91É«ÇéƬ

Please join in-person for our next Vaegan seminar to be presented by Dr Carlos Tirado Cortes (University of Sydney).ÌýPlease keep in mind this will be an in-person event on campus at 91É«ÇéƬ in G31 Old Main Building (nearest entry Gate 14 off Barker St).

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Title: Inside Out: A Safety Lens on Virtual Reality

Speaker: Dr Carlos Tirado Cortes (University of Sydney)

Time/Date: 1-2pm Friday 17 July 2026 (AEST)

Location: G31 Old Main Building 91É«ÇéƬ Sydney. Nearest entry Gate 14 Barker St

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Abstract: Virtual Reality transports its users to places they could never otherwise go. But the same medium that creates those experiences can also work against the people using it. Used differently, it can also prepare them for the hardest moments of their real lives. This talk examines both possibilities through a single safety lens, looking first inward and then outward. The inward view asks what VR does to the body: how immersion can provoke cybersickness and loss of balance. The outward view of what VR can do for the body in the world: how immersive systems can train firefighters for bushfire conditions that are too dangerous, too rare, or too fast to rehearse in any other way. Across both halves runs a common finding from work with clinical, fire-service, human-computer interaction, and immersive media collaborators: realism is never free. Whether VR harms or protects the user, the question is not how real we can make it, but what the cost of realism is and whether it is worth paying.

Bio: Carlos Tirado is a Lecturer in Interaction Design at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on Virtual Reality and its effects on human kinematics. Other areas of research involve human-computer interaction, data visualisation, and interaction design for health technologies.