Jisc
Event

ALT/Jisc extended reality (XR) community summer meet-up 2026

Join us at the Open University (Milton Keynes) for our next XR community meet up.

One dayFree
  • 07 July 2026

    The Open University, Milton Keynes
    09:45 – 16:00

About

This event is the fourth of our Jisc XR community  face-to-face meet-ups, where you will have a chance to hear how other institutions are using extended reality (XR) technologies and get hands-on with practical demonstrations. You’ll also have the opportunity to network and participate in interactive discussions with your peers. Join us for a day of informative and collaborative learning. Agenda to be confirmed, we are still accepting proposals for sessions until Monday 01 June.

Programme

Arrival

Welcome

  • Jo Dyer (Director of Learner and Discovery Services), The Open University
  • Kathryn Woodhead, Subject specialist, Jisc
  • Cat Bailey, Subject specialist - learning technology, Jisc

Introducing The Open University’s XR studios

In this presentation we’ll share the origin story and future direction of the OU’s XR Studios. Building on expertise across the university, we are developing a range of XR use cases for distance learning. These inform our choice of technologies and positioning of the studios as places for multidisciplinary collaboration.

Speakers:

  • Matthew Moran and Trevor Collins from the Open University

Morning sessions

Main room: presentation and demonstration

The empathy lens; An immersive early years trauma experience

Speakers:

  • Matt Beck, Kirsty Cullen - Heart of Worcestershire College

Breakout 1: Discussion

GenAI and XR in healthcare training

Speakers:

  • Antony Payton, Emily Johnstone - The University of Manchester

Breakout 2: Demonstration/ discussion

Extending reality: developing new forms of immersive experiential learning online

Speakers:

  • Matthew Moran, Ryan Hayle and Richard Jagboro, The Open University

Break

Afternoon sessions

Main room: Hands on-demonstration

From assessment to immersion: building VR experiences

Speakers:

  • Ayesha Khan, Valerie Brown, Penny Langford - Milton Keynes College

Breakout 1: Presentation

Epic Science: How can a service design approach be used to design, deliver, and evaluate augmented reality as an educational service for primary science learning in real school settings?

Speakers:

  • Warren Fearn - York St John University

York St John University

Breakout 2: Presentation/ Demonstration

Pushing the envelope with ThingLink: getting beyond point and click to build digital capabilities and innovation

Speaker:

  • James Cull - Birkbeck, University of London

Lunch

Afternoon sessions

The UK XR community: What have we done so far and what is next?

  • Kathryn Woodhead, Subject specialist, Jisc
  • Cat Bailey, Subject specialist - learning technology, Jisc

XR for distance learning

  • Sarah Daniell, Trevor Collins, Lucy Anderson, Janette Wallace, Katie Harvey and Philip Wheeler, The Open University

Finding Your Own Way: Evolving an Open-Source Solution to Social VR in Higher Education

  • Gary Burnett, Loughborough University

Ethical, safe and inclusive XR & AI technologies

  • Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Takeaway and thanks

Speakers:

  • Kathryn Woodhead, Subject specialist, Jisc
  • Cat Bailey, Subject specialist - learning technology, Jisc

Close

Who should attend

Staff with an interest in extended reality (XR) technologies from higher and further education institutions in the UK. This could include but is not limited to:

  • Teaching practitioners
  • Digital managers/digital leads
  • Technology enhanced learning staff
  • IT staff
  • Curriculum leads

Please note that unless otherwise agreed with Jisc, this event is not for commercial organisations. Any commercial representatives registering as delegates without permission will have their registration cancelled.

This event has a limited number of 60 registrations, so please only book on if you are able to attend on the day. If you have booked and then are unable to attend, please cancel your registration.

Contact

For further information, please contact events@jisc.ac.uk.