Mattia Barbieri is a Post Doctoral Researcher specializing in Vision Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Extended Reality. His work focuses on visual perception, low vision, eye-tracking, oculomotor behavior, and visual rehabilitation. He develops immersive XR systems and gaze-contingent technologies for the simulation of visual impairments and the study of human adaptation to altered sensory conditions. He is the creator of Altered Reality, an immersive platform for low-vision simulation, rehabilitation, and behavioral research.
In 2024, he earned a Ph.D. in Bioengineering and Robotics, specializing in Cognitive, Interaction, and Rehabilitation Technologies, from the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the University of Genoa. His research focused on designing and developing a wearable immersive system to simulate various low-vision conditions in augmented reality, enhancing visual rehabilitators' training. He created a unique form of MR called Altered Reality (TR) and investigated its ability to induce oculomotor alterations in healthy-sighted subjects similar to those seen in individuals with maculopathy, hemianopsia, and tubular vision. His work provides a fully wearable system for training visual rehabilitators and enables researchers to study oculomotor alterations in healthy-sighted subjects. He collaborated with renowned scientists, including Giulio Sandini, Silvio Sabatini, Alessandra Sciutti, and Monica Gori.
In 2019 he obtained a Master's Degree in Digitial Humanities: Communication and New Media where he had the opportunity to acquire strong knowledge in human-computer interaction, cognitive ergonomics, and interaction in augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR). His thesis concerns the design and development of an application that aims to organize public spaces in AR and VR.
In 2017 he obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Modern Languages, Cultures, and Literature. Humanistic fields were the core and the soul of his instruction. He ended his bachelor's by defending his thesis: "Non-verbal communication in Twin Peaks".