UBC 2026 Immersive Research Symposium

Join us in-person (or virtually) for the 2026 UBC Immersive Research Symposium, featuring keynote speakers and presentations from the graduate students and recent graduates of our NSERC CREATE in Immersive Technologies research and training program.

Date

Thursday, May 28, 2026 | 11 am-1 pm (PST)

Location

EME 2141-1

Refreshment will be served.

Register here

Registration is required.

If you plan to attend the event online, you will receive the Zoom link after registration.

Keynote Speakers

Immersive Technologies, AI, and the Invention of the Self

Isabel Pedersen, Professor, Ontario Tech University

Dr. Isabel Pedersen is the founding Director of the Digital Life Institute, an international research network of multidisciplinary scholars studying the social implications of emergent digital technologies, where she also leads the AI and Social Implications cluster. She is a Professor of Communication Studies at Ontario Tech University, specializing in the intersection of technological change and its cultural, ethical, and political implications.

Dr. Pedersen’s research focuses on the lifecycle of technology—design, adoption, and adaptation. Dr. Pedersen’s expertise has been recognized through influential roles, including serving on the Meta Reality Labs Policy Advisory Council, the IEEE Standards Association’s Global XR Ethics Working Group (P7030), and as a Canada Research Chair (2012-2022). Her recent co-authored books include Augmentation Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in Technical and Professional Communication: Designing Ethical Futures (Routledge, 2023) and Writing Futures: Collaborative, Algorithmic, Autonomous (Springer, 2021).

XR for Healthcare Education and Simulation

Angela Robert, CEO & Co-Founder, Conquer Experience

Angela Robert is the CEO and Co-Founder of Conquer Experience Inc., the company behind PeriopSim, a simulation and assessment platform used by health systems, colleges, and online education platforms to train surgical teams. She has been building Conquer Experience since 2018, after spinning it out of Conquer Mobile Inc., which she co-founded in 2009 and led through the acquisition of its Mobile Services Division by Appnovation in 2017.

Before starting her own companies, Angela spent five years at Electronic Arts, first as a Software Engineer and Development Manager at EA Canada, and later as Development Director at EA Blackbox, where she shipped Skate and Skate 2. She also served as SIG Chair for Serious Games and Virtual Environments at the Society for Simulation in Healthcare from 2018 to 2022.