Séamas Weech

Ph.D. student in Psychology (2013-2017) The study of sensory integration has never been more important given the nascence of the consumer VR industry. In my work I try to find out how we process multisensory information, with a view to exploiting this knowledge so that we can inform future developments in technology. Currently I am involved in refining an innovative technique for reducing sensory conflict in VR. My research is aimed at improving the user experience in VR, which currently suffers from serious deleterious factors including sickness and discomfort. The techniques I use in my research include vestibular and haptic stimulation and motion capture, and I use psychophysical and psychometric scaling methods. I program my experiments using a variety of tools, mainly Matlab, Psychophysics Toolbox, OpenGL, Python, and Unity C#. I presented some of this research at VSS in 2016: Weech, S., Konar, Y., Troje, N. F. (2016) Vection is facilitated by bone conducted vibration and galvanic vestibular stimulation. Vision Science Society meeting, St Pete Beach, FL. [Abstract published in: Journal of Vision, 16:1203] One publication related to this project is under review and another two are in preparation. After completing his PhD, Seamas got a postdoc position at university of Waterloo.