Hack Your Happiness

How immersive technologies and simulated realities might improve our wellbeing and mental health in the real world

As the availability and quality of immersive artificial realities improves through technologies like VR and the metaverse, how will these simulated worlds impact our wellbeing in the real world? Despite knowing intuitively the latest hyper realistic video game or immersive head-set environment is not real, evidence suggests on some level our brain’s still react as if they are.

Whilst it might seem unnerving that we can trick our brains this way, there could be real benefits – helping us train in virtual reality to better manage mental health or anxiety issues we face in the real world, or curate environments specifically attuned to our self-care needs, and even to help us understand more about how the brain works.

At the Great Exhibition Road Festival we will look at some examples of how immersive technology and simulated realities could be used in the future to improve our mental health and wellbeing.

Visitor information

Talks and discussions are intended for an adult audience and are most suitable for ages 14+.

This event is part of the Flourishing Futures talk series. The talk will have some advance tickets released to visitors closer to the Festival weekend as well as having drop in spaces on the day.

If you have an advance ticket, please arrive at the venue 10 minutes before the start time. Your ticket gives you priority access, however, as this is a free event we overbook to help ensure a full event and your space may be reallocated. Early arrival reduces this risk.

This event has step-free access.

To attend the Festival, please make sure to register for free. Registering is the only way to receive the latest Festival updates, a first look at the programme, and opportunities to book free tickets for popular events.

REGISTER NOW FOR THE FESTIVAL