CHSEL
Projects

Some of the more interesting projects, published or not.

A selection of senior projects and MS theses supervised in the lab, grouped by research theme. Work that reached publication is marked as such; work that stopped at a tested prototype or a field study is listed with what it actually found. Both are part of the record.

01

Neurodivergent Children & Assistive Technology

10 projects · 3 ongoing · 7 completed
OngoingSproj · 2025–26

EAST — Explainable AI Screening for Autism

A culturally-grounded explainable AI system for autism developmental screening in South Asia, correcting for parental scoring bias. Action-imitation and voice-imitation tasks each paired with an explainability layer so clinicians can see why a score was given.

OutcomeMultiple ML models trained with pilot studies and clinician-alignment analysis; explainability layer still iterating.Tooba Abdullah
OngoingSproj · 2025–26

Khoj — ADHD Screening

A school-deployable ADHD screening pipeline for Pakistani children aged 8–12, since existing objective tools require fMRI or EEG hardware unavailable locally. Dus Pattay is a Unity tablet game across five measurement domains; Khoj is a bilingual parent-education companion.

OutcomeDesign and implementation complete for both apps after interviews with 8 psychologists and school visits. ML-based scoring is the next phase.Maryam Ayub, Khadija Imran, Fatima Mohsin Khan
OngoingSproj · 2025–26

Robot-Assisted Speech-Language Therapy

How social robots can support speech-language therapy for Pakistani children, across ASD-related communication deficits, articulation, developmental language disorder, stuttering, dysarthria and bilingual code-switching gaps.

OutcomeLiterature review, practitioner interviews and study design complete; pre-registration stage.
CompletedSproj · 2020–21

Qawaid-4-Dyslexia (Q4D)

A probabilistic Urdu-language dyslexia screening tool. An estimated 15–20% of Pakistani children show signs of dyslexia, but no indigenous-language assessment tool existed. Eight tests across three grade bands, with Urdu word data collected from special-education institutes.

OutcomeScreening flow functional by end of semester. Field testing with the target demographic blocked by COVID.Ayesha Rafi, Daniyal Ahmed, Muhammad Sabeeh Rehman, Saniah Mubashir
CompletedMS thesis

Qawaid4Dyslexia — Urdu Handwriting Data & Auto-Correction

An eight-month case study with six diagnosed dyslexic students and two psychologist-teachers identifying the specific error patterns Urdu writers with dyslexia make — phonological confusions, join-word misspellings, skipped short vowels, letter-shape confusions — compared against Arabic, Persian and English.

OutcomeA first-of-its-kind labelled dataset for Urdu dyslexic handwriting, plus a working rule-based corrector.Sayyeda Rijab · supervised with Dr. Asim Karim
CompletedMS thesis

Beyond Mathematical Scores — AI-Based Dyscalculia Screening

Gameplay and assessment data from 680 primary-school children across six Lahore schools. Gaussian Mixture Model clustering uncovered latent risk subgroups, then a Random Forest classifier stratified severity.

Outcome90.44% accuracy in multiclass risk stratification, deployed in a React/Firebase app with student and teacher dashboards.
CompletedMS thesis · 2018

A Computer-Based Urdu Reading Intervention for Dyslexia

Three Unity mini-games targeting the reading sub-skills Urdu-speaking children with dyslexia struggle with most, grounded in the Dual Route Model and Urdu's dual orthography. Tested with 15 children at an SOS Village orphanage in Karachi.

OutcomeStatistically significant gains in accuracy and response time for Letter Identification (p = 0.0001) and Non-Word Spelling (p = 0.0028).Salman Javed · with Dr. Sana Haidry
CompletedMS thesis

Mobile Learning Applications for Autistic Children

Five tablet-based learning applications plus an adapted version of Guess Who?, field-tested with eight autistic children over seven weeks at a specialist school in Lahore, targeting turn-taking, question-asking, categorisation and social attention.

OutcomeStatistically significant gains in targeted skills — early evidence that low-cost tablet interventions support autism education in a developing-country context.
CompletedSproj · 2015–19

Aphasia Communication & Rehabilitation Toolkit

A digital toolkit for aphasia, developed with neuro-physicians and speech-language pathologists in Lahore. Three prototypes explored different assistive pathways: OCR-based handwriting recognition, speech-to-text detection, and a VR interaction environment.

OutcomeInitial prototyping complete; patient interviews were the next step.Anas Shahzad, Momina Abid, Izma Naim Butt, Noman Maqsood
CompletedMS thesis · 2015–19

Computer Vision-Based Behavioral Screening for Autism

Whether low-cost computer vision could screen for autism-related behavioural markers, as an alternative to lengthy specialist-dependent clinical assessment. Reviewed eye-tracking, motor-skill and affective-computing approaches.

