Fellowship Opportunity | Making Heritage Sites & Biodiverse Environments Accessible through Immersive Technologies (VR, AR, XR)
Future Island-Island has generated research relating to heritage sites and biodiverse environments. This fellowship will explore how immersive technologies can translate and extend that work to design versatile, accessible experience formats suitable for a range of exhibition contexts, creating new ways for people to encounter diverse places and environments that may otherwise be difficult to access.
This fellowship will explore the use of virtual, augmented and/or extended reality (VR/AR/XR) to make heritage sites and biodiverse environments more accessible to the public. Museums and educational materials may provide routes to engagement, with immersive technologies acting as a launchpad for artists, designers and storytellers to develop new forms of interpretation and access.
Required Skills & Experience
Essential digital skills encompass experience across immersive technologies (AR, VR, XR), 3D animation, VFX, or real-time games pipelines. Applicants are expected to explore and develop a functional prototype, with an optional scope to test and showcase their work during a public exhibition.
Potential Outcomes
Applicants are encouraged to propose outcomes that reflect their creative approach and the focus of their fellowship. These could include:
- An immersive interpretation or functioning prototype of technology demonstrating alternative modes of context access.
- A technical report outlining the blueprint for scaling the demonstrator into a more widely used approach that can inform future FII work in immersive access and digital interpretation.
Fellowship Value
The Fellowship will be offered up to £10,000 and applicants will be required to provide a full breakdown of costs. Eligible costs include the Fellow’s time, consumables or materials, travel, accommodation and subsistence. Equipment costs are ineligible. Costs associated with Studentships or PhD study are ineligible. Applicants should indicate the funding amount requested. The evaluation panel may recommend a different amount based on the proposal content and budget justification.
How to Apply
Please apply through this form. Please complete all sections by 23:45 on Thursday, 22nd of October 2026.