Dr Hossein Najafi is a practising artist, a creative technologist, a filmmaker and a scholar who examines heuristics, creative processes, media and aesthetics.

Hossein began his career as a design and animation artist in 1999 when he founded Didar Pictures, a small production studio where he created over 50 television commercials and managed numerous advertisement campaigns. While active in the advertising industry, he graduated in Master of Cinema from the University of Tehran. He then initiated a part-time career as a casual lecturer at some of the leading universities in Iran, teaching animation, filmmaking, colour theory and design. Between 2009 and 2011, he worked with Touchwood Animation in London and then in 2011, he moved to Istanbul, where he worked as a creative director, animation and visual effects artist with companies including Ulkutay Productions, Cordoba Animations, Imaj Post Productions, CherryCherryVFX and Genius Park.

In Dec 2015, Hossein moved to New Zealand to undertake a doctoral thesis in Art and Design at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Hossein's PhD project was a practice-led enquiry that negotiates and bridges between identity theories and narrative forms. In his inquiries he used a variety of technologies including Motion Capture, Deep Learning, Virtual Human and Advanced Dynamic Simulations. From May 2016 to May 2017, he worked for Yukfoo Studio in Auckland as a senior animation artist.  Hossein was one of the major contributors to the Charles Darwin University's television commercial campaign which won multiple awards including the Cannes Lion Prize in 2017. From May 2017 to February 2018, he worked for Toybox NZ as a CG Supervisor, undertaking a range of projects including television commercials, animated series and motion graphics. Based on his industry background and teaching profile, in 2019, Hossein joined AUT's Animation, Visual Effects and Game Design department as a tenured senior lecturer and visual effects pathway leader. In November 2024, Hossein joined the School of Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).

Many of Hossein's students have worked on the animation and visual effects of big blockbusters like "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" and "Avatar: The Way of Water".

Hossein is also actively engaged in interdisciplinary research in animation technology, design, heuristics and cognitive psychology. He collaborates with the University of Auckland's Memory Lab to study autobiographical memory and visual spatial understanding. He also has been an active presenter at SIGGRAPH conferences, publishing multiple papers for SIGGRAPH Asia 2019, 2023 and 2024. He recently has published three chapters for Routledge's book "Heuristic Enquiries". His chapters are mainly investigating heuristic processes. Chapter 1 of the book, titled "A review of the evolution of heuristic inquiry" is a novel re-examination of heuristics in both qualitative contexts like art and psychology as well as quantitative realms, like AI and math. Chapter 3 of the book, titled "Resonances between heuristic inquiry and Persian illuminative thinking", investigates Persian illuminationist ontological and epistemological approaches that interfaced with heuristic inquiry, and Chapter 8 of the book, "A comparative study of heuristic inquiry in AI and artistic research" collaborated with AI scientist Dr Akbar Ghobakhlou, embarks on a comparative discussion about the nature of heuristics in arts and AI. Although seemingly distant, the authors recognised significant connections between heuristic inquiry in artificial intelligence and artistic research.

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School of Art and Design, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), New Zealand
• Master of Arts in Cinema, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Iran

• New Zealand VFX Guild Founding Member, https://www.vfxg.nz/
• Certified SideFX Houdini Instructor, Side Effects, https://www.sidefx.com/
• Member of Memory Lab at University of Auckland, University of Auckland, https://www.memorylab.org/

Before joining PolyU, more than 9 years of academic and 20 years of professional experience:

• Senior Lecturer & VFX Programme Leader at Animation, Visual Effects and Game Design Department, AUT, Auckland, New Zealand (2019 – 2024) 
• Lecturer at Yoobee Animation College, Auckland, New Zealand (2018) 
• Casual Lecturer at Animation, Visual Effects and Game Design Department, AUT, Auckland, New Zealand (2016 – 2018) 
• Creative Advisor & CG Supervisor at Toybox, Auckland, New Zealand (2017 – 2018) 
• Creative Advisor & Senior Animator at Yukfoo Studio, Auckland, New Zealand (2016 – 2017) 
• Visual Effects Technical Director and Supervisor at “Sparrow” Short Film, New Zealand (2016) 
• Video Mapping & Animation Producer at “23 Nisan Gala” Festival in Antalya, Turkey (2015) 
• Freelance Animation Artist “Igo Igdas” Web Campaign, Istanbul, Turkey (2015) 
• Freelance Lead Compositing Artist “Drilis Ertugrul” TV Show, Istanbul, Turkey (2015) 
• VFX Supervisor and Lead Comp Artist at “Mole Family 2” Feature Film, Istanbul, Turkey (2015) 
• Visual Effects Artist at Cherry Cherry VFX, Istanbul, Turkey (2014) 
• Design & Animation Creative Artist at Imaj Post Production, Istanbul, Turkey (2013) 
• Senior Lead TD, Creative & Design at Ulkutay Creative, Istanbul, Turkey (2011 – 2013) 
• Founder and Creative Director at Didar Pictures, Tehran (and Dubai), Iran (1999 – 2011) 

• Studio and Capstone Project
• Design Practice
• AI and Design
• Heuristic and Creative Research Methodologies
• Real-Time Rendering (Unreal Engine)
• CGI Animation and Visual Effects
• Procedural 3D Animation (Houdini)
• Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Virtual Production
• Life Drawing
• Motion Capture