OutcomeFormal proposal, stakeholder survey instruments and a catalog of validated clinical assessment tools.
02

Mental Health & Digital Wellbeing

9 projects · 1 ongoing · 8 completed
CompletedMS thesis

CareSync — Clinical Decision Support for Campus Mental Health

A platform for university counselling centres built on React, Supabase and FastAPI. Its Acoustic-Text Emotional Incongruence engine compares what a client says against how they say it — jitter, shimmer, vocal intensity and speech rate against a RoBERTa linguistic model — surfacing moments where words and vocal affect do not match.

OutcomeAlerts appear on a secondary screen during live sessions with an explainable acoustic-versus-linguistic breakdown. Designed strictly as a co-pilot: it flags, the clinician decides.
CompletedSproj · 2022–23

Mindways — CBT Through Gamification for High Schoolers

Gamified CBT delivered inside a to-scale 3D recreation of the students' own school, with scenarios embedded at real campus locations. A parallel 2D prototype served as the control condition.

OutcomeThe 3D version was rated substantially more immersive (83.3% versus 33.3%). No significant pre/post shift in rational reasoning — most participants already chose rational responses.Zuha Kaleem, Mohammad Jahanzeb Raza, Faizan Elahi, Zersh Salman
CompletedSproj · 2024–25

TechTaleem — Teen Mental Health Support

A mental health support solution for Pakistani high-school students addressing academic stress, isolation and distrust of available resources. A 61-respondent survey, school interviews at three campuses, and a co-design workshop with scenario cards.

OutcomeReached a usability-tested prototype (SUS plus pre-test questionnaires).Hammad, Yashal, Adeen
CompletedSproj · 2021–22

VR for Anxiety Patients

Natural virtual environments with mindfulness and breathing exercises, grounded in exposure therapy. The team pivoted from an indoor therapy room to a nature setting after expert feedback that nature environments outperform closed spaces.

OutcomeA working Unity prototype with guided breathing exercises. Biometric sensors were proposed to measure therapeutic effect.Amna Khalid, Aimen Abid
CompletedSproj · 2021–22

Gamification for Mental Health Across High Schools

Whether interactive storytelling can encourage Pakistani high-schoolers to engage with their mental health, given high stigma and low access to therapy. Storyboarding and interviews surfaced grade anxiety, favouritism, harassment and self-harm.

OutcomeA working narrative-game prototype grounded in CBT and narrative therapy, with one of five planned chapters complete.Hamza Naveed, Irzum Bin Mansoor Jafri, Rana Fida Hussain
CompletedSproj · 2024–25

Academic Procrastination & Digital Distraction

An ethnographic study of 17 LUMS undergraduates: two weeks of daily app-usage logging, screen-time capture around deadlines, four interviews and a focus group.

OutcomeInstagram and WhatsApp emerged as top distractors against ChatGPT and GoodNotes as facilitators — and screen time drops, rather than spikes, near deadlines.Eman Khalid, Hammad Javaid, Mian Muhammad Mustafa Hayat, Yashal Waseem
CompletedSproj · 2021–22

Persuasive Sleep & Wellbeing App for Students

Staged behaviour-change journeys across sleep, focus, fitness and mood, grounded in the Fogg Behavior Model and the Transtheoretical Model.

OutcomeResearch found students associate "wellbeing apps" with stigma but respond to "behaviour change" framing. A multi-module prototype was tested by change stage.
CompletedSproj · 2019–20

Teen Depression — Narrative Simulation

An avatar-driven branching narrative supporting students around social anxiety and depression, set in orientation week. Grounded in avatar-based digital therapeutics, serious games and CBT for social anxiety.

OutcomeStrong research and narrative-design phase, with validated instruments (PHQ-2/9, NEO-FFI) and a drafted branching story.
OngoingMS thesis

Student Mental Health Risk Modelling

A predictive risk-modelling system aimed at identifying students at elevated risk before a crisis develops, in the same computational mental-health stream as CareSync.

OutcomeIn progress.
03

Learning & Educational Technology

3 projects · 1 ongoing · 2 completed
CompletedSproj · 2022–23

MathMate — Adaptive Math Learning

An adaptive app diagnosing individual students' specific addition mistakes, against ASER data showing only ~51% of rural grade-5 students can do grade-2-level math. A pilot at a government school, then a main study on addition with 220 grade-3 students.

