Commercial and educational development of research through VR

This project will be a key part of an impact case study for REF 2025 by Professor Rupert Till. His 2021 REF Impact Case Study scored 4* and this is a continuation.

The Principal Investigator (PI) has developed a diverse range of multimedia assets through research into the acoustic and musical contexts of archaeological sites. These assets include applications for virtual reality (VR), personal computers, tablets, and smartphones, covering various sites such as Stonehenge, painted Palaeolithic caves, a rock gong in the Sudanese desert, Asuvansalmi in Finland, Teotihuacan in Mexico, Paphos Theatre in Cyprus, and the Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni in Malta. VR serves as an ideal platform for disseminating these assets, enabling both researcher and public users to explore through sight and sound sites that are largely inaccessible available to the public, or have materially degraded over time. SCIVR, an international company, employs VR in educational settings to provide immersive heritage experiences from around the world, embedding educational historical and cultural content into computer models of renowned sites. SCIVR will collaborate with the PI to expand this project in the UK, making it available in schools for learners of all ages. The PI will contribute his models to the project and provide specialist knowledge of audio and music, thereby enhancing the sense of total immersion and fostering deep engagement with the educational experiences. SCIVR will adapt the PI's research for VR headsets and explore avenues for making this research available in UK schools on a national scale, as well as in international schools and through online platforms. This will further establish the PI as the world leader in the field of sound archaeology and SCIVR as the leading global providers of VR based education in schools.

This collaborative scoping exercise will include viability testing in partnership with SCIVR, focusing on the detailed testing and development of existing models for commercial distribution. It will actively engage end-users in collaboration, which may inform public policy related to the use of immersive VR in educational settings. The project aims to develop an early-stage prototype, contributing to new or improved professional practices at SCIVR, particularly through specialist consultancy on sound and music, while also fostering interaction with archaeology, history, and computer game staff in the University. The PI will leverage their research contacts within heritage contexts to facilitate SCIVR's access to researchers engaged in archaeological modelling, as well as to music and sound archaeology researchers who can enhance the sonic context of SCIVR’s digitally modelled educational experiences.

Innovative approaches to VR education will be employed, incorporating acoustic modelling, immersive audio in Dolby Atmos, surround sound, or Ambisonics, and music-led strategies. This will be a creative collaborative production, transforming the PI's research into engaging and impactful formats. Consequently, the outcomes of this collaboration will be used to develop educational experiences that enhance cultural education in classrooms worldwide, emphasising the significance of sound and music in pre-literate cultures, in particular.

Financial arrangements between the PI and SCIVR will ensure appropriate remuneration for both parties without imposing additional costs on either. The additional content and assets provided by the PI will enhance the success of SCIVR products through enriched audio content. This collaboration will also afford the creation of new apps focused on archaeological sites that would otherwise be inaccessible or would require considerable resources to develop, replicating the PI’s research activities.

IP of original models would remain with the PI, and a fee or percentage of profits would be negotiated as part of an MoU signed with the partner before the project started.

If this project proves successful, it is anticipated that follow-on research will include the development of apps for VR headsets such as the popular Meta Quest 3 or Pico 4, which lead to the commercialisation of the PI’s research into products that will support future research while delivering both commercial and societal benefits.