ProfessorChee Siang Ang

I am a Visiting Professor at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, specialising in human-centred digital health. My research focuses on designing and deploying technologies—including virtual/augmented reality, sensing, and AI-driven virtual humans—to improve well-being in real-world settings. I am currently developing empathic, trustworthy virtual humans to support medical training, patient care, and clinical decision-making. This includes virtual patients for clinical interview training, virtual assistants for people with motor neuron disease, and AI collaborators for clinicians.

I am a Professor at University of Kent (Computing), and Kent and Medway Medical School. I am also Academic Co-Director of the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries (iCCi) at Kent, where I lead research strategy of the Docking Station, a £14m immersive digital studio. Our goal is to harness creative technologies, including AI-driven virtual humans and large-scale medical simulations, to tackle health inequalities in coastal Kent.

Current Projects:
a) I am currently co-leading an EPSRC-funded project exploring how AI-powered virtual human technology can be integrated into two NHS Trusts in Kent. More information: https://www.kent.ac.uk/news/health-social-care-and-wellbeing/36516/ai-powered-virtual-humans-set-to-boost-nhs-care-in-kent-and-medway

b) I supervise two PhD students at the Kent and Medway Medical School who are designing virtual patients to help train medical students in clinical interview skills. I also supervise a PhD student at King’s College London focused on using virtual human technology to provide emotional and informational support for caregivers and patients.

c) I am co-leading a theme within an EPSRC-funded Network+ initiative focused on developing technologies to support language and communication for people living with dementia: UKRI announcement. More information: https://www.ukri.org/news/harnessing-technology-to-help-people-living-with-dementia/

d) We’re taking virtual human technology to space! I am working on a one-year project in collaboration with LunAres, a European analog space research station that collaborates with the European Space Agency, to explore how virtual humans can support astronaut health during long-duration missions