OutcomeErrors coded into 8 categories; a CNN and classical models reached up to 87% accuracy on two mistake types, deployed in a prototype with diagnostic tests and targeted practice.Ayesha Fazal Lashkarwala, Umama Nasir Abbasi · with Knowledge Platform
CompletedSproj · 2019–20

Urdu Digital Storytelling App

Addressing the decline of creative Urdu writing in Pakistani primary schools with a gamified storytelling app: an Urdu synonym dictionary, a doodle pad, a curated image bank and Urdu speech-to-text dictation.

OutcomeFull proposal and functional requirements documented; implementation extent unconfirmed.Waleed Malik, Mian Awais Ahmed
OngoingSproj · 2024–25

ShaoorEdu

An education-focused project in the research and discovery phase, with a literature review and a second round of user interviews complete.

OutcomeDiscovery phase.
04

Ageing, Dementia & Care Technologies

6 projects · 3 ongoing · 3 completed
OngoingSproj · 2025–26

VR Rehab — Physical & Mental Rehabilitation

Whether gamified VR simulating everyday activities improves engagement and outcomes in upper-limb rehabilitation for stroke, Parkinson's and spinal injury patients. A Unity XR virtual house with five tasks targeting wrist rotation, reach and hand-eye coordination.

OutcomePiloted with real patients through May 2026; initial results show improved fine motor speed and dexterity across sessions.Izza Ashraf, Anum Javed, Syeda Rahimah Ali Gilani
OngoingSproj · 2025–26

carefor — Support for Family Caregivers of the Elderly

A culturally-grounded system for informal Pakistani family caregivers, addressing both logistical burden and emotional stressors. Interviews identified six themes: emotional labour, medical management, social isolation, filial piety, elder resistance to help, and stress buffers.

OutcomeA dyadic prototype with a caregiver side and a simplified care-recipient side, usability-tested. Next: testing with elderly care-recipients directly.Areej Ali, Ahla Asim, Rahimeen Ali
CompletedSproj · 2022–23

Aarzu — Virtual Physiotherapy Platform

A telerehabilitation platform for PSRD Hospital, letting lower-income physically disabled patients access physiotherapy remotely instead of facing financial, time and weather barriers to in-person visits. Doctor, patient and admin applications with a bilingual interface.

OutcomeFull SRS, database schema and prototypes, plus a redesign iteration incorporating clinician feedback under an MoU with PSRD.Minahil Faisal, Muhammad Ahmad Mehmood, Sarat Ahmad, Ali Hashim
CompletedSproj · 2015–19

The Adoption of Mobile Phones Amongst the Elderly of Pakistan

How Pakistanis aged 50 and older actually use, or avoid, mobile phones — 102 surveyed users split between smartphone and feature-phone owners, with 20 follow-up interviews.

OutcomeFound markedly low trust in online transactions among older users, and produced design recommendations for age-friendly interfaces on both device classes.Ali Abbas Quettawala, Rabia Tariq, Shahzaib Ansari
CompletedSproj · 2022–23

VR-Based Nature Relaxation & Rehabilitation

Two phases: immersive VR nature environments for relaxation, then a VR physiotherapy exercise tool for patients of the Pakistan Society for Rehabilitation of the Disabled.

Outcome3D nature scenes and a Unity app with an exercise selection flow referencing a PSRD rehab plan.
OngoingSproj · 2024–25

Dementia & Ageing

An early-stage dementia and ageing technology project.

OutcomeResearch and discovery phase.
05

Gender, Equity & Technology

7 projects · 1 published · 6 completed
PublishedSproj · 2025–26

Tasawur — Challenging Gender Stereotypes with Pre-Teens

A bilingual, AI-mediated web app challenging implicit gender stereotypes among Pakistani pre-teens aged 9–12. Formative research with 24 children and 20 parents found boys assigned to leadership roles and girls to caregiving. Children drag characters into roles across a map of everyday locations, then engage in Socratic LLM dialogue that prompts reflection without correcting them.

OutcomeAn evaluation with 18 children showed a measurable shift from gender-based to capability-based reasoning during sessions.PaperIDC '26 — ACM Interaction Design and Children, Brighton, June 2026Muhammad Shafay Tanveer Hassan, Choudhary Usman Alam, Aleeshay Irfan
CompletedSproj · 2020–21

Awaaz — Harassment Support App

A safe space for Pakistani women aged 15–40 to find help after harassment, combining legal information, emotional support and reporting tools. Built on 136 survey responses and interviews with a lawyer and a harassment-committee member.

