Judges for the Awards

With over 15 years of experience in global affairs, public policy, technology, strategic communications, and international relations, I am passionate about shaping the future of digital transformation, emerging technology & the public sector. As Director of Public Policy Experiences at Meta, I lead a team who engage with governments, regulators, civil society, and other strategic partners to drive innovation and excitement around the fast-changing AR/VR and AI space. I am also a proud member of the Expert Network at the World Economic Forum, where I contribute to global initiatives and dialogues on digital policy and governance issues.

In my current role at Meta, I leverage my skills in global affairs, communication, advocacy, and stakeholder management to develop and implement strategies to support the company's vision and mission and mitigate risk. I work closely with internal and external partners to address complex and evolving policy challenges and opportunities. I also represent the company in various forums and events, and communicate our policy perspectives and innovations to diverse audiences. Previously, I was the Director of Politics and Government Outreach for EMEA at Meta, where I managed a team that supported the use of our platforms by political actors and institutions, our elections integrity program, and social impact products.

Ottilie’s work explores the human experience across global cultural contexts. She is passionate about meaningful audience engagement and the sustainable use of materials. Her past experiences include content production for visual and performing arts organisations and digital transformation projects. In her role at Arup Ottilie blends digital tools, services and methodologies with project delivery for the arts and culture sector.

I'm Client Services Director at ARCADE, an internationally acclaimed XR and AI agency that focuses on connecting people to place through play.

With over 5 years of experience in immersive project management and certifications in PRINCE2 and Agile, I’m passionate about delivering engaging augmented reality experiences for fans, brands, and arts and culture.

Leading the project management department at ARCADE, I help plan and oversee projects from their initial concept through to deployment, ensuring work is high quality, progressing at pace, and on budget at all times.

Curator, executive producer and pioneer of immersive and interactive creative media.

Liz is Curator of Venice Biennale’s International Film Festival's Official Selection and Competition programme Venice Immersive, Executive Producer of immersive content accelerator programme, CreativeXR, led by Arts Council England and Digital Catapult and the CEO & Founder of trail-blazing innovation company Power to the Pixel. She has an extensive network and knowledge of international talent, financiers and distributors across the immersive entertainment and arts space.
Throughout her career, Liz has helped international media businesses and artists to innovate and adapt their practice to evolving platforms, tools and audiences. She has advised countless leading international festivals, media organisations and national and regional funds.
At Venice Film Festival she was instumental in the launch of Venice Immersive in 2017, the first and only official immersive content selection and competition in an A-list festival. Venice Immersive has helped establish XR as a new artistic and entertainment form and has pushed the boundaries of exhibiting immersive works. In 2020 Venice was the first festival to create a globally accessible virtual world exhibition of 44 works with in real life satellite venues in 14 countries.
At CreativeXR Liz helped design and lead this unique accelerator programme as Executive Producer. The programme has so far supported the development and finance of 60 XR projects by leading UK creative teams, many that have gone on to win major awards including; Goliath: Playing With Reality, Madrid Noir, (His)Story of a Painting, Austerity on Trial and Common Ground.
At Power to the Pixel, Liz created the first-ever international programmes for developing, financing and showcasing interactive and immersive works. Incubator, the Pixel Lab helped develop over 100 projects and Power to the Pixel: The Cross-Media Forum, run in association with the BFI London Film Festival over 10 years, brought together leading talent and financiers and created the frst ever project finance market for interactive projects and VR exhibition in London.
Liz began her media career in the film business. She set up and ran the UK office for Next Wave Films a division of the Independent Film Channel in the US from 1998 to 2002. Next Wave was a pioneer in the production, finance and sales of micro-budget features and digital filmmaking. Their award-winning films include Christopher Nolan's Following (Winner: Tiger Award, Rotterdam ’99, Silver Hitchcock, Dinard ’99), Kate Davis' Southern Comfort (Grand Jury Prize, Sundance ’01) and Josh Aronson's Sound and Fury (Grand Jury Prize, Sundance ’00, Academy Award nomination ’01).
She is invited regularly to speak at leading events and institutions around the world including the Cannes International Film Festival, Berlinale, Unity for Humanity Summit, Screen International Conferences, TEDx Transmedia, BAFTA and many more around the world. She has served as a jury member for numerous international festivals and funding programmes.
Liz is a board director of The Space commissioning fund for digital arts projects), a founding board member of Immerse UK (now Innovate UK Immersive Technology Network) whose content subgroup she chairs, and Latin American new media organisation Mediamorfosis. She is a member of BAFTA, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, The Guild of Future Architects and a fellow of the RSA.

