Bernardo Nunes
School of Computing
Bernardo Pereira Nunes
About Me
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela
I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing and Sub Dean (Education Programs) at the College of Engineering, Computing and Cybernetics at the Australian National University (ANU). My journey in academia is grounded in a passion for advancing computer science education and a dedication to impactful research aimed at transforming society into a better place. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working across diverse educational institutions, fostering learning and innovation within and beyond the classroom.
My teaching approach in computer science centres on making complex, often abstract concepts engaging, accessible, and relevant. I achieve this by integrating project-based learning, student-centered techniques, and active methodologies such as game-based learning.
Two of my well-known teaching innovations are the CS Escape Room, which transforms learning through immersive problem-solving, and Stubents, an educational platform designed to highlight students’ skills.
I am honoured to be the recipient of the ANU Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Award (2023), as well as the Remote Teaching Award (2020) from the College of Engineering, Computing, and Cybernetics, recognising my commitment to creating engaging, high-quality learning experiences and to co-creating knowledge in large classroom settings.
My research spans Web Science, Computer Science Education, and the Semantic Web, where I am particularly driven by understanding how these fields intersect to shape societal impacts. With over 120 publications in top-tier journals and conferences, my work explores data interlinking, educational technology, and the ethical implications of digital engagement. One of my most recognised contributions is the FireMe app, a project that attracted international media attention, including CNN, Fox News, Le Monde, and The New York Times, for its insights into digital behaviour and data privacy.
My dedication to research has been recognised through multiple awards, including the ANU HDR Supervisor of the Month (2023), and honours for student projects I’ve supervised.
Beyond my research and teaching accolades, I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and have received various distinctions for my contributions to computer science education and research. I am also a program committee member for numerous renowned conferences and journals, and I have served the academic community in multiple leadership roles, helping to shape the future of our field.
My work not only aims to foster innovation within academia but also to inspire a new generation of learners and researchers who are equipped to tackle the evolving challenges of technology and society.
Resume
Short bio

Bernardo holds a PhD in Informatics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), with a research period at Leibniz Universität Hannover (2014). He also earned a Master’s in Informatics (2009) and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering (2006) from PUC-Rio. Currently, he serves as Associate Dean (Student Experience) and Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University within the College of Systems and Society. He is a Collaborating Professor for the Postgraduate Program in Informatics at UNIRIO (since 2015) and an adjunct professor on leave from the Department of Informatics at PUC-Rio (2014–2019). Bernardo also sits on the International Advisory Board of the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, is Vice-Chair of Educational Activity for the IEEE Technical Committee on Learning Technology, and is an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies. He has held multiple research roles, including as a researcher at the L3S Research Center in Germany (2012, 2013, and 2017), research fellow at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) in Italy (2015), research fellow at the Australian National University (2018), senior lecturer at the Centre for Digital Humanities Research at ANU (2019–2022), and visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania (2024). Bernardo has received numerous national and international research awards and has authored over 120 publications, including conference papers, book chapters, and journal articles. He co-developed the FireMe app, which gained global attention, featuring in major media outlets such as The New York Times, Le Monde, The Washington Post, CNN, and FOX. Additionally, he reviews for prestigious conferences and journals, including IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, International Semantic Web Conference, ACM Hypertext Conference, International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM), IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, and SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education.
- Stubents: a new formative and active learning assessment strategy for sustainable education
- 2024-2025
- This project enhances learning in large, diverse classrooms by employing active learning methodologies. Using the "Stubents" platform (Chen & Nunes, 2024), students create and review multimodal resources tailored to their learning needs. This approach fosters a collaborative, inclusive, and effective learning environment that promotes a deeper understanding of course content while building soft skills such as collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. This project focuses on adapting the "Students" platform for broader course applications, enabling it to function as a portfolio hub for students to showcase their work.
- Bernardo Pereira Nunes (Primary Investigator), Aylin Chen, Clement Chen, Dylan Campbell, Thiago N. da Silva
- Funded by the Australian National University (Strategic Learning and Teaching Grants)
- Stubents: a new formative and active learning assessment strategy for sustainable education
- 2024-2025
- This project enhances learning in large, diverse classrooms by employing active learning methodologies. Using the "Stubents" platform (Chen & Nunes, 2024), students create and review multimodal resources tailored to their learning needs. This approach fosters a collaborative, inclusive, and effective learning environment that promotes a deeper understanding of course content while building soft skills such as collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. This project focuses on adapting the "Students" platform for broader course applications, enabling it to function as a portfolio hub for students to showcase their work.
