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UCL Virtual Reality Software Wins Awards for Innovation
4 November 2024
Virtual Reality (VR) software developed by Dr Stephen Hilton at the UCL School of Pharmacy and group collaborators has recently won multiple awards for technological innovation and commitment to broadening access to education.
In recent months, the Hilton group at UCL School of Pharmacy has achieved recognition for their groundbreaking work in developing innovative Virtual Reality (VR) software that widens accessibility in scientific education. Led by Dr Stephen Hilton and in collaboration with teams from Mamara University in Turkey, the group has received multiple awards celebrating their commitment to education technology. The Hilton group specialises in creating educational experiences in Virtual Reality that utilise exact replicas of specialist equipment for hands-on training, and are multiuser in nature, so that students from anywhere in the world can join the same instructional session, to learn together without the traditional barriers to education. At this year’s 2024 ACEEU Asia Pacific Triple E Awards, the software received a special recognition ‘Digital Innovation of the Year’ award for a project that utilised multilingual Artificial Intelligent (AI) avatars to break down global educational barriers. The award celebrates the team’s ongoing work to create inclusive educational environments, as these avatars can act as teachers and mentors, meaning that world-class educational experiences are available 24/7 from anywhere. Also at the ACEEU Triple E Awards, this time in the Europe-Africa Forum, the team secured 3rd place in Europe for a project within the category of ‘EDI Community Engagement Initiative’. This initiative focused on the development of virtual institutes, for the creation of global and sustainable educational experiences. The ACEEU Triple E Awards are a globally recognised scheme to recognise outstanding efforts for entrepreneurship and engagement excellence in higher education.  Two PhD students, Amy Locks (Left) and Fatma Kareem (Right), accept an award at 2024 ACEEU Europe-Africa Forum for the Triple E Awards, hosted in Lisbon. The celebrations do not end there. The group were recently shortlisted for the Times Higher Education Awards within the ‘Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year’ category. This recognition reflects the impact of their work in training hundreds of students in 3D printing using low-cost Meta Quest headsets, thanks to funding from the British Council, both in the UCL School of Pharmacy and in Mamara University Turkey. The software developed for these training initiatives employ virtual institutes, AI avatars as on-hand instructors, and digital twin 3D printers providing the most realistic training experience possible. The Times Higher Education Awards have been dubbed the ‘Oscars of higher education’, demonstrating the global impact of VR-based learning solutions. These awards showcase the group’s ongoing success in advancing education through cutting-edge VR solutions, with a clear focus on accessibility and global impact. Many thanks to the British Council for funding support and Mamara University for their continued collaboration. For more information about the awards mentioned:
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Contact: Stephen Hilton |
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