I am the creative lead for Arup’s visualisation studio. My expertise – and the studio’s work – sits at the intersection of advanced visualisation, human/computer interactions, extended reality and gaming design. The high-fidelity, virtual environments we create give clients a powerful way to communicate unbuilt schemes to developers, communities, investors and government.

Tracy is a three-time BAFTA Cymru award winning filmmaker who started her career in the creative industries as an actor and stage designer before moving into writing and directing for theatre, radio, animation, film and immersive XR. From 2010-2017 Tracy was Ffilm Cymru Wales' Development Executive and BFI NETWORK Manager, overseeing feature and talent development, exec producing more than 40 shorts and managing training and mentoring schemes in partnership with S4C, BBC, Hijinx and Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival, amongst others.

In 2018 Tracy received a Creative Wales Award from Arts Council Wales to research and develop XR storytelling. This led to the creation of A Signal Across Space / Arwydd Drwy’r Awyr, the first artistic 360VR film in Welsh and English, which premiered at Wales Millennium Centre in 2022.

Her recent LGBTQ short film - Sally Leapt Out Of The Window Last Night - can be seen on BBC i-player and has won awards at festivals internationally, including Best Female Director, Best LGBT Film and the Chapter Queer Short Film Prize. Tracy continues to develop feature film and immersive projects and is currently Talent Development Manager for Ffilm Cymru Wales.

Yinka Danmole is a cultural producer with expertise in delivering public realm projects and cultural programming. Yinka's work aims to unlock the potential of people and places by creating fertile ground for artists, communities, researchers, and creative practitioners to realise ambitious projects that engage us with new perspectives. He has worked for several prominent cultural organisations, including Mediale, the Manchester International Festival, and Creative Black Country. During his tenure at these organisations, he has initiated, developed and delivered a number of high-profile programmes and commissions. As an independent producer, he has developed exhibitions and creative programmes, including: Grow FM (2022), a public programme of new commissions at Chiswick House and Gardens; the Thamesmead creative studio (2021-Present), a neighbourhood collective commissioning public art for their local area; and Black South (2019), a music night and exhibition exploring the rituals of the Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans. Currently, Yinka leads the programming for Abandon Normal Devices' festival and annual programmes as the organisation's Creative Director.

Taran Singh is the Chief Technical Officer at Birmingham Open Media (BOM) and a highly accomplished business leader with over 20 years of experience. He has achieved remarkable success in his entrepreneurial journey, building a thriving business under Taran3D and making significant contributions to the field of 3D technology and education.

In 2023, Taran3D merged with BOM, a non-profit social enterprise. The merger signifies Taran’s commitment to continuous growth, social purpose and dedication to staying at the forefront of technological advancements. At BOM, Taran leads a dynamic and passionate team, working closely with clients to bring their projects to life. With a strong belief in making immersive technology accessible to all, he actively supports this vision by partnering with inspiring organisations and fostering the growth of the next generation of tech talent in the industry.

Tara is an XR Lecturer/Researcher at Goldsmiths University, teaching Unity-based XR experience development. She is also a Speaker, the founder of BlackXRNetwork(BXRN), and a PhD student in the Intelligent Games/Game intelligence program with a focus on Avatar Embodiment and Medical Communication Skills Training within Virtual Reality.
Over the years, her interdisciplinary profile has enabled her to work in various roles across academia and the tech ecosystem, such as UCL, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Meta and George Mason Virginia Serious Games Institute in the United States.

