• Seminar outlines research and training applications of Charles Sturt’s eXtended Reality Centre
• Cross-faculty project to increase virtual reality capabilities will further enhance University’s research output

Charles Sturt University (Charles Sturt) held its first information session about its bid to establish a world-class eXtended Reality Centre (XRC) to enhance its already robust research output.

The XRC is a cross-faculty project led by academics in the School of Communication and Creative Industries, which uses technical innovation in virtual and augmented reality to create simulations for training and research which are challenging to undertake in real-life settings.

More than 40 staff attended a seminar at Charles Sturt in Wagga Wagga on Friday 25 October to hear from 11 academics, researchers and students who explained the internal and external research benefits obtainable through the XRC’s virtual, augmented, mixed and extended reality applications.

The information session provided a snapshot of virtual and augmented reality-based research already under way at Charles Sturt via motion-capture technology and actor and voice facilities at the Wagga Wagga campus, highlighting the applications of the technology in the fields of health, arts, education, science and agriculture.

Project lead Professor Eleanor Gates-Stuart, a Wagga Wagga-based academic in the Creative Industries department, said the interest in the seminar bodes well for the future of both the XRC and Charles Sturt’s proud standard of producing impactful research.

“The Charles Sturt University XRC provides a complete solution to answering one of the University’s greatest challenges: building the internal capacity to meaningfully engage with contemporary and future-focused research,” Professor Gates-Stuart said.

“The University has demonstrated its readiness to fully engage in this domain via 20 years of high-end productions and proven technical achievements in the animations and visual arts field.

“The establishment of a world-class eXtended Reality Centre will only enhance the University’s already stellar research output.”

The XRC, which has a proposed start date of 2020, would enable the University to become a core participant in the national eXtended Reality Cooperative Research Centre (XRCRC).

The XRCRC is a large-scale bid led by Deakin University to drive industry-led research in universities specialising in virtual, augmented, mixed and extended reality research projects over the next seven years.

Charles Sturt has been invited to become a core participant in the creative industries field due to the highly-reputable work produced by its animation and visual effects discipline.

An XRC working party has been formed with the aims of extending the animation and visual effects expertise currently found in the School of Communication and Creative Industries, recognising the demand for cross-collaboration across the University, and promoting the applications of joint research projects.

Other core members of the XRC research team are lecturer in Animation and Visual Effects Mr Andrew Hagan, researcher Dr Sarah Redshaw, and research officer Dr Elizabeth Wulff.