Experience the future, embrace the change: The potential of IX to create and leverage teachable moments and improve lifestyle behaviors in osteoarthritis patients
A healthy lifestyle is crucial for many patients, but medical advice alone rarely leads to lasting behavioural change. Tilburg University is investigating whether immersive experiences can create and reinforce so-called teachable moments in osteoarthritis patients: moments in which a patient becomes acutely aware of the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle. Through IX, patients experience the long-term effects of their behaviour in an emotionally compelling way, sparking the motivation to live more healthily.
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Staging collective VR experiences
Scalable — and therefore affordable — IX onboarding and social IX, as part of an optimal user experience, remain key challenges for the IX community. How can museums onboard visitors more effectively so that more of them can experience a functional IX? And how can they create a shared VR experience in the process? That's what the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences will be researching, together with a museum and an IX developer.
To what degree do interactive agents enhance the willingness-to-adopt IX?
IX environments have the potential to transform how people train physical, interactive skills - from surgery to team sports. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, working with movement scientists, IX developers and a user-experience designer, is investigating whether interactive avatars that physically respond to a user's movements can make XR training more engaging and effective. The test case is a football training exercise in which participants learn to make themselves available for a pass - with and without virtual defenders that move in response.
EGG: Hoe een immersieve kunst beleving over transitie doorwerkt in het dagelijks leven van mensen en groepen in een wijk
EGG is a large-scale, sensory-interactive and learning art installation in the shape of an egg, designed to spark encounters and conversations about societal system transitions. The sculpture has a smooth, organic form. Visitors can lean against it, climb on it and move freely around it. They can experience the ‘hatching process’ of an unknown, fictional creature inside the egg through their senses. Through the use of augmented reality (AR) and sensor technology, EGG responds to heat, light and sound. This creates a responsive and partly unpredictable system that prompts spontaneous encounters and conversations among bystanders about transitions taking place in the neighbourhood. The project's implementation and research are guided by the Public Values Guideline for Immersive Experiences (CIIIC), which serves as a framework for the careful handling of visitors, data and societal impact. Art and performance can have profound effects on empathy, meaning-making and shifts in perspective (Brown & Novak-Leonard, 2011; Broadhead & Hooper, 2024; Norton, 2015). However, there is limited knowledge about how such experiences carry through into everyday behaviour, social relationships and neighbourhood-based transition practices (Spaas, 2024; Horvath et al., 2025). This research addresses the question: how does the installation and its development over time resonate with people and within neighbourhood-based transition processes (Vervoort et al., 2020)? And how can the effects of human–art interaction be interpreted in terms of values, relationships and community-building (scaling deep), as a basis for meaningful translation to other contexts (scaling out) (Fraser, 2010 & 2023; Moore et al., 2015)? The research maps experiences, emotions, meanings and possible shifts in thinking and behaviour, building on the data generated by the installation through qualitative research: • EGG as Canvas: visitors leave behind written, drawn and material traces; • EGG Radio: a participatory platform where young people in particular discuss their experiences; • AR and sensor data: which reveal interactions, attention and resonance patterns.
ImmersiveValidMovement: Validatie van consumenten-XR voor verantwoorde fysiotherapie oefeningen
In physiotherapy, there is growing interest in using immersive experiences (IX), such as XR serious games, to motivate patients and help them perform exercises correctly. To this end, VerseUS Games has developed XR exercise formats that use the built-in sensors of consumer XR headsets (such as Meta Quest and Pico) to track patients' movements. However, it remains unclear how reliable and valid this data is for assessing clinically relevant joint angles, particularly in patients with complex shoulder complaints. ImmersiveValidMovement therefore focuses primarily on "new methodological approaches to measuring usability and effectiveness of IX". We are developing and validating methods to derive head, neck, shoulder and elbow movements from XR sensor data (headset and hand controllers) and to assess their reliability. We are not developing new IX software or hardware, but working with existing VerseUS games and consumer XR headsets. The focus is on measurement methods, analysis techniques and responsible use. In work package 1 (the first three months), we carry out the preparatory work. Together with physiotherapists (FlevoFysiotherapie), we specify which joint angles and variables are relevant for correctly performing the prescribed exercise (position, velocity, acceleration; within a global coordinate system and/or relative to body segments). VerseUS Games provides the XR environment and handles the technical work of exporting time-synchronised data collected from the headset. UMCG oversees the research protocol, arranges ethical approval, and provides the research labs needed to carry out the study. In work package 2, we then carry out the validation study, comparing the XR measurements against the gold standard (such as Vicon or Optotrak) available at UMCG. Reliability and validity are determined using methods including ICC, Bland–Altman plots, correlations and RMSE. Based on this research, UMCG will deliver a report on the validity and reliability of the VerseUS XR exercises, as measured by the sensors in commercial headsets. This report will form the basis for further development.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Exploring the Potential of VR for Decolonial Storytelling
Public values are a key priority of the CIIIC funding programme. How do we ensure IX applications are developed, deployed and used responsibly? This theme runs through every funded project like a common thread. The project led by Inholland University of Applied Sciences (with partners including the National Archives and the National Library of the Netherlands) focuses entirely on public values. Its central question: how can scriptwriters responsibly develop cinematic VR stories about colonial histories and their continuing impact on society today?
Responsible Immersive Support for Firefighter Retreat under Unreliable Spatial and Communication Information
Firefighters retreating from a building operate under extreme time pressure, poor visibility and high mental strain - precisely when positioning and communication can become unreliable. The University of Twente is researching how immersive systems can make this uncertainty visible and understandable, so that digital cues support decision-making without creating false confidence or adding to the user's mental load.