About | Ines Said

Hi, I'm Ines!

I grew up a 15-minute walk from Roman ruins.

Today I scan the statues, mosaics and stones from places like them in 3D, with volunteers all over the world. I'm an immersive artist and XR developer from Tunisia, and I love using art and technology to protect our heritage, talk about climate change and make learning more fun.

Ines matching poses with an ancient statue

What I do

What I work on

I founded Tanit XR, a volunteer community that scans Tunisia's endangered heritage in 3D, one object at a time. Our volunteers have already published more than 100 free 3D models!

At Froliq, I'm the Lead XR Developer. I build VR and AR experiences that teach people about energy and sustainability, from the Smithsonian's FUTURES exhibition to Oracle's Connected Hub.

Founder, Tanit XR (2025–)
Lead XR Developer, Froliq (2023–)
Author of the weekly Art, XR & Impact Opportunities newsletter
Judge for Games for Change, EE 30 Under 30, UF's Heavener competition and the E4 Youth Showcase
Living between Washington, D.C. and Tunisia, and I speak English, Arabic and French

See my projects Invite me to speak

Outside of work

When I'm not in a headset

I'm a certified scuba diver

The ocean is my happy place. Tunisia even has sunken cities to look for!

I love hiking & spotting wildlife

I'm happiest on a trail, looking for animals I've never seen before.

I paint and make things by hand

Watercolor, drawing and little crafts. It feels so good to make something you can hold.

Read my blog

My background

Experience & education

Experience

Founder — Tanit XR
A volunteer community scanning Tunisia's heritage in 3D. 100+ free models, 85+ volunteers on four continents
2025–
Lead XR Developer — Froliq
I run our XR projects from the first idea to the demo floor
2023–
XR Developer — Froliq
Smithsonian FUTURES installation and VR energy-education games
2022–23
Adjunct Lecturer — University of Florida
Taught VR application development for Android and wearables
2023
Software Engineer — University of Florida
2021–23
3D Virtualization Lab Intern — USF
Artec scanners, drones, photogrammetry
2018–19

Education

M.S. Digital Arts & Sciences
University of Florida — MiDAS, Digital Worlds Institute
2020–21
B.E. Computer Science
University of South Florida
2015–19
Exchange — Computer Science
Deakin University, Australia
2017

Research

Publications

Six papers so far, cited 33 times. See my Google Scholar profile.

Digital documentation, XR and citizen science for community-led heritage preservation in Tunisia and beyond
Tanit XR team. El Jem International Conference. Published in English, French and Tunisian Arabic.
English (PDF) · Français (PDF) · العربية (PDF)
2026
Immersive Climate Narratives: Using Extended Reality to Raise Climate Change Awareness
I. Said, A. J. Stanbury, E. Delhagen, H. Kang. ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST). The paper behind Shadows of Tomorrow.
ACM
2023
Developing Mini VR Game Engines as an Engaging Learning Method for Digital Arts & Sciences
A. Barmpoutis, W. Guo, I. Said. IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference (ISEC). Best Paper Award.
IEEE Xplore
2023
Covid Reflections: AR in Public Health Communications
I. Said, A. J. Stanbury, E. Delhagen, A. Winger-Bearskin. ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST).
Google Scholar
2022
HoloKeys: Interactive Piano Education Using Augmented Reality and IoT
A. J. Stanbury, I. Said, H. J. Kang. ACM VRST. My most cited paper, cited 18 times.
ACM
2021
SpArc: A VR Animating Tool at Your Fingertips
B. Li, I. Said, L. Kirova, M. Blokhina, H. J. Kang. ACM VRST.
ACM
2021
Immersive learning with an AI-enhanced virtual standardized patient (VSP) to improve dental students’ communication
A. Gowthaman, L. Kirova, B. Li, P. Molen, I. Said, J. Smith, C. Sukotjo. ACHI 2021, International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions.
Google Scholar
2021