Our team

Damian is a leading researcher in Audio and Music Technology at the University of York, with his work on virtual acoustics, auralisation and audio signal processing placing him in over a hundred leading journals and conferences. His creative work has appeared in galleries and festivals of international reputation. He leads both XR Stories and XR Network+. [email protected]

Melissa Terras is Professor of Digital Cultural Heritage at the University of Edinburgh, UK, and a leading researcher in Digital Humanities. Her interest is the digitisation of cultural heritage, including advanced digitisation techniques, usage of large-scale digital collections, and the mining and analysis of digitised content. Melissa is Co-I and Acting Director of Creative Informatics, the Edinburgh based AHRC Creative Cluster, and a founding Director of Transkribus, the AI-powered platform for text recognition of historical documents. [email protected]

Jane Harris, Professor of Digital Design and Innovation, is Director of Research and Innovation (Stratford), University of the Arts London, and Director of UAL's Fashion, Textiles and Technology Institute. With over twenty five years of experience as a research leader and mentor, Professor Harris has worked extensively across the UK and international HE sector, including MIT, and as Visiting Professor of Design Research, Geneva University of Art & Design (HEAD).

Principal Investigator (PI) of the AHRC ‘Business of Fashion, Textiles and Technology’ Creative R&D Partnership award, as part of an £80million Creative Industries Cluster Programme (CICP, 2018-24), her current role also encompasses development of R&D partnerships, aligned to the new UAL East Bank campus, on the Olympic Park (2023). 

Her research practice has established novel approaches to digital imaging design and creative computing disciplines, informed by an established textile and material practice. Working with 3D CGI animation and real time tools, encompassing issues of craft and aesthetic, her pioneering work across XR is a hybrid of design, artefact and experience, broadly impacting museum, e-commerce, performance, film /game narratives and design realms. [email protected]

Greg is an R&D Producer for Media Cymru, a collaboration to make the Cardiff Capital Region a global hub for media innovation, led by Cardiff University. Greg leads on environmental sustainability and virtual production (VP) work packages of activity. Prior to Media Cymru, he worked as a Producer on Clwstwr, a research, development and innovation (RD&I) programme for the screen sector in South Wales. Greg has been in the media industry for more than 20 years working in production, studios, festivals and events as a line producer, production executive and studio manager among others. He has worked with organisations including Bad Wolf, Tidy Productions, BBC, Dragon Digital, Wales Screen, Ffilm Cymru, the BFI Network and the Hay Festival.

Declan Keeney PhD, FRSA is a Professor of Screen Technologies and Innovation at Ulster University and Director of the Ulster Screen Academy.  Declan is Director of R&D&I at Studio Ulster and co-founder of a £75m Belfast Region City Deal Pillar Innovation project, in the form of a 75,000 ft2 commercial Virtual Production Studio complex with dedicated research and innovation labs currently under construction at Belfast Harbour Studios in NI. Declan is a Policy Fellow at the Design Museum in London, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the British Council’s Arts and Creative Economy Advisory Group. Declan is also a Co-investigator at Future Screens NI, a Northern Ireland based AHRC funded creative cluster.

Emma has operational oversight for the day-to-day running of XR Network+, XR Stories and the associated project, SIGN. Emma leads planning, and oversees that both XR Stories and XR Network+ meet defined goals on time and within budget. Emma has worked at the University for over a decade, and in her previous role supported academics to engage with industry, and to understand what external organisations need from academic research. She has supported the transfer of academics’ knowledge and research through spinning out, licencing, collaboration and networking. Emma has also worked with numerous academics to frame the benefits their research can bring and to figure out the best route to engage external organisations with this research. [email protected]

John leads the R&D team and works closely with industry and academic partners to drive the growth and innovation of Yorkshire’s creative cluster. He has worked in higher education for over 10 years, leading strategic projects, research and development, research projects and programmes, and managing programmes of academic consultancy. [email protected]

Sophie is the Administration Manager for XR Stories and XR Network+. Applying skills and knowledge from six years of experience in university project support, her role at XR Network+ is to create, manage and review administrative systems for recording and maintaining project data, and to manage expenditure in line with university and funding body policies. She enjoys providing admin support to project stakeholders and using cloud-based technology to implement administrative systems which facilitate collaborative working by the project teams. [email protected]

Sue leads the planning, production and distribution of accurate and engaging content for XR Stories and XR Network+. Sue works closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that communications align with project/campaign objectives, are tailored to the target audience, and consider the needs of collaborating institutions, departments, and industry partners. Sue has experience working across marketing, communications and events in higher education and in the private sector.

Emma is a proactive Project Manager working across XR Stories and XR Network+. Emma successfully led the operational delivery of the XR Stories Creative Media Labs project, and now manages the established immersive technology lab in the Guildhall, York. Emma is keen to encourage strong team support, and contribute to projects that are pivotal for screen storytelling experiences.

Dan is responsible for administrative tasks across XR Stories and XR Network+, including ongoing administration for the XR Stories lab. Dan also aids the reporting and evaluation of XR Stories and XR Network+ activities, alongside the planning and organisation of events. Dan was previously the administrator for the XR Stories Creative Media Labs project and before that, worked with the University of York's Research Theme Champions. Dan has a background working in film and TV.