Julia Haile, a PhD student from The University of Western Australia’s School of Psychological Science, has been selected as a finalist in FameLab Australia 2024, with her unique research on making digital avatars' facial expressions more believable beating tough competition.

Ms Haile is among 12 early career researchers and science communicators chosen from across the nation to compete in the FameLab Australia final in Perth on September 26.

To be selected for the semi-finals she had to film and submit a brief video explaining her research, drawing on her experience participating in a 3-minute thesis competition at UWA.

“FameLab and the 3-minute thesis required a different style of communication and with FameLab you couldn’t have any slides so, from my first video submission to the semi-final, I spent a lot of time making different props to help explain my research,” Ms Haile said. 

Image: PhD student Julia Haile.

“Before the semi-finals FameLab provided us with science communication training and seeing everyone’s ideas and skills progress was incredible, but also definitely increased the tension for the final. 

“This experience has allowed me to improve my skills as science communicator and as a researcher, and I’m very excited for the upcoming training and the final!”

Ms Haile’s study ‘How eye gaze influences the interpretation of facial expressions in computer-generated people’ explores the intricate connection between eye gaze and the believability of digital avatars' facial expressions. 

By merging psychology with cutting-edge digital technology, she hopes to unlock the secrets of realistic facial expressions, which has far-reaching implications for fields such as films, video games, healthcare applications, and AI technology.

“Understanding what makes facial expressions in virtual people believable – looking like they come from ‘felt’ emotions – is an important part of helping these virtual people become effective communicators,” she said.

“I focus on eye gaze as a potential feature that could influence believability because it is often associated with determining what another person is going to do or what they are thinking. 

“Understanding the interaction between eye gaze and facial expression believability will hopefully help make virtual people that are able to better communicate with humans.”

FameLab, a global science communication competition, was set up to find and support the world's most talented up-and-coming scientists. 

More details about the FameLab final, as well as information on buying tickets, can be found here. For more details about Ms Haile and her research, listen to her Research on the Record podcast.