About

As Director of the ImpactVR Lab at SHU, I have developed a suite of immersive, interactive Virtual Reality (VR) rehabilitation systems for paediatric and adult patients. These systems have had far-reaching applications in neurological and musculoskeletal conditions, orthopaedic trauma, and chronic pain.

ImpactVR’s collaborative approach to applied research has produced world-leading research with major academic and social impact. This research has been recognised for its impact on healthcare, influencing the UKRI/NHS whitepaper The Growing Value of XR in Healthcare. It has won international awards, including the 2023 Games for Change Best Health category, Prolific North’s Tech for Good award and was a finalist in the 2024 Medipex NHS Innovation Awards. Additionally, our research was featured at the NIHR MedTech and In-vitro Diagnostic Cooperative National Showcase Meeting as a key example of impactful innovation.

The impact achieved by these innovations has been fourfold:
• Enhancing the physical and psychological health, lifestyles, and well-being of patients.
• Driving improvements in practitioner standards and healthcare services.
• Raising public awareness of the technology while fostering meaningful discussions on social policy.
• Establishing commercial and medical collaborations to advance healthcare and cost-effectiveness within the NHS.

The VR Prosthetics study was demonstrated to the Duke of Sussex during his visit to SHU (2019). This led to me representing SHU for the British embassy at the Invictus Games 2022 (The Hague). Additionally, my work has attracted the attention of several media outlets where I have represented Sheffield Hallam University.

• VR Prosthetics was shown on BBC's Look North and Channel 4 News. The research has been described by Channel 4 News as 'ground-breaking' research by 'technology pioneers'.
• The Pain Distraction study was in 79 pieces of coverage on BBC national and regional television, radio, and online channels.
• Upper Limb Rehab was highlighted on BBC Click, and BBC Breakfast.
• The Lower Limb research was highlighted on Channel 4 News, Yorkshire Post and BBC Radio.

Recognition of my research has been wide-reaching where I have represented Sheffield Hallam University on an international stage. I am honoured to be part of The Game Awards 2022 Future Class, an annual recognition of individuals "who represent the bright, bold and inclusive future of video games." by the international gaming industry. The awards show had a viewership of over 103 million people. Additionally, I was named on the ‘Creative Sparks’ list as part of the MadeAtUni 2022 campaign to showcase the extraordinary contribution of the country’s universities to the UK’s creative excellence.

Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Game Development, Health Technology Rehabilitation, Game Design, Unity and UDK.

Teaching

Sheffield Creative Industries Institute

College of Social Sciences and Arts

VR prosthetic Training Application for Amputees

Welcome Trust – Virtual Reality Prosthetics: Body and Mind

Ministry of Defence – VR Surgery for Medics

Cadburys App

Game Development

Game Development

Game Development Practice –Assistant Lecture

Supervisor Final Year Project - SEGM

Research

• Culture and Creativity Research Institute

VR Upper Limb Rehab with Sheffield Children’s Hospital - MRC & Research England (Chief Investigator)

Children with arm injuries often struggle to keep up with their rehab exercises, with up to 70% not completing them. This delays healing, increases costs, and causes more pain, affecting their quality of life. Luna's Light is an award-winning rehabilitation system designed with help from patients, physiotherapists at Sheffield Children’s NHS Trust, and researchers at Sheffield Hallam University.

Luna’s Light is an immersive virtual reality game featuring interactive scenarios, engaging narratives, activities and puzzles. These scenarios were designed with physiotherapists and patients to identify fun game ideas that match the exercises needed for motor functional recovery like stretching, bending, and rotating. Activities like archery and climbing offer a fun and engaging experience with different levels and surprises, making the exercises feel like part of a story. This approach helps keep players motivated and more likely to stick with their treatment. When patients play the games, they're doing their physical rehabilitation in a fun and painless way, without even realising it.

Two previous studies (Medical Research Council (MRC) and Research England) found that using Luna’s Light both in the hospital and at home helped improve how far children could move their arms, including their shoulders, wrists, and elbows. This made movements like bending, straightening, and lifting their arms easier.

Key findings include:
• The system is easy to use, motivating, and enjoyable.
• It reduces pain during therapy and improves motor function.
• Five out of eight patients regained full movement in the injured limb after three weeks, staff indicated that this was up to 50% faster than standard care.
• Using the system at home will cut down hospital visits, saving both time and money compared to traditional therapy.

