Innovative virtual reality platform rapidly transforms students into skilled and confident public speakers.
The multi-award-winning Immersive Technology Lab at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, completed a successful London tour, showcasing its groundbreaking work in leveraging emerging technologies to create transformational experiences.
The lab set up interactive exhibits at four high-profile London events: Innovation Alley, DigiGov, the British Science Festival, and New Scientist Live.
The lab has recently been recognised for its leading-edge research, receiving the 2024 Excellence Award and National Innovation Award. The lab’s flagship project transforms users into confident and skilled public speakers with the help of virtual reality. On a first-of-its-kind platform, users embark on a self-paced gamified journey that uses experiential learning to accelerate skills acquisition and build resilience.
As students complete tasks on the platform, the virtual reality audiences increase; the first virtual training environment is an empty classroom, the final one is a highly distracting stadium packed with 10,000 photorealistic spectators. The ability to repeatedly train in such extreme scenarios is a game-changer and until now it was impossible. It enables the psychological equivalent of training with weights; it rapidly builds confidence and resilience. Multiple technological firsts were achieved to build the platform.
Lab Director, Dr Chris Macdonald, says, “The tour offered a unique opportunity for the public to experience the transformative potential of emerging technology firsthand. It was an honour to showcase the VR platform, and to further signpost Lucy Cavendish College as the go-to College for innovation and impact.”