Keynote Speakers

Karen Boyce

Biography

Dr. Karen Boyce is a Senior Lecturer at Ulster University and a key member of the Fire Safety Engineering Research and Technology (FireSERT) centre. Over her 38-year career, her research has specialized in human behaviour and movement during evacuations. Her particular interests lie in understanding the capabilities and requirements of disabled individuals and she has contributed to UK government-funded research related to inclusive evacuation needs. High profile research investigations have included research into the evacuee behaviour following the World Trade Centre attacks on 9/11.

She has served as member and Chair of the international Human Behaviour in Fire Symposium series (1999–2015) and is a member of the Advisory Board for Fire and Materials. From 2000 until recently she directed the MSc Fire Safety Engineering program at Ulster. She has authored over 80 research publications and co-authored the "Engineering Data" chapter in the 5th Edition of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers Handbook.

Rob Lindeman

Biography

Prof. Robert W. Lindeman (Rob) is Director of the Human Interface Technology Lab NZ (HIT Lab NZ) at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, and has been doing research in the field of VR since 1993. His work focuses on immersive, multi-sensory feedback systems for VR, AR, gaming, and long-term VR immersion research. He is particularly interested in non-fatiguing, non-sickness-inducing and worry-free experiences. He has also done significant work on the effective use of 360-degree video for science outreach, including work in Antarctica.

He currently serves on the Steering Committees of both IEEE VR and ACM VRST. He was General Chair of IEEE VR 2010, IEEE 3DUI 2014 and ACM VRST 2023.

He is an avid mountain biker, hiker, geocacher and skier.