Skip to main content

Expanding realities: a showcase of student led XR innovation

Date
Staff using VR sets

From virtual psychology to exploring personal waste habits, this month’s XR Showcase was an exhibit of diversity and innovation. Students and staff presented their exciting projects whilst exploring the broader evaluation of the use of digital simulations as a teaching method. 

Thank you to our speakers for sharing their fascinating and wide-ranging work. It was particularly encouraging to see all the questions, ideas and discussions in the sessions afterward 

Josh Greg, Innovation Technologies Specialist, HELIX

A journey through diverse extended reality projects

The showcase brought our Leeds XR community together with compelling presentations on:  

  • Virtual Psychology: Exploring Presence, Fatigue, and Beyond with VR
  • Digital Simulation in Healthcare: A Faculty-Led Evaluation of Bodyswaps VR
  • Fencing Movements in VR
  • Know Your Gut: Breaking the Stigma Around Colorectal Cancer Through Play
  • Thrash Mirror: An MR Experience of Waste, Identity, and Speculative Futures.

Virtual Psychology: Exploring presence, fatigue and beyond with VR 

MPsyc Advanced Psychology students Hannah Hayes and Sharon Bi in two conceptually aligned studies explored the psychological and contextual factors that shape users' experiences in Virtual Reality (VR). Investigating how differences, such as curiosity, empathy, neuroticism trait absorption, attention and depression influence a user's experience in VR. Using the Leonardo da Vinci simulation participants were asked to rate their experience of presence and immersion. 

Digital simulation in healthcare: A faculty led evaluation of Bodyswaps VR 

Charles James, Leeds institute of Medical Education, discussed his team's evaluation of Body Swaps which has been incorporated into teaching within the Faculty of Medicine and Health, enables students to develop their interpersonal skills in a range of scenarios ranging from patient consultation to conflict management. With a growing demand for more patient centred learning experiences, the evaluation explored the pedological and logistical need for digital simulation to be incorporated into curricula. 

Fencing Movements in VR 

Saud Abu Khodair, BSc Computer Science, presented his project focused on developing a full-body inverse kinematics (IK) system for Virtual Reality. The project addresses a key challenge in VR: accurately tracking and representing a user’s leg movements in real time with anatomically correct poses. While current systems often rely on mesh-based solutions that can produce unnatural or distorted reflections of movement, Saud’s approach uses a skeletal model guided by joint and pivot point tracking within the human frame. This ensures that the virtual representation remains both anatomically plausible and responsive to the user’s actual stance. 

Know your gut: Breaking the stigma around colorectal cancer through play 

Lihong Zhu, MSc Digital Design Futures, discussed her educational mixed reality boardgame. Aimed at raising awareness among young people of colorectal cancer (CRC), and challenging avoidance and fears of stigma in talking about gut health. Guided by an anthropomorphic character ‘Colon Rex’ players roll virtual dice to choose tasks such as quizzes, symptom recognition scenarios and lifestyle choice options. Through this light-hearted and interactive format, the game raises awareness and understanding of colorectal health. 

Thrash Mirror: An MR Experience of Waste, Identity, and Speculative Futures 

Yuxin Hua, MSc Digital Design Futures, presented her dissertation project Trash Mirror, a Virtual Reality experience designed to raise awareness about personal waste habits and their environmental impact.  In a waste personality analysis, players interact with a variety of everyday trash, examining the items composition, and afterlife. The player is tasked with selecting items they personally use regularly and disposing of them in a variety of ways. Dependent on their choices, the players consumption and waste habits are used to generate a personal waste profile. 

If you have a project to share, please get in touch with Josh Gregg J.Gregg@leeds.ac.uk

Don’t miss out on upcoming XR events, follow the HELIX XR events Eventbrite page.