Knowledge exchange project explores virtual reality in museums   

Virtual Reality (VR) in museums is the focus of a newly funded knowledge exchange project that brings together UCL Culture, UCL's Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) and AI technology start-up Kagenova, which was founded by UCL scientists. The project will enable these highly specialised teams to come together to share ideas, experiences and skills to support innovation in VR in the museum sector. Kagenova has developed new technology out of the exploration of the unknown horizons of the night sky by UCL scientists in astrophysics. This will allow them to provide photo-realism and interactivity in VR, at the same time and at scale. These new immersive technologies are powered by Kagenova's geometric AI techniques, which are tailored specifically to VR. Professor of astrostatistics and astroinformatics Jason McEwan (UCL Space and Climate Physics), who is also founder and CEO of Kagenova, said:   "We're excited by this knowledge exchange partnership to help explore how technology could be used to support cultural exhibitions and make them more accessible." The collaboration will explre the ways in which virtual exhibitions captured in this way can enhance the student learning experience (blended and online). This will benefit of both UCL and the wider Higher Education community, as well enabling the general public to engage with collections in new ways, wherever they are in the world.