The goal is to get Luna’s Light approved as a medical device and widely adopted by health services. This system is designed to make rehabilitation easier, more interesting, and faster, helping patients recover better and reducing waiting times for healthcare.

BBC Clip

Social Anxiety - MRC (Chief Investigator)

Social anxiety disorder is a long-lasting and overwhelming fear of social situations and affects around 10 per cent of children and young people. Children with SAD suffer from distress, fear, avoidance of social activities, poor school attendance and problems with concentration, sleep and diet. They can have uncontrollable outbursts, negative thoughts and physical symptoms that lead to depression.

Bespoke virtual interactions have been tailored for paediatric patients with social anxiety in collaboration with staff and patients at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust. Scenarios will include everyday environments such as in the home, neighbourhoods and shops. These environments will be designed with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in mind to provide challenging features to encourage coping mechanisms.

The initial playtests have shown great potential, the findings are being used to develop a feasibility study with patients.

VR Prosthetics - NIHR (Principal Investigator)

This project creates and develops a VR prosthetics training facility to help train potential prosthetics wearers more effectively, reduce the number of prostheses rejections and enable greater mastery of prosthetics across a wide range of everyday tasks. This research has the potential to save the NHS clinic time and the cost of the rejection of prosthetics.

Channel 4 News clip

VR for Rehabilitation of Lower Limbs - MRC (Chief Investigator)

Lower Limb surgery requires considerable rehabilitation, the MRC provided funding to collaborate with SCH to explore how it could be improved. Fifteen participants took part in an ethically approved prospective study looking at the use of a bespoke IVR game developed by ImpactVR in post-operative lower limb rehabilitation. Engaging VR scenarios helped distract patients from the pain and assist with weight-bearing which is essential for healing and recovery. Anxiety was assessed (GAD-7) before each session. Visual Analogue Scale was used to evaluate pain experienced at the start, during and at the end of the session. Post-treatment qualitative interviews were conducted with staff, parents, and participants before discharge.

Anticipatory anxiety during the second session was significantly lower (p = .037) than in the first and a significant reduction (p = .011) in reported pain.

Channel 4 News clip

Dysphagia VR - MRC (Chief Investigator)

Oropharyngeal Dysphagia (OD) is a swallowing disorder, where it takes more time and effort to move food or liquid safely from your mouth to your stomach and results in reduced quality of life for the individual.

During a feasibility study at Sheffield Teaching Hospital, this innovative VR system shows the potential to enhance the re-education of the muscles to make swallowing safer and more effective. An alternative interface is being explored to use with the system.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy - Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity - (Principal Investigator)

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disease causing muscle weakness and wasting affecting 2,500 people in the UK. International Standards of Care recommend that children with DMD undertake a daily stretching programme to maintain maximum muscle extensibility and optimise function. Children are not motivated to perform these exercises, leading to earlier complications, reduced function and a poorer long-term prognosis.

A VR platform was developed to encourage calf stretching in a home environment.

Wellcome Trust - Virtual Reality Prosthetics, body and mind Society Award - (Co-Investigator)

This project engaged the public in biomedical and technological research. As the technical lead, I developed the VR content and ran live demonstrations and presentations at each public event, involving people of all ages.

Dissemination of the work has been widespread. VR projects have been showcased at high-profile Body and Mind exhibitions in local museums, the National Museum of Scotland and the World Para Athletics Championships in London in July 2017.

MRC - VR distraction from pain during burns dressings with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (Chief Investigator)

This project investigated possible ways of reducing the pain and anxiety experienced by burn victims by using techniques I developed as Immersive VR distraction serious games. A clinical trial conducted with inpatients showed how, during the VR exposure, they experienced considerably less pain and/or anxiety (according to score ratings of 0 to 100), compared to 'conventional' dressings sessions.
The system helped the patients tolerate the pain, leading to both patients and staff that were eager to use it going forward.

BBC Breakfast clip 

Link 1. https://youtu.be/onMUpWJKLQ0
Link 2. https://www4.shu.ac.uk/mediacentre/ground-breaking-vr-research
Link 3. https://bbc.in/2qIejfU
Link 4. https://bbc.in/2nOusCV
Link 5. https://youtu.be/0rtpm_F9GXk
Link 6. https://youtu.be/vSF9Z1BLnQA

Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
Medical Research Council
Research England
NIHR

Publications

Postgraduate supervision

What are the future implications and impact of virtual and augmented reality systems in education?