BU Research Blog

Emteq launch public research study at London Science Museum 

Ifigeneia Mavridou, Research Engineer at Bournemouth University’s Centre for Digital Entertainment, will conduct a live experiment with help from members of the public at the London Science Museum for the next six weeks.

Ifigeneia is currently on a three year industrial placement with Emteq – A technology company developing novel sensors to provide new insights into how we interact with the virtual world.

Emteq – a Brighton based start-up – is helping researchers to unpick the factors that influence how we respond to new experiences.  Built into a virtual reality headset, their sensors will be able to provide feedback on the user’s emotional state as they respond to different scenarios.

The research project will be conducted in collaboration with Bournemouth University and is expected to be the largest ever study with VR using physiological sensors. Visitors to the Science Museum will have an opportunity to contribute to the new field of research that may revolutionise the treatment of mental health conditions.

While exact details of the experiment are being kept under wraps, it will explore the capabilities of VR to uncover the skills, capabilities and competencies of users as they explore virtual scenes.

Dr Charles Nduka, research lead and co-founder of Emteq, said: “Developing new treatments requires an understanding of the range of “normal’ responses to interventions, particularly for important healthcare issues such as anxiety and depression. In the past, members of the public contributed to the human genome project, which in turn has enabled many new treatments to be developed. We hope that over the next six weeks, with the help of the public, we will begin the process of understanding the range of behavioral responses that will act as a baseline for future research and treatments of mental health conditions.”

Dr Ellen Seiss Deputy Head of Research at the Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, said: “Virtual reality offers an opportunity to have a virtual laboratory to study human behaviours. There is promising evidence that VR could be very useful to study the interaction between emotion and cognition.  This could help treatment several mental health disorders with emotional regulation deficits such as anxiety related disorders. This research will begin that process of discovery.”

This live event will be taking place at the London Science Museum, in the “Who Am I” exhibit, Level 1 from 8^th May – 16^th June.