Centre for Immersive Technologies (CfIT)
Context
The Centre for Immersive Technologies (CfIT) continues to strengthen the University of Leeds’ leadership in human-centred immersive research. This year’s activity has focused on advancing responsible, inclusive, and evidence-based uses of extended reality (XR) across healthcare, education, and data visualisation.
As immersive technologies mature, CfIT provides a focal point for translating innovation into practice, connecting expertise from cognitive science, medicine, and design to develop immersive systems that serve public good. Operating within the University’s HELIX facility, the Centre brings together researchers, clinicians, and technologists to explore how XR can improve understanding, communication, and training across disciplines.
People
CfIT’s community continues to expand, with new staff, students, and collaborators joining immersive projects across faculties. Activity through HELIX has been central to this growth, offering hands-on training, project incubation, and the weekly HELIX XR Showcase series. These regular sessions have provided an open platform for researchers and partners to share progress, trial ideas, and explore interdisciplinary applications of XR.
In addition, CfIT hosted a successful hackathon on brain imaging data presentation, bringing together computer scientists, clinicians, and designers to explore new ways of visualising complex neural data through immersive interfaces. The event produced several promising prototypes and helped establish cross-faculty collaborations that continue to shape CfIT’s research direction. Building on this success, the Centre plans to launch a new HEIF-supported hackathon series focused on cross-disciplinary innovation and prototype development in immersive technologies.
Quarterly community showcase events will continue to be held at HELIX, sustaining this culture of open collaboration and knowledge exchange.
Partnerships
CfIT maintains a broad network of internal and external partnerships, contributing to research programmes that combine immersive technologies with cognitive and clinical data to improve health outcomes and human understanding. The Centre collaborates closely with colleagues in medicine, psychology, and design, as well as regional healthcare organisations and international research consortia.
Notably, CfIT played an important role in the completion of the Horizon Europe XR4HUMAN programme, which concluded this year with the release of the first XR Code of Conduct, launched in Brussels in September 2025.
This milestone represents a major step forward in establishing ethical and inclusive standards for XR research and development across Europe, with Leeds contributing expertise in responsible innovation and human-centred design.
Achievements
CfIT’s achievements this year highlight the strength of its interdisciplinary approach and its commitment to responsible innovation. The HELIX XR Showcase series has provided visible, high-impact platforms for demonstrating new research and fostering collaboration. Through these activities, CfIT has enhanced the University’s reputation as a national leader in immersive innovation.
Members of the Centre have presented at national and international conferences, contributed to panels on XR ethics and clinical applications, and published in leading journals. The integration of XR into medical and educational contexts has been particularly impactful, showcasing the value of immersive methods for improving understanding, engagement, and communication.
Research Case Studies
Mixed Reality for Patient Consultations in Neurosurgery
Crispi, V., Peat, S., Bolton, W. S., Chapman, S., Rousseau, N., Mushtaq, F., & Mathew, R. K. (2025). Mixed reality with 3D brain imaging for patient consultation in neurosurgery: an IDEAL stage 2a feasibility study. Journal of Neuro-Oncology.
This clinical study, led by researchers at the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals, examined how mixed reality (MR) can enhance communication between neurosurgeons and patients. Using Magic Leap headsets integrated with Brainlab imaging software, surgeons and patients jointly viewed holographic 3D reconstructions of brain anatomy during consultations.
In a randomised feasibility trial with thirty-six participants, the use of MR improved patients’ understanding of their condition, satisfaction with consultations, and confidence in decision-making compared with standard 2D imaging. It was found to be safe, acceptable, and feasible, with no adverse effects reported.
This study demonstrates the value of immersive visualisation in complex medical decision-making and reflects CfIT’s commitment to using XR as a tool for improving communication, understanding, and patient engagement in clinical contexts.
Individual differences in Immersion
Bi, X., Hayes, H., & Campagnoli, C. (2025). Individual Influences in Highly Immersive VR: Two Exploratory Studies on Personality, Perception, and Presence. Proceedings of EuroXR 2025.
This study challenges the common assumption that individual differences become negligible in highly immersive virtual reality (VR) environments. Conducted as part of the XR4HUMAN initiative, it comprised two complementary experiments examining how psychological traits shape a user’s sense of “presence” — the subjective feeling of truly being there within a virtual space.
Using a meticulously reconstructed VR simulation of Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop, the research explored how individual characteristics such as curiosity, empathy, and trait absorption influence user experience. While broad personality factors did not directly predict the sense of presence, the findings revealed a more intricate and interactive pattern. In particular, trait absorption — an individual’s natural tendency to become deeply engaged in experiences — moderated how users responded to the perceived quality of the system. Participants with medium-to-high absorption reported a significantly stronger sense of spatial presence when they viewed the VR environment as technically and visually sophisticated.
The results demonstrate that user traits and technological design interact in subtle but important ways, shaping how people perceive and engage with immersive systems. By illuminating the psychological dimensions of presence, this work provides a foundation for developing more adaptive, inclusive, and human-centred XR applications that can be tailored to the needs and dispositions of diverse users.