VIRTUAL1620 - Key Persons
Also born and raised in Plymouth, but currently living in Canada, Chris is a specialist in 3D modelling majoring on architectural visualisation and historical digital recreations.
As well as working in the hospitality trade for 20 years designing kitchens for large upscale developments, he has set himself the goal of becoming proficient in digital media techniques and architectural illustration.
Chris is currently busy supporting the University of Birmingham's HIT Team in developing the potential of VR environments for education and entertainment, especially in the field of Digital Heritage. He has a love for history and digging into the past to discover inspirational stories and ideas.
He is a member of the HIT Team's Virtual Mayflower project, developing detailed 3D models of the ship and Plymouth's Barbican (harbour), from where the Pilgrims departed in 1620.
Dr Chris Bibb is a Research Fellow working with Professor Bob Stone at the University of Birmingham, part-sponsored by BAE Systems. His PhD focused on the exploitation of Mixed Reality techniques for future cockpit design and military command and control.
His research is highly interdisciplinary and focuses on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Human Factors (HF), and VR/AR/MR systems. His PhD, also an industrially sponsored project by EPSRC and BAE Systems (Air Sector), was completed within the HIT Team when part of the School of Electronic, Electrical & Systems Engineering (supervised by Prof Bob Stone), and focused on determining the principles for the design and development of Mixed Reality systems for industrial applications. Chris is a qualified drone pilot and regularly helps out conducting surveys of archaeological sites worthy of implementation in VR.
Job Titles:
- Director of Simulation at Modux Ltd
Dr Rob Guest is Director of Simulation at Modux Ltd. He worked closely with Professor Robert Stone for many years as an undergraduate and postgraduate student, and also a research fellow specialising in VR and AR technologies.
Dr Vish Shingari graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2011 with a BEng in Computer Interactive Systems. Since then he has been working within the Human Interface Tec...
Job Titles:
- Member of the Human Interface Technologies Team at the University of Birmingham
Faye McCabe is a PhD student and member of the Human Interface Technologies Team at the University of Birmingham, where she graduated with a BEng in Computer Systems Engineering in 2017. Her PhD research focuses generally on human trust in future automation, and specifically on the role of the human in future autonomous surface and underwater maritime platforms.
In particular, Faye is addressing how autonomous systems can be introduced in order to create dynamic and interdependent human-machine teams. She is especially interested in how a trusting relationship can be fostered through multi-modal interaction and simulation-based/synthetic environment interface design.
Part of her research involves interacting with the team behind the Mayflower Autonomous Ship. Faye also supports the HIT Team during its Virtual Heritage field activities and in public engagement and STEM outreach events.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Plymouth Archaeology Society
Martin's main focus is maritime archaeology and computing, and holds the position of lecturer at Plymouth University. More recently he has been researching Plymouth in 1620, particularly the defences and reclamation around Sutton Pool.
Raised in Surrey, County Durham and Plymouth, Martin worked as an archaeological conservator for many years for English Heritage, York Archaeological Trust, the Mary Rose Trust, Bristol City Museum, and others. He changed careers to computing and then lecturing, most recently for Plymouth University and in the past for Bristol and Exeter Universities.
He is a Government Licensee for the Protected Cattewater wreck, and has undertaken surveys on the site with students and local divers, as well as research into the finds from the 1970s excavations held by Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery. His research interests also include the archaeology of ropemaking, the study/recording of hulks, tide mills wrecks, such as that of the East Indiaman Dutton in Plymouth Sound in 1796 and the James Eagan Layne in Whitsand Bay in 1944.
Martin is currently Chair of Plymouth Archaeology Society and has been an historic advisor to the Virtual Mayflower Team.
Michael is a lecturer at the Royal Leamington Spa College, a specialist in Games Art (and avatar development) and has had a close relationship for many years with the computer games industry.
Mike Acosta has amassed extensive experience of teaching games art at all levels of post-compulsory learning. He has spent his years since graduating with a BA, teaching and mentoring the next generation of talented games developers.
In 2014, Mike wrote and developed a bespoke foundation degree and Bachelor of Arts in Games Art, drawing on his extensive close working-relationship with the games industry over the past decade. He also develops curriculum for national awarding body AQA in addition to his quality assurance work as an external examiner.
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Virtual Mayflower 's Team Leader
Plymouth born and bred, Professor Bob Stone is the Virtual Mayflower's team leader. A human factors specialist, he has been involved in the VR and AR arena for 35 years, conducting and leading projects in defence, healthcare, engineering, aerospace and heritage.
A 35-year, multi award-winning "veteran" of the international Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality community, he has spent half of this time in the commercial sector and the other half in academia (University of Birmingham).