- Bernardo Pereira Nunes (Primary Investigator), Aylin Chen, Clement Chen, Dylan Campbell, Thiago N. da Silva
- Funded by the Australian National University (Strategic Learning and Teaching Grants)
- APR Intern Agreement - ANU & Telstra
- 2024-2025
- This project brings together Telstra and ANU to develop innovative solutions focused on enhancing service quality and customer satisfaction. It was established through an agreement between AMSI, the industry partner, and the ANU, enabling students to apply their academic knowledge within a professional environment under the guidance of their supervisors.
- Bernardo Pereira Nunes (Supervisor), Alyssa Sha (Research Intern)
- Funded by Telstra and Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI)/WiSE Program
- The Escape Room Hub
- 2023-2024
- This project established a university-wide Escape Room Hub at ANU to serve as a central resource for creating and refining escape rooms for interdisciplinary teaching. The Hub focuses on advancing escape room software, developing guidelines and frameworks, creating learning resources, and contributing to global research on gamification in higher education.
- Bernardo Pereira Nunes (Primary Investigator), Guddu Kaur, Thiago N. da Silva, Amy Parry, Bruna Contro
- Funded by the Australian National University (Strategic Learning and Teaching Grants)
- The Educational Data Observatory Network
- 2022-2023
- This project aimed to create "The EducatioNal Data Observatory Network" (TENDON) - a participatory, co-creative and demand-driven network formed by multidisciplinary researchers, educational leaders and other educational stakeholders - to strengthen the relations among south-south countries; establish a research group with a south-south focus to leverage high-quality education; expose students and academic staff to diverse views and focused research on the realities faced by the southern region; bring awareness of common problems at all educational levels via evidence-based approaches; share data, experiences and resources following the FAIR principles; monitor and set educational indicators that meet the needs and diversity of southern countries through live data dashboards; and, support the creation of educational policies to ensure access to quality, inclusive, and equitable education.
- Bernardo Pereira Nunes (Primary Investigator), Sean Siqueira, Rubén Manrique
- Funded by the Australian National Centre for Latin American Studies
2026 Wally Thompson Research Showcase
2nd AI in Education Conference (ANZ)
3rd Annual Virtual Institute for Alternative Assessment in Higher Education
Muse: On Ideas
(AI and Cybernetics)
Quality Assurance in Online Learning Webinar Series
Our Digital Future Series
AIIA TV
EduTECH Congress and Expo
Quality in Education in Latin America
EduTECH Congress and Expo
Advanced Learning and Teaching Workshop
Research Talk at PUC-Rio
Technology and Learning Integrity
GLAM Games Workshop
Academic Integrity Awareness Day
Planetário do Rio
Publications
Research Team
Learning never exhausts the mind.
Leonardo da Vinci
- Can Yang, PhD Candidate
- PhD Candidate
- Thesis Title TBD
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Aldo Taranto, PhD Candidate
- PhD Candidate
- Thesis Title TBD
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Juan Camilo, PhD Candidate
- PhD Awarded in 2025
- Designing Effective Academic Resources Recommendations in Low-Information Environments
- Dept of Systems and Computing Engineering, Los Andes University
- Co-Supervisor
- Marcelo Tibau
- PhD awarded in 2024
- Quantifying Knowledge Gain in Online Searches: The DKG Metric
- Applied Informatics, UNIRIO
- Co-Supervisor
- Ghodai Abdelrahman
- PhD awarded in 2024
- Knowledge Tracing using Deep Learning Methods
- School of Computing, ANU
- Associate Supervisor
- Thiago Baesso Procaci
- PhD awarded in 2019
- Padrões Comportamentais e Feature Learning para Analisar o Prestígio de Usuários em Comunidades Online de Perguntas e Respostas
- Applied Informatics, UNIRIO
- Co-Supervisor
- Rosa R. S. Ruidias, PhD Candidate
- PhD Candidate
- Thesis Title TBD
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Aylin (Yige) Chen, PhD Candidate
- PhD Candidate
- Thesis Title TBD
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Alyssa Sha, PhD Candidate
- PhD Candidate
- Thesis Title TBD
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Xu Xinyuan
- PhD awarded in 2025
- Detecting Suicidal Ideation in the Online Environment
- Interdisciplinary and Cross-Cultural Research, ANU
- Associate Supervisor
- Renee Eve Dixson
- PhD awarded in 2024
- Assembling Queer Displacement Archive
- Interdisciplinary and Cross-Cultural Research, ANU
- Associate Supervisor
- Crystiam Kelle Pereira e Silva
- PhD awarded in 2021
- Complexity of Digital Resources: An analysis of the complexity of digital resources through their conceptual network
- Applied Informatics, UNIRIO
- Co-Supervisor
- Wenyu Dai
- Master awarded in 2026
- TBD
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Haoting Chen
- Master awarded in 2026
- TBD
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Zhenhui Gu
- Master awarded in 2023
- Analysing the Validity of Features Implemented in DKT Models
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Yifeng Liu
- Master awarded in 2022
- Predicting student engagement using sequential model
