Bernhard Riecke

DIRECTOR, ISPACE LAB, SFU SIAT

After researching for a decade in the Virtual Reality Group of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany and working as a post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute, Vanderbilt University, and UC Santa Barbara, Bernhard joined SFU-SIAT in 2008, where he leads the iSpace Lab. His research combines multidisciplinary research approaches and immersive virtual environments to investigate how humans perceive, think, behave, and spatially orient in real and virtual environments.

More specifically he’s interested in investigating: human spatial cognition/orientation/updating/navigation; Enabling robust and effortless spatial orientation in VR and telepresence; Self-motion perception, illusions (“vection”), interfaces, and simulation; Designing for transformative positive experiences using VR; Bio-responsive virtual environments (and many other things as you can see on the projects page).

Bernhard teaches classes on immersive environments/Virtual Reality, game design, human-computer interaction and cognition, and quantitative research methods, and recently designed a new 15-credit “Semester in Alternate Realities” course. He gave a TEDx talk on the potential of Virtual Reality: “Could Virtual Reality make us more human?”.