Prof Sylvia Pan is a Professor of Virtual Reality at Goldsmiths, University of London. She co-leads the SeeVR research lab including 10 academics and researchers. She holds a PhD in Virtual Reality, and an MSc in Computer Graphics, both from UCL, and a BEng in Computer Science from Beihang University, Beijing, China. Her research interest is the use of Virtual Reality as a medium for real-time social interaction, in particular in the application areas of medical training and therapy. Her work in social anxiety in VR and moral decisions in VR has been featured multiple times in the media, including BBC Horizon, the New Scientist magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. Her 2017 Coursera VR specialisation attracted over 100,000 learners globally, and she co-leads on the MA/MSc in Virtual and Augmented Reality at Goldsmiths Computing.

Sarah Atkinson is Professor of Screen Media at King's College London, Editor of Routledge Resources Online: Screen Studies, and co-editor of Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. Sarah has published widely on the film, cinema and screen industries including extensive work into the Live Cinema economy. She has worked on numerous funded immersive media projects and virtual reality initiatives. Sarah also adopts practice-based methodologies through the creation of her own original works which include video essays, an interactive documentary, immersive experiences and short films (including Live Cinema – walking the tightrope between stage and screen - Learning on Screen Award 2020 nominee).

Oluwatosin is a game developer with a knack for the extended reality spectrum(Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality). He believes games would have a great impact across Africa in years to come and he is currently working on various projects to help this dream become a reality.

A familiar and friendly face as part of the Innovate UK family, Muki is in demand on the global XR scene as an Award Judge, professional MC/Moderator and Keynote Speaker via her career as a multi-award-winning CIO, Executive XR Producer and Creative Technologist with over two decades of pioneering interactive, immersive experiences for music, sport, entertainment & broadcasting.

2024 saw Muki kick off the year as the recently appointed UK Ambassador for Women in Immersive Technologies Europe, (WIIT) the NGO she’s been heavily involved with since its inception in 2016, which aims to create an inclusive network of talented women and those who identify as women who are driving and inspiring the virtual, augmented, mixed reality and spatial computing sectors.

Muki is also currently the Innovation Lead for the IBC Accelerators Media Innovation Programme, steering high-level consortiums to develop open collaboration and groundbreaking R&D solutions for industry-recognised challenges in XR/Emerging Media and Broadcast Engineering, exploring verticals such as Synthetic Humans, Talent ID/IP, Volumetric Video, Virtual Production, 5G Motion Capture for Live Performance & Animation, Real-Time XR Sport, Interoperable 3D Assets, Personalised MetaData, Blockchain, 6DOF Spatial Audio and more.

Other Emerging Media clients also include Red Bull Media House, and, mid-pandemic, included Paramount, Mozilla, and The National Gallery via PlaylinesAR, where she Exec’d the critically acclaimed “Art of London: Augmented Gallery” location-based, interactive AR app. In 2019, she also created with Playlines and BOSE the spatial audio drum’n’bass hit, Harry Shotta’s ‘Consequences’, which was awarded the Raindance Immersive headline experience, Digital Catapult’s Surroundscapes Tour, and the Innovation in Storytelling runner-up prize at the Future of Storytelling (FoST) in NYC. At AWE EU’22 in Lisbon, she helped collect a prestigious Auggie Award for the ‘Start-Up To Watch’ Winners, the multiplayer music maker VR composer tool Patch XR with whom she’s been an Advisory Board member since 2018.

Previously, after ten years in the ‘00s launching MTV’s first interactive digital platforms, websites, apps and live digital events, Muki went on to Executive Produce for scores of other A-List titles such as Marvel, Angry Birds, Samsung, and, BBC’s The Voice UK, where she helped create “The Virtual Voice’, the BBC’s first-ever series of immersive 360°Virtual Reality “way back” in 2015.

Globe-trotting on the tech speaking circuit, Muki has spoken at hundreds of events, and sits on Committees, Advisory Boards & Award Juriues for such prestigious events like AWE, IBC, Innovate UK, MWC/4YFN, Stereopsia, ITW &VR Awards, SXSW, Soho Media Club, XR4Human, Media Production Technology Show, Audio Engineering Society, Abbey Road Studios Spatial Audio Forum and more. She's also a regular contributor to tech papers, standards, frameworks and thought leadership publications focussing on emerging and progressive technologies for media and entertainment.

