User Futures

The User Futures team supports CoSTAR’s aim of developing technologies that are designed around people – embedding human factors, user preferences, accessibility and social justice into the development of future creative tools and workflows.

We come from a range of backgrounds, including cognitive, perceptual and social psychology, sociology, inclusive design and human-computer interaction.

User Futures is currently leading a major strand of work focused on multisensory experience, with an online resource hub in development to share research insights on audience trends, perception and inclusion considerations.

This hub will provide practical guidance for creators seeking to incorporate multisensory elements into immersive experiences. We also contribute rapid user testing and audience insights for many of the Lab’s other projects.

User Futures will soon launch the multisensory resource hub, alongside an extensive programme of industry engagement.

We will also begin new experiments to improve understanding of the value of multisensory enhancement for audiences – an area that remains significantly under-researched.

We work collaboratively across the lab’s activities to provide user perspectives and audience insights wherever these are needed.

Currently we are providing large-scale audience data collection and analysis for the grassroots music venues programme. 

Polly Dalton - Head of Audience Futures

Hannah Clawson - PhD Researcher

Hazel Dixon - Inclusion and Ethics Research Fellow

Rosella Galindo Esparza - User Futures Research Fellow

Maruša Levstek - User Futures Capability Lead

Andy Woods - User Futures Technical Specialist