Virtual and Augmented Reality MA

Course overview

The course will explore the use of a range of immersive techniques and technologies⁴ in contemporary creative practice including but not limited to:

• Headset Technologies: Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) / Mixed Reality (MR)
• Narrative Forms: Interactive Storytelling / Hypertext / Choose your own adventure
• Play: Role Playing Games / Escape Rooms / Street Games
• Performance: Immersive Theatre / Performance Capture / Digital Dance
• Leisure: Theme parks / Outdoor and “Secret” Cinema / Heritage Settings
• Sonic experiences: Multichannel Audio / ASMR / Spatial Composition
• Site-responsive Working: Projection Mapping / Real-time Mobile Technologies / 5G and IoT⁴

Why you should study this course

The course has been structured to allow you the opportunity to gain a breadth of experience and also to work in-depth on a chosen specialism, with the aim of becoming a dynamic and agile graduate who is prepared for an evolving, creative-critical discipline, not tied to the limitations of any one particular technology or approach. Graduates from the course should be able to excel across the realisation and actualisation of live projects with collaborators across communities and industries, digital, cultural, creative and third sectors. Benefits include:

• Working alongside the university’s Office of Teaching and Learning, the Disruptive Media Learning Lab and the Global Opportunities team, delivering high-quality projects and learning experiences².
• Opportunities to participate in a range of exciting field trips and industry visits² – previous students visited the Ai Weiwei Exhibition in London, ESL Games in Leicester, the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, Somerset House in London, Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers Museums in Oxford, and the National Media Museum in Bradford.

Careers and opportunities

Upon successful completion of the course:

• you will be equipped with the creative critical skills to successfully realise a range of multisensory, interactive and immersive artistic products
• you will have worked independently and collaboratively to produce work in a range of professional contexts, including working to live briefs developed in partnership with industry
• you will have developed key transferable skills that enable you to operate at the forefront of the emerging immersive sector
• you may choose to progress into technical roles, but the course also supports those interested in developing agile skills as writers, performers, directors, producers, designers and facilitators of immersive work
• you should comprehend the interdisciplinary nature of immersive ways of working and the sector’s demand for flexible, ambitious, dynamic and self-aware practitioners.

Preparing our master’s graduates for onward careers is central to our approach to learning and teaching on the course. This includes aiming to develop authentic assessment, collaborative opportunities, placements, and advice and guidance for onward study on PhD programmes here and internationally². Our three collaborative modules provide opportunities² to work with students in film and media production, photography, as well as media management and media/communication studies. You will be able to take advantage of cross-school connections and collaborations, as well as placement and onward opportunities² with the support of our Talent Team.