersection of heritage education and interactive media.

Sep has developed multiple research-based games focused on cultural heritage and architecture, combining design thinking, storytelling, and data analytics. Before joining UIUC, he was the CTO and co-founder of OyuNest, a creative technology startup company that developed a web-based platform providing game designers, developers, and artists with a time and cost-efficient shared design language for virtual environment creation. Beyond production, Sep serves on the research committees of several international conferences and journals in serious games and digital heritage, including APT and IJSG. His work bridges academic research and practice to advance meaningful and immersive learning environments.

If you’re interested in potential collaborations, please reach out via LinkedIn or email.

Learn more at Illinois.Academia