Dr Maite Frutos-Pascual is a senior lecturer and active researcher at DMT Lab. She specialises in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), immersive technologies (Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality AR/VR), usability, user analysis, interactive systems and sensor data analysis and integration. She oversees research and industry contributions within the field of immersive technologies at DMT Lab.

Maite has a strong AR/VR background supported by an ample list of relevant publications (including award-winning contributions) in leading conferences in the HCI field, including ACM CHI, IEEE ISMAR and IFIP Interact among others. Maite acts as a reviewer for many conferences and journals including the ones listed above and IEEE Transactions on Computer Graphics and Computers and Education, among others.

She works closely with industry partners, promoting the use of immersive technologies outside research environments, with most of this work related to innovation and commercialization of research-led and research-informed systems. Maite has extensive experience working in industry projects and grant applications at different levels, including InnovateUK and EPSRC grants. She is currently involved in different AR projects linking research with industry applications. She is interested in exploring these links further.

My background is in architecture and digital design, with more than 15 years of experience in the industry. I co-founded and ran FUSE, a leading digital agency that built multi-million pound digital platforms and sites for some of the world’s largest organisations. I also helped to grow the digital team of Golin, a global PR firm, by more than 300% after FUSE was acquired by Interpublic Group. My mission is to use my architectural and digital expertise to design better ways for us to interact with our physical and digital worlds, as the two continue to merge into the next version of the internet - the rapidly evolving spatial web.

As a Creative Technologist, James looks at the technology but also the creative processes involved, the artistry in its use, and the impact to the end user.

Specializing in the application of emergent technologies across different sectors, including VR, AR, spatial computing, and AI tools, he supports others in how to leverage these technologies to best support them and their industry.

With a deep understanding and appreciation of how technology can be used to benefit people and improve efficiency across different industries James currently teaches media production and leads on the Immersive Media module at Cardiff University.

Deepa Mann-Kler is Chief Executive of Neon; Director for Belfast XR Festival; Executive Producer for Virtual Production at Aura Studios; Visiting Professor in Immersive Futures at Ulster University, an award winning Artist and a member of Euromersive and BAFTA Connect. Neon harnesses the power of immersive technologies to create authentic augmented and virtual reality narrative driven experiences. As Director and Producer, Neon has won multiple awards most lately with The Metaverse & Me and Discover ME which shares real life stories of people living with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long Covid. Neon launched The Metaverse & Me, AR Peace Wall and AR Street Art apps freely available on iOS and Play Store. A TEDx speaker “Being Human” and thought leader Deepa regularly keynotes on the intersection of storytelling, digital transformation, technical innovation, leadership, inclusion, ethics, bias, data, AI, design and creativity. Websites: www.discoverneon.com | www.deepamannkler.com | www.belfastxrfestival.com

David is a Senior Producer and Curator with two decades experience leading digital experiences – from public programming in the arts to live broadcast specialising in XR storytelling. David is currently leading the Immersive Experiences team at Wales Millennium Centre where he runs Bocs, a dedicated space for XR, interactive and immersive experiences. David has co-created digital experiences with All Seeing Eye, ARCADE, BBC Radio 3, BBC R&D, BFI NETWORK, Ffilm Cymru Wales, REWIND VR, The Space and Welsh National Opera.

He has received awards and accolades for the following XR experiences:
Ripples of Kindness, Finalist - QLD XR Festival, FIVARS and Encounters 2022
A Vixen’s Tale, Honourable Award Creative Review 2020
Rhondda Rebel, Winner - Wales Online Digital Award 2020
Magic Butterfly, Winner - Be Connected Awards, VR Expo 2018

Chris is StoryLab’s in-house real-time 3D developer, focusing on the practical development of experimental VR and XR projects such as Immersive Antarctica. Chris generalises across the development spectrum, including 3D asset creation, level design, UX, and program scripting.
Chris studied at Durham University as an Electronic Engineer, with a keen interest in product design, games design and the transportation sector. Alongside his studies, he has turned a long-held hobby interest in games design and development into freelance work, and is now enjoying translating a range of skills into the unique and impactful environment of StoryLab.

