Staff profile

I am deeply passionate about the intersection of psychology, education, and computer science, where my interests converge to explore innovative ways of leveraging technology for advancements in mental health care and education. My primary focus is on leveraging cutting-edge tools such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) within psychological frameworks to develop immersive, gamified, and personalised therapeutic and educational experiences. By integrating these technologies, I aim to address diverse psychological and learning challenges, ultimately enhancing individual well-being, learning outcomes, and overall user experience.

• Virtual Reality (VR)
• Brain-Computer Interface (BCI)
• EEG
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Mental Health

Chapter in book

• Fine-grained Main Ideas Extraction and Clustering of Online Course Reviews
  
  Xiao, C., Shi, L., Cristea, A., Li, Z., & Pan, Z. (2022). Fine-grained Main Ideas Extraction and Clustering of Online Course Reviews. In M. Rodrigo, N. Matsuda, A. Cristea, & V. Dimitrova (Eds.), Artificial Intelligence in Education (pp. 294-306). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11644-5_24
• SimStu-Transformer: A Transformer-Based Approach to Simulating Student Behaviour
  
  Li, Z., Shi, L., Cristea, A., Zhou, Y., Xiao, C., & Pan, Z. (2022). SimStu-Transformer: A Transformer-Based Approach to Simulating Student Behaviour. In Artificial Intelligence in Education. Posters and Late Breaking Results, Workshops and Tutorials, Industry and Innovation Tracks, Practitioners’ and Doctoral Consortium (pp. 348-351). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11647-6_67

Conference Paper

• Reducing University Students’ Exam Anxiety via Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in VR with Real-Time EEG Neurofeedback
  
  Pan, Z., Cristea, A. I., & Li, F. W. B. (2024). Reducing University Students’ Exam Anxiety via Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in VR with Real-Time EEG Neurofeedback. In Artificial Intelligence in Education. Posters and Late Breaking Results, Workshops and Tutorials, Industry and Innovation Tracks, Practitioners, Doctoral Consortium and Blue Sky (pp. 418-423). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64312-5_52
• Virtual Reality (VR) in Safety Education: A Case Study of Mining Engineering
  
  Chang, H., Pan, Z., & Cristea, A. I. (2024). Virtual Reality (VR) in Safety Education: A Case Study of Mining Engineering. In Artificial Intelligence in Education. Posters and Late Breaking Results, Workshops and Tutorials, Industry and Innovation Tracks, Practitioners, Doctoral Consortium and Blue Sky (pp. 382-387). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64312-5_47
• Towards Neuro-Enhanced Education: A Systematic Review of BCI-Assisted Development for Non-academic Skills and Abilities
  
  Pan, Z., & Cristea, A. I. (2024). Towards Neuro-Enhanced Education: A Systematic Review of BCI-Assisted Development for Non-academic Skills and Abilities. In Generative Intelligence and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (pp. 49-66). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-63031-6_5

Journal Article

• Explainable artificial intelligence and advanced feature selection methods for predicting gas concentration in longwall mining
  
  Chang, H., Wang, X., Cristea, A. I., Meng, X., Hu, Z., & Pan, Z. (2025). Explainable artificial intelligence and advanced feature selection methods for predicting gas concentration in longwall mining. Information Fusion, 118, Article 102976. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inffus.2025.102976