A follow-on project from
Touch Post-COVID-19
With funding from the University of Glasgow Creative Launch Fund, a follow-on project was launched in March 2025. Under the headline “Inclusive Reality: Advancing Extended Reality (XR) Technologies and Experiences for Inclusive Communication for (Dual)sensory Impaired Communities” Azadeh Emadi coordinated a short-term project dedicated to exploring how the team’s previous research might be relevant to or applied in the performing arts and immersive experiences.
A key element of the project was the potential future application of the TouchTool device which was developed as part of Touch Post-COVID-19. Bringing together researchers with a range of external partners in the performing arts, the project sought to gain pool knowledge and insights, foster exchange and gather a better understanding of the usability and potential of XR technologies for immersive experiences targeting (dual)sensory impaired audiences and performers.
Partners
The project brought together experts from the following organisations:
- Deafblind Scotland: Scotland’s national charity and principal authority on meeting the complex needs of individuals living with deafblindness.
- Extant Theatre Company: the UK’s leading professional performing arts company of visually impaired artists and theatre practitioners, producing touring productions and delivering training regionally and internationally.
- Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: one of the world’s top performing arts education institutions with a research focus on innovative art forms, creative processes and practices, and their role in Scotland’s economies, cultures and ecologies.
- Birds of Paradise Theatre Company: Scotland’s preeminent pioneering disability-led theatre company providing career opportunities for disabled people in the arts and delivering training and consultation that has helped the arts to become more diverse and accessible.
The project culminated in a full-day workshop day with representatives from all external partner organisations as well as research from across the University of Glasgow, covering engineering, physics, theatre and film studies.