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Marika Tani
- Master awarded in 2022
- Challenges and Opportunities posed by ChatGPT on Introductory Programming Courses
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Yixin Cheng
- Master awarded in 2021
- Improving Students' Academic Performance through AI and Semantic Technologies
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Sicheng Hao
- Master awarded in 2021
- Using upper body detection methods to identify a person
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Jônatas C. dos Santos
- Master awarded in 2020
- Investigating Personalization in Twitter Search through an Experiment on Polarized Accounts and Opinions on the Brazilian Social Welfare Reform
- Applied Informatics, UNIRIO
- Co-Supervisor
- Hao Ye
- Master awarded in 2026
- TBD
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Minh Hien Bui
- Master awarded in 2026
- An Image Captioning Benchmark
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Rosa R. S. Ruidias
- Master awarded in 2023
- Educational Data Observatories in LATAM
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Jiayi Shen
- Master awarded in 2022
- Curriculum Analytics on Academic Records
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Zirui Chen
- Master awarded in 2022
- Improving image captioning generation for Artworks
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Xinran Tian
- Master awarded in 2021
- Online Student Engagement Prediction using LSTM
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Glen Goodwin
- Master awarded in 2021
- Classifying Ancient Roman coins using computer vision: a case study approach to knowledge democracy in Digital Classics
- Centre for Digital Humanities Research, ANU
- Supervisor
- Marcelo Tibau
- Master awarded in 2019
- Understanding Web Search Patterns through Exploratory Seach as a Knowledge-Intensive Process
- Applied Informatics, UNIRIO
- Co-Supervisor
- Nanxuan Xie
- Master awarded in 2026
- TBD
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Wenzheng Yang
- Master awarded in 2023
- Dataset Creation for Student Engagement Prediction
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Leiber Baoqian Lyu
- Master awarded in 2022
- Sexist Hate Speech detection between English and Chinese Languages
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Xian Yang
- Master awarded in 2022
- Options Volatility Prediction
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Can Yang
- Master awarded in 2021
- Image captioning for Artworks
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Peng Yong
- Master awarded in 2021
- Extracting Travel Data from Historical Texts
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Jerry F. Medeiros
- Master awarded in 2018
- TagTheWeb: Using Wikipedia Categories to Automatically Categorize Text-Based Resources on the Web
- Applied Informatics, UNIRIO
- Supervisor
- Wagner G. do Amaral
- Master awarded in 2017
- Recomendação de Vocabulários para Mapeamentos de Dados Conectados
- Applied Informatics, UNIRIO
- Supervisor
- Yichi Zhang
- Completed in 2025
- Generative AI Usage in Software Development: Education and Professional Practices
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Jasmeen Kaur
- Completed in 2022
- Mash on Dash: An open-source data mashup framework to automate and support complex data processing on the Web
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Jiawei Du
- Completed in 2022
- Exploring the impact of gamification on user learning in QA communities
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Dong Han
- Completed in 2021
- Using memes as an engagement tool in the GLAM sector
- Centre for Digital Humanities Research, ANU
- Supervisor
- Pedro Gomes Branco
- Completed in 2019
- CrowdSearch - App de pesquisa colaborativa geolocalizada
- Dept of Informatics, PUC-Rio
- Supervisor
- Xinran Yu
- Completed in 2024
- Exploring How Demographic Factors Influence Large Language Models’ Judgments and Lead to Information Disparities
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Boyu Ding
- Completed in 2023
- The Further Study and Development for The Rating Bias Approach In GLAM Search Engine
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Can Yang
- Completed in 2021
- How biased are social media searches? A study on search personalization algorithms and the role they play in social media bias
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Wenzheng Yang
- Completed in 2021
- Hate Speech Detection
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Willian Simões Pinto
- Completed in 2019
- Estourando a Bolha: uma solução baseada em mashup de dados para diversificar e potencializar o entendimento de tópicos na Web
- Dept of Informatics, PUC-Rio
- Supervisor
- Srikanth Polisetty
- Completed in 2022
- Stock trading using twitter sentiment analysis
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Yutong Sun
- Completed in 2022
- Dynamic Knowledge Tracing: The Benchmark and Model
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Xinran Tian
- Completed in 2021
- An approach to rate bias in GLAM Search Engines
- School of Computing, ANU
- Supervisor
- Aylin (Yige) Chen
- Completed in 2021
- How can online reviews influence consumer's purchase intention on online food delivery platforms?
- Centre for Digital Humanities Research, ANU
- Supervisor