OutcomeUsability testing with 20 participants showed a 96%+ task success rate; 95% would install it.Haleema Jamal Khan, Mariyam Tanveer, Muhammad Hassan Tanveer, Muhammad Zain Tariq
CompletedSproj · 2020–21

Agaahi — Women's Health & Family Planning

Family planning information and cycle tracking for Pakistani women, addressing the lack of culturally appropriate, private resources. A bilingual prototype with illustrated stories, a contraceptive-guidance chatbot, a disguised private mode, and content encouraging male involvement.

OutcomeHigh-fidelity prototype usability-tested across three phases with five women and a counsellor.Hayat Awais Malik, Muhammad Shehryar Sharif, Khadija Arif, Minhal Aftab
CompletedSproj · 2022–23

Dark Patterns: Effects on Children in the Global South

How manipulative UX affects children in Pakistan, and whether socioeconomic status and parental supervision change vulnerability. A drawing and survey study with 16 grade-5 children mapping their most-used apps.

OutcomeFound wide personal device ownership and gendered content preferences, plus a Dark Patterns Repository cataloguing manipulative design per app.Bismah Najeeb, Mahnoor Malik, Memuna Tariq
CompletedSproj · 2021–22

Baby Steps — Child Developmental Milestone Tracker

Helping mothers track communication, motor and personal-social milestones from 2 to 36 months, alongside awareness content and activities. User research with 19 mothers and doctor interviews.

OutcomeA 100-screen high-fidelity prototype usability-tested with seven mothers.
CompletedSproj · 2021–22

ChildSpace — Parental Control Tools

Why parental-control apps popular in the West see low adoption in Pakistan. 84 parents surveyed, 33 existing apps benchmarked, and two shortlisted apps usability-tested with 30 parents.

OutcomeChildSpace achieved a 98.9% task completion rate, outperforming both commercial apps tested.Hareem Raza, Syed Muhammad Daniyal Zaidi, Hassaan Ahmad Waqar
CompletedSproj · 2022–23

Harassment Awareness & Bystander Intervention

A narrative and illustration-based intervention raising awareness of sexual harassment on campus and encouraging bystander intervention, grounded in LUMS harassment-policy categories.

OutcomeIllustrated scenario sets mapped to real campus locations, with focus groups organised by harassment category.
06

Heritage, Culture & Civic Life

3 projects · 3 completed
CompletedSproj · 2019–20

Walled City Trails — Lahore Virtual Tour

A virtual tour of the historic Walled City of Lahore, since much of its heritage is unmarked or mislabelled on Google Maps. Students walked the walled city, verified map locations and compiled structured data and photo documentation for each historic gate and surrounding neighbourhood.

OutcomeA working released app build with a substantial structured dataset across multiple gates — one of the most fully deployed projects in its cohort.Taimoor Ali, Azan Bin Zahid, and others
CompletedMS thesis · 2018

Amuseum — AR Museum Guide

An ARCore Android application testing whether AR guides children through museum exhibits more effectively than a conventional guided tour, overlaying 3D models, animations and contextual information onto real exhibits.

OutcomeBuilt and evaluated as an MS thesis.Muhammad Jibran Ali
CompletedSproj · 2019–20

Puppet Museum Guide App

A digital guide to the Rafi Peer Cultural Centre puppet collection, with an events calendar, directions and an object-scan feature.

OutcomeReached the UX design and content-gathering stage.
07

Other Work

3 projects · 3 completed
CompletedSproj · 2020–21

Project Divert — Firefighting Training in VR

A VR firefighter-training system developed with the Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Academy, teaching cognitive skills like scene size-up that are hard to practise repeatedly in physical simulators. Seven expert interviews and a focus group with instructors.

OutcomeTwo VR scenarios built — the fire academy and the real Hafeez Center mall, site of an actual 2020 fire — with fire-stage simulation and crowd-behaviour AI.Abdul Moeed Asad, Ali Asghar Aamir, Muhammad Usman, Qutaiba Rohan Ul Haq
CompletedSproj · 2020–21

Distracted-Driving VR & Affective Systems

A Unity VR project on distracted and stressed driving scenarios, aimed at emotion detection and regulation for road-safety awareness.

OutcomeA built, playable Unity version with storyboards and user personas.
CompletedSproj · 2020–21

Art Vision — Computer-Vision Photo Editing

A free web app applying computer vision to creative photo editing: photomosaic generation, neural style transfer and a crayon-effect filter using bilateral filtering and edge detection.

OutcomeWorking individual feature demos; frontend-backend integration was still in progress.

Want to run one of these?

Most of this work started as a course project or a senior project. Students who want to take one further join the lab as research assistants and continue towards publication.