AI has dominated public and scholarly attention over the recent years, overshadowing many other areas of technology. Yet there have been prominent recent developments in Extended Reality (XR) that deserve equal scrutiny. Often supported by AI, XR is transforming how we interact with digital and physical spaces while offering immense potential across sectors. This project recognises the growing importance of XR and seeks to shape its perception, understanding, design and use.
Professor Joanna Zylinska, Professor of Media Philosophy + Critical Digital Practice
25 March 2026
'Never want to leave': pioneering project to investigate multisensory extended reality
The project led by Professor Joanna Zylinska will create a new arts and humanities‑led field of Multisensory XR that critically reimagines how immersive technologies are designed, experienced and understood.
The XR & Attention Research Group, part of the Digital Futures Institute’s Centre for the Ecologies of Attention and Perception, has been awarded an AHRC Curiosity Grant for a new project titled Multisensory XR: From ‘Tech for Good’ to Ethical Immersive Experience.
Launched in January 2026, the project will establish an interdisciplinary, arts and humanities-led field of Multisensory Extended Reality (XR), offering a critical yet practice-engaged rethinking of how immersive technologies are designed, experienced and valued today.
Extended Reality (XR) is a blurring of actual and virtual worlds that encompasses Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR).
The project is led by Professor Joanna Zylinska, Professor of Media Philosophy + Critical Digital Practice in the Department of Digital Humanities and Director of the Centre for the Ecologies of Attention and Perception. The project will have three co-leads: Dr Gabriele Salciute Civiliene, Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities, Dr Stephanie Janes, Lecturer in Interactive Media in the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries, Dr Maria Elena Stefanou, Lecturer in Neuroscience and Psychology in the Department of Neuroimaging; and Neil Jakeman, Senior Research Software Analyst at King’s Digital Lab.
Current XR designs, the project team says, are frequently driven by industry ambitions for total immersion, seeking to captivate users so that they ‘never want to leave’ and prioritising commercial needs over social and personal gains. These designs also predominantly focus on vision and overlook multiple sensory ways in which people experience the world, restricting access to XR for diverse groups.
Multisensory XR introduces the concept of ethical multisensory XR, moving beyond the industry mantra of ‘Tech for Good’.
By gathering insights through workshops, interviews and a hackathon, the team will imagine future XR experiences across creative industries, health and education, and develop a prototype to test ideas. The findings will be shared through an open wiki and a public report. Alongside this, the project will bring together researchers, creatives and industry partners to build a community committed to developing ethical, socially‑beneficial XR, creating a shared action plan that sets the foundations for future collaboration and research.
In this story
Professor of Media Philosophy + Critical Digital Practice
Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities
Lecturer in Interactive Media
Lecturer in Neuroscience and Psychology (Education)
Senior Research Software Analyst