What is it to lose yourself in a book or film? How do our environments and technology shape our body and mind? What are the characteristics of immersive activity? Can our understanding of these processes be harnessed to create positive change?

These are the questions we explore in the Media and Entertainment Psychology Lab. Our team aims to answer questions of human engagement with media, technology, arts and entertainment. The lab maintains a particular focus on the ways in which our understanding of engagement with immersive media and entertainment can be harnessed to bring about positive change in people’s lives. We’re concerned with the science of improving user experience, enjoyment, learning, and mental health; with informing design and industry; with supplementing health services and interventions, and supporting vulnerable populations with special needs.

We maintain ongoing collaboration with a number of interdisciplinary and international research teams, including creative and entertainment industry experts (animators, filmmakers, developers and designers), philosophers, computer scientists, architects, engineers, film and humanities scholars. This multidisciplinary approach and our sophisticated research facilities allow us to contribute to science, industry and mental health in a way that is skilled, precise and relevant.

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We operate with two main aims:

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