Multisensory experiences are a central part of our everyday lives. However, we often tend to take them for granted, at least when our different senses function normally (say, when we have sight functioning) or are corrected-to-normal (when we use glasses). However, closer inspection to any, even the most mundane experiences, reveals the remarkable multisensory world in which we live in. Our growing understanding of the senses and multisensory technologies, as well as the increased symbiosis between humans and technology, have facilitated the development of the concept of multisensory experiences (sometimes also referred to as multisensory experience design). This concept is based on the idea that we are not just passive receivers in, but instead can be active creators of, the multisensory worlds in which we live. In other words, we can carefully consider the different senses, the way in which they work together, and the available multisensory technologies to shape our experiences. We can explore sensory arrangements that can change the way we perceive and interact with our environment and ultimately form new experiences.
This ERC SenseX project contributed to this basic understanding of multisensory experiences and the design and future development of multisensory technologies. Those emerging technologies not just stimulate our eyes (think of screens) and ears (and audio systems), but also consider how and what we touch, smell, and taste, among others, in our lives. Multisensory digital technology enables the creation of multisensory experiences that enrich and augment the way we interact with the worlds around us.
This project has resulted in
- over 75 publications in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, that won several best paper and honourable mention awards (~ six awards)
- lead to the organisation of various international events including workshops, tutorials, panels
- a range of keynote talks by the PI in renowned international conferences, and invited talks to global leading research organisations and industries, including MIT, Stanford, Facebook/Oculus
- a successful University spin-out company (OWidgets Ltd) that has been supported by an initial ERC PoC 2017, and obtained a second PoC 2021
Above all, this project has truly advance our ability to understand, design, and develop multisensory interfaces in a broad range of application domains, from entertainment, immersive media, to automotive and healthcare applications. With July 2020, the PI has moved her research laboratory to a world-leading University, becoming Professor of Multisensory Interfaces at UCL (University College London), Department of Computer Science and was further selected as Deputy Director (Digital Health) for the UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering. She is also a Visiting Professor at the Material Science Research Centre at the Royal College of Art in London and was a Visiting Professor at the HCI Engineering Group at MIT CSAIL in summer 2019.
Most recently, she published a book on ‘Multisensory Experiences: where the senses meet technology’, published by Oxford University Press as a popular science book; thus making the research of this project accessible to the wider public.
