Life in VR: Explore the Metaverse at Media City

Anyone who attends on Wednesday 16 November at Media City will get access to state of the art virtual reality headsets that launch them into specially created environments that can be interacted with in real time.

This special event is part of the month long Being Human Festival, which aims to bring research from the Arts and Humanities to the public as well as our colleagues and students here at the university. Participants will enjoy a hands on experience with the Metaverse and everything it encompasses, hearing from leading industry professionals and experimental researchers.

A University of Salford ‘room’ has been created that holds engaging and educational material that could soon be involved in the future of teaching and immersive learning experiences. When using the VR headset at the drop-in event at Media City, you will be placed in a virtual world surrounded by other people who are using it simultaneously.

The metaverse has been in the media a lot, but many people are still wondering what it will look like. Metaverse technology can scan the environment of a room and create digital objects with which people can interact. The goal of the event is to introduce the world to the Metaverse and show the integration of immersive technological experiences into real life.

Lead organiser Professor Andy Miah, of the University of Salford, said: “The entire tech scene is dominated by expectations that immersive experiences will become the next big social world, moving away from social media, into virtual realities. We want to make time for people to experience these worlds for themselves and have discussions with leading researchers who are thinking through the design and impact of these new worlds.”

As well as the live demonstrations, the event will also have talks on the science behind the tech and is an opportunity for networking between developers and the community.

To access the event, head over to The Atrium in Media City between 15:00pm and 18:00 on November 16. It is open to anyone who want to attend this one of a kind experience.