Leveraging Augmented Reality (AR) in the experience centered design of gamified interventions to promote physical activity

Physical inactivity remains a persistent public health challenge, while many digital interventions struggle to sustain engagement beyond initial novelty. This PhD investigates how Augmented Reality (AR) gamified systems can be designed to support sustained motivation and participation in everyday physical activity. The research frames AR gamified interventions as experience-centred interactive systems that can shape how movement is experienced in embodied, situated, and potentially social ways. The research adopts a multi-phase, mixed-methods approach combining an ongoing scoping review, formative inquiry, iterative prototype development, and early-stage mechanism-informed evaluation. It is expected to contribute a clearer conceptual, methodological, and design-oriented account of how AR gamified systems may support daily physical activity in more meaningful and sustainable ways.