Conferences Thursday

Based on the Extended Reality (XR) educational projects developed by VISYON at an international level, this conference will present several case studies of high-level didactic components. The potential that Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality can offer to the field of training will be analyzed from different perspectives: both in regard to the benefits that these technologies bring to training and the development of soft skills; as well as in regard to the possibilities offered in certain educational programs specifically aimed at bringing attention to diversity and inclusion, likely to be incorporated into the training plans of any institution or company. All will be addressed without forgetting the challenges and opportunities that these emerging technologies present for certain groups in terms of accessibility.

At the end of the conference, attendees will be able to experiment with a VR demo app, developed by Visyon, aimed at the development of soft skills through immersive learning.

Speaker: Alicia Cañellas, Innovation and Training Consultant at Visyon

Alicia Cañellas (@acanelma) is an innovation and training consultant at Visyon (@visyon360), a company belonging to the Mediapro group (@grupoMediapro). Graduated in Pedagogy from the UB, she has extensive professional experience linked to the field of training and emerging technologies. She is currently developing her PhD on accessibility and positive applied uses of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality, within the framework of the Industrial Doctorate, an agreement between Visyon and UPF.

Clients: University College London, UPC, La Salle

Labster virtual labs take students on an interactive learning journey. Each simulation delivers a set of related learning objectives, through a series of fun, engaging and interactive learning activities. Labster leverages multiple design elements to deliver maximum impact, such as real-life stories and applications, immersive animations that allow visualization of complex concepts, interactive quizzes, failure-driven learning, making and testing hypotheses, sample collection, realistic labs, equipment and experiments, as well as data interpretation. Their catalog caters for both high school, as well as the different years of University, covers biology, chemistry and physics, and the teacher dashboard provides teachers with student analytics for follow-up lectures and enables automatic grading via LTI.

Speaker: Ana Raquel Veríssimo, scientific simulation director at Labster

Ana Verissimo is a scientific simulation director (biology) at Labster, where she works directly as part of simulation development teams, that also include artists, content developers and QA. Tired of unmotivated students and boring lectures, Ana was looking for exciting and engaging ways of teaching science and found Lasbter. With her scientific, science communication and educational background, she is able to plan and deliver learning objectives through fun and interactive learning activities, integrated into a story that relates to real-life applications.

Previously, after a PhD on developmental molecular biology and a post-doc working closely together with vascular surgeons on the pathogenesis of abdominal aortic aneurysms, Ana was a researcher and assistant professor at the Department of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at Saga University, Japan, where she used 3D bio-printing to produce artificial blood vessels.

Virtual Reality (VR) is endorsed by many education actors, thanks to new technologies and the training possibilities by using this technology. However, to set up relevant virtual scenarios, the design process needs to be done by taking into account the educational context. A lot of “training” VR applications are made without considering the needs of teachers and students, leading to unsuitable and irrelevant scenarios, which are harmful to the image of VR technology. In this presentation DEC Industrie will explain their approach for designing and assessing VR scenarios for vocational training and will share some of their results of the usage of VR in the context of vocational training in French high schools.

Speaker: Pierre Gac, R&D engineer at DEC Industrie

Pierre is an R&D engineer in the company DEC Industrie, based in Allonnes in the Western part of France. He develops Virtual Reality scenarios for educational purposes (mainly vocational training for high school students). VR is a good support for training young people to some emblematic professional tasks. He aims to create relevant and suitable virtual tasks to fulfill the needs of both students and teachers. Moreover, he is also working on his PhD in Computer Science, which focuses on the usage of VR for education. He is interested in practical usage of VR by teachers and students.

Immersive technology is already mainstream in a lot of schools – but there’s still work to be done to help teachers make their own lives easier using AR and VR. As learning becomes its own science, how can schools, universities and wider organisations benefit from VR and AR?

Speaker: Jane McConnell, EMEA Marketing Director at EON Reality UK

Jane McConnell is the EMEA Marketing Director for EON Reality, a global company with 19 years’ blue chip client experience in VR, AR, MR and mobile solutions. She is currently supporting marketing and product development for the world’s first one-stop multi-hardware XR software platform, The AVR Platform.

Prior to EON Reality, Jane spent 8 years at the BBC and across the film, interactive media and game industries, across PR, production and marketing. She is passionate about XR, audience development, games, neurolinguistics, voice interface, independent film, social media and where these can disciplines will combine to shape the future of work, education and communication.

In this presentation, Psious will tell us the evolution of VR on mental health treatments and will give us some practical examples of how it is currently applied to treat several disorders.

Speaker: Joan Miquel Gelabert, Director of Scientific Department at Psious

Joan Miquel Gelabert is a general health psychologist with a Masters in Conduct and Clinical Research Assistance. He is also an associate professor at the University of the Balearic Islands as well as a therapist at the Quirón Palmaplanas Hospital and author of several publications. Since 2016 he has directed the Scientific Department of Psious, where he is responsible for coordinating scientific studies with several hospitals, universities and national and international foundations.

Clients: Sanitas, Hospital Vall d’Hebron, John Hopkins University, Stanford University.

El Hospital Gregorio Marañón de Madrid realizó una cirugía tumoral a través de las gafas de realidad mixta desarrolladas por Exovite. En esta conferencia el estudio mostrará casos de éxito, otros ejemplos de proyectos actualmente en fase de desarrollo e ideas de lo que será en futuro en la asistencia sanitaria usando nuevas tecnologías.

Speaker: Joan Miquel Gelabert, Director of Scientific Department at Psious

With more than 15 years of professional experience behind him, Juan Monzón has pursued a career in the new technologies and telecommunications sector. Innovation has always been a priority in his daily life, allowing him to work as a consultant for large multinational companies leading teams in highly ambitious projects. A creative and far-sighted person, he is involved in services focused on helping big companies in the way to the digitalization using cutting edge technologies.

The talk will focus on how Virtual Reality will become a standard of care intervention in the healthcare services of the future, and in particular in neurorehabilitation services. Immersive Rehab addresses current inefficiencies in patient care in neurorehabilitation services, and provides an engaging and motivating Virtual Reality solution to the current limitations of neurorehabilitation with the aim to retrain the brain and regain mobility for people with important upper limb mobility limitations and poor fine motor function – in particular as a result of stroke, spinal injury, MS and ALS.

Speaker: Isabel Van de Keere, founder and CEO at Immersive Rehab

Dr Isabel Van De Keere is founder and CEO of Immersive Rehab, a digital health startup that offers personalised and engaging neurorehabilitation programmes using Virtual Reality with the aim to improve patient recovery. Following a long neurorehabilitation period Isabel went through herself due to a work accident, she decided to start Immersive Rehab in August 2016. With a background in Electro-Mechanical Engineering (MSc) and as a Doctor in Biomedical Engineering and BioMaterial Science (PhD), Isabel is passionate about healthcare technologies, digital health, immersive technologies (VR/AR) and its applications in healthcare, using tech for good, social entrepreneurship, and promoting women in tech. @ImmersiveRehab