Chris has been at the forefront of immersive technology development, most recently as the AR/VR lead at the UK Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, in collaboration with Boeing, Rolls Royce & others.
At Soluis Chris leads teams covering UI/UX, Engineering & Project Management.

Responsible for overseeing Imagination's global technology strategy, project and service delivery execution; to deliver immersive, engaging and measurable, smart connected experiences to clients including Mastercard, Ford, Major League Baseball, Jaguar Land Rover and Shell. Anton is continually exploring and integrating emerging experiential and exponential technologies, such as VR, AR, AI, Blockchain, and the productisation and ongoing development of Imagination’s Connected Experience Toolkit, XPKit.

Dr Ali Asadipour leads the RCA's Computer Science Research Centre, specialising in Immersive Experiences and AI. His international influence is amplified by holding Senior Visiting Fellowship positions at UNSW and KAIST, facilitating collaborations with esteemed global research labs and assuming pivotal roles in national knowledge exchange networks.

I spearhead new initiatives, operations, strategy and community at Innovate UK Immersive Tech Network, the UK’s innovation network supporting growth of the XR industry (VR, AR, MR and spatial computing) consulting as part of the Digital team at Innovate UK KTN and Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency. I led the launch and successful delivery of the inaugural Immerse UK Awards, industry initiative to tackle talent pipeline challenge, developing the 0 to 1 strategy while working with stakeholders from the Advisory Board and Academic Working Group. As the go to network for XR professionals, I help members from creatives to technologists, across content to product and services, ranging from SMEs to enterprise towards accessing funding, R&D and collaboration, providing industry insights and accelerating growth and innovation. You’ll find me hosting discussions on themes such as sustainability, inclusive design and ED&I intersecting XR, and virtual showcases in VR platforms and I co-led the launch of Immerse UK Summit, as part of BEYOND Conference.

I lead on the Innovate UK Immersive Technology network, helping guide organisations in the XR sector looking for funding for developing innovative products related to XR. I share insight into the market and use my network to help organisations create powerful connections.

I support organisations involved in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Film/TV, Production & post-production, VFX & Animation, Gaming, 5G, Hardware and Wearables.

I am passionate about helping to promote diversity & inclusion in the XR space and am a co-founder of the XR Diversity Initiative, involved in working groups for XRAccess, and a member of Women in Immersive Tech.

Damian Murphy is Professor in Sound and Music Computing at AudioLab in the Department of Electronic Engineering, University of York, where his research focuses on the development and creative application of immersive audio and virtual acoustic modelling. He is an active sound artist, and the Director of the £15m XR Stories Arts and Humanities Research Council funded Creative Industries R&D Partnership exploring the next generation of interactive and immersive storytelling for the UK’s creative screen industries.

Fabrizio is Associate Professor in Heritage and Creative Technologies and Deputy Director of the StoryLab Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. His research explores the combination of 3D interactive visualisation, immersive technologies (VR, AR, MR) and multimodal storytelling to develop cutting-edge solutions for heritage preservation and revitalisation, community engagement and sustainable development.
Fabrizio applies rapid prototyping, speculative design, and agile creative practice methodologies to his research to explore, reflect on, and evidence the connections between digitally reproduced tangible heritage and communities’ identities and values (i.e., intangible heritage). An example of his work is the Reviving Kusunda project funded by the British Academy and presented at the British Academy Summer Showcase 2022 and on BBC World News.
Fabrizio has acted as academic advisor of several SMEs and international organisations and developed several knowledge transfer partnerships. These collaborations include the KTP-Innovate UK Immersive Antarctica project in collaboration with UK Antarctic Heritage Trust and the UNESCO Network for Mediterranean Youth, aimed at equipping partner youth organisations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with new IT skills to support their engagement for the protection and promotion of cultural heritage.

