Miss Quynh Nhu Bui
Details
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Department: School of Design
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Campus: City Campus Australia
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nhu.bui@rmit.edu.au
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ORCID:
0009-0002-2511-1412
About
Nhu Bui is an Associate Lecturer in the Master of Animation, Games & Interactivity (MAGI) Program and a PhD Candidate in Design at RMIT University. Her research sits at the intersection of extended reality (XR), digital heritage, sensory ethnography, and community-engaged design. Growing up in Saigon, Vietnam and now based in Melbourne, she is driven by a commitment to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage—everyday practices, memories, gestures, atmospheres, and craft-based knowledge—through innovative 3D, AR/VR, and interactive media methods.
Research fields
- 430204 Digital heritage
- 4607 Graphics, augmented reality and games
- 430205 Heritage and cultural conservation
- 330302 Design anthropology
- 470213 Postcolonial studies
- 330310 Interaction and experience design
Academic positions
- Associate Lecturer
- RMIT University
- School of Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Jul 2025 – Present
- Sessional Academic
- RMIT University
- School of Design
- Melbourne, Australia
- 1 Jul 2024 – 30 Jun 2025
- Research Assistant
- RMIT University
- PlaceLab
- Melbourne, Australia
- 4 Mar 2023 – 1 Mar 2024
Teaching interests
Nhu is an engaged and reflective educator who teaches across animation, games, interactivity, and digital media design. Her teaching philosophy centres on creating collaborative, inclusive learning environments where students are encouraged to experiment, think critically, and develop confidence in their creative voice. Drawing on her professional experience in UX/UI, XR development, and community-engaged design research, she supports students in developing both conceptual depth and technical fluency in their practice.
In the Industry Portfolio course (COMM2604), she helps postgraduate students articulate and curate their professional identities. Her teaching focuses on reflective practice, strategic portfolio development, and creating impactful online presences. She supports students in navigating industry expectations, understanding contemporary creative labour, and forming meaningful networks across animation, games, and interactivity sectors.
In the Professional Research Project capstone (COMM2785), Nhu mentors students through individually negotiated research projects, guiding them in literature review, research design, critical enquiry, and creating scholarly, practice-based, or industry-oriented outcomes. She offers close guidance on methodology, creative research processes, and professional communication—emphasising clarity, rigour, and relevance to emerging global practices.
In Character, Place & Simulation (GRAP2583), she supports students to explore the interplay between character, environment, motion, and world-building. She helps students draw connections between theory and creative practice, from architectural and spatial storytelling to movement studies and simulation.
Across all courses, Nhu is committed to embedding reflective writing, cultural sensitivity, ethical design practices, and experimentation with emerging technologies. She mentors students with care, provides detailed feedback, and encourages each student to build a practice grounded in curiosity, criticality, and integrity.
Research interests
Nhu's research explores how emerging technologies can meaningfully translate cultural nuance, hybridity, and lived experience without flattening complexity or reinforcing extractive heritage practices. Through autoethnography, 3D photogrammetry, creative practice research, and community workshops across Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and the Vietnamese diaspora in Melbourne, she investigates how digital tools can hold embodied, multisensory, and intergenerational knowledge. Her current PhD project examines street vending culture in Vietnam through field-based scanning, sensory documentation, and AR prototyping, probing how digital representations can evoke affective atmospheres and ethical modes of preservation.
Nhu is passionate about research that is grounded, relational, and accountable to the communities it serves. Her practice advocates for reflexive digital heritage methodologies, ethical photogrammetry, and storytelling approaches that foreground care, cultural specificity, and user experience. She has presented internationally at SIGGRAPH, ISEA, DIGRAA, and Autodesk, and contributed to collaborative research projects with the Brunswick Design District (BDD), Merri-bek City Council, and the City of Melbourne.
Her broader interests include:
– Sensory and immersive media practices
– Decolonial and critical heritage studies
– UX/UI and web-based interactive design
– AR/VR for cultural preservation and education
– Creative-technological pedagogy
– Vietnamese cultural identity and diasporic memory
