Xi Guo

Associate Professor

Email:
xi.guo@bcu.ac.uk

Dr Xi Guo is an Associate Professor of Computer Game Technology. She worked as Course Leader for the BSc Computer Games Technology programme from January 2023 to February 2025 and currently leads the Web Game Development and 3D Game Programming modules.

Since joining the College of Computing in 2020, Dr Guo has worked as a STEAM academic, providing consultancy and support to innovative businesses. She has played a key role in securing funding for various research and collaboration projects. Notably, she initiated and led projects such as REELConnect (honourable mention, Unity Humanity Grant 2025) and IMM (Immersive Map & More, funded by UKRI in 2021). In 2023, she was awarded the BCU STEAM Fellowship and served as Co-Investigator on projects including The Fashion Police (funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund). She also secured research funding as co-Investigator for EDULab project (a Horizon Europe collaborative project, 2025–2027).

Dr Guo has made significant contributions to teaching, learning, and innovation at Birmingham City University (BCU). Her achievements include:

  • AGCAS “Technology for Employability” Nomination (2025) – The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services

Multiple awards from The Independent Game Developers’ Association (TIGA):

  • Innovation in Teaching (2023)
  • Excellence in Games Research (2025)
  • Innovative Teaching (2025)

Faculty Awards:

  • Inventor (2024)
  • The Teaching Exemplar (2023)

She has delivered several invited talks, including:

  • “Future Learning Spaces – Learning and Teaching Reimagined”, invited talk at the Education Strategy Forum, 26–28 February 2025
  • “Immersive Tech for the Creative Industries in the UK”, invited masterclass for the British Council – Argentina, 30 August 2023

Earlier in her career at BCU, Dr Guo worked as a software engineer in the Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences (HELS), where she contributed to the design and implementation of online simulation systems such as Virtual Case Creator and Virtual Moving and Handling. Since 2017, she has led a cross-faculty learning community, REAL FLC (Reality Enhanced Augmented Learning – Faculty Learning Community), comprising academics from diverse disciplines including radiography, nursing, midwifery, education, media, psychology, and computer science.

Her research leadership includes projects that apply immersive technologies to education, such as the Virtual Escape Room for Anatomy Learning and Augmented Reality learning resources for primary education, nursing, and midwifery.

Before joining BCU, Dr Guo was a Research Assistant at De Montfort University, contributing to the iCARE (Distributed Integrated Care Service and Systems) project and the development of a web-based educational game for group-based users.

She completed her PhD at Loughborough University in 2011, following a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2007, and a Bachelor’s degree in 2004.

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