Matt Sansam joined Innovate UK in 2010, where he is currently Head of Delivery for ‘Audience of the Future’, a £39m Industrial Strategy Challenge fund. Matt manages relationships with government departments, business, and academic communities, as well as scoping, planning, developing, and delivering various interventions aimed at organisations of all sizes. Matt has worked with many organisations within music, publishing, games, film, TV, culture, advertising, fashion, education, sport, health care, finance, on everything from small budget hand-held releases to large scale complex projects.

As Head of Delivery for the UKRI 'Audience of the Future' team, he responsible for the smooth and efficient operation of the AotF programme, management of the portfolio of funded projects, scoping and delivery of International activities, and the day-to-day operations of the AotF Challenge team.

Matt has nearly 30 years of experience in the games industry and is an advisory board member of the UK Games Talent and Finance CIC.

Mona is a designer and Lecturer in Immersive Experience Design at Abertay University where she acts as Programme Co-Lead on the TIGA-accredited BA (Hons) Game Design and Production. She completed her PhD: "Playing with Performance/Performing Play. Creating hybrid experiences at the fringes of video games and performance" at Abertay in 2019.
She has published in Games and Culture (SAGE), Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds (Intellect), The Scottish Journal of Performance and presented work at numerous national and international conferences and events: DiGRA, CHI, ELO, ResFest, BBC Click Live, Future Play at the Edinburgh Fringe, Games Are For Everyone, Arcadia.
Her research is practice-based and focuses on the convergence of performance practice and videogames, particularly designing hybrid forms of storytelling, performative games, mixed-reality and immersive experiences and games for public spaces and heritage sites. Mona is currently working on a series of projects that investigate the potential of games for capturing, preserving and sharing lived experience.
You can find out more about Mona’s work on her portfolio website:https://www.performingplay.co.uk/

Fridolin Wild is professor at the Institute of Educational Technology of The Open University, also leading the Performance Augmentation Lab (PAL). Fridolin seeks to close the dissociative gap between abstract knowledge and its practical application, researching radically new forms of linking directly from knowing something ‘in principle’ to applying that knowledge ‘in practice’ and speeding its refinement and integration into polished performance.
Fridolin is and has been leading numerous EU, European Space Agency, and nationally funded research projects, including ARETE, LAAR, AR-for-EU, WEKIT, TCBL, ARPASS, Tellme, TELmap, cRunch, Stellar, Role, LTfLL, iCamp, and Prolearn.
Fridolin leads the Special Interest Group on Wearable-Enhanced Learning (SIG WELL) of the European Association of Technology Enhanced Learning (EATEL). He chairs the working group on Augmented Reality Learning Experience Models (ARLEM) of the IEEE Standards Association as well as the Natural Language Processing task view of the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). He co-chairs the IEEE ICICLE SIG XR for Learning and Performance Augmentation. Fridolin is a trust Governor of Oxford Spires Academy.
From 2015 to 2020, Fridolin was Senior Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University. From 2009 to 2016, he was at the Knowledge Media Institute of the OU. Fridolin also worked as a researcher at the Vienna University of Economics and Business in Austria from 2004 to 2009. He studied at the University of Regensburg, Germany, with extra-murals at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of Hildesheim.

Dr Faisal Mushtaq is Director of the Centre for Immersive Technologies, one of the UK's leading XR research centres, and holds a position as Professor in Cognitive Science at the University of Leeds. With a background in the cognitive neuroscience of learning, he has worked with VR technologies for over a decade and has acted as academic advisor for several SMEs. He was awarded a "250 Great Minds Fellowship" as recognition for his growing reputation as an international research leader. He has published extensively in a variety of high-impact journals on the use of XR for augmenting human learning and performance. Notably, his research team were the first to demonstrate potential cognitive and visual deficits following VR exposure in young children. Most recently, he led the development of a report published in partnership with Health Education England and a network of clinicians, scientists and businesses which outlined a vision for realising the potential of immersive healthcare solutions for the NHS in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.