Haotian Yao obtained his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Beihang University (China) in 2022. He then pursued a master’s degree in biomedical engineering at ETH Zürich (Switzerland), where he specialized in neural systems and virtual reality. During his master’s, his research focused on developing VR systems to study spatial representation in the rodent brain and using immersive environments in human experiments to investigate pain perception.
He joined the LNCO at EPFL to pursue a PhD in neuroscience. His doctoral research mainly explores how visual and vestibular signals interact to shape bodily self-consciousness and altered states such as out-of-body experiences, using virtual reality and sensorimotor manipulation equipment.