University of the West of England

About us

UWE is one of Britain's most popular universities, with around 30,000 students and 3,500 staff. It is the largest provider of Higher Education in the South West, and makes a major contribution to the social and economic development of Bristol and the surrounding region. The University offers more than 600 courses at undergraduate, postgraduate, professional and short course levels, and is renowned for its reputation for teaching, with all subjects being externally assessed as consistently excellent.

• Over a third of UWE’s research was rated world leading or internationally excellent in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (HEFCE).

• UWE is ranked 11th in the country for employability of its graduates (Higher Education Statistics Agency, 2011).

• UWE is the top new University for successful research applications (HEFCE).

Through the breadth and quality of its teaching and research, and a focus on partnerships, UWE is at the hub of numerous dynamic and impactful collaborations. In fact, the university is actively engaged with over 4,000 business and community organisations, and UWE partnerships bring together knowledge, experience, networks and facilities, to deliver the very best student experience and teaching while generating solutions to some big issues

Contact

University of the West of England (UWE)

Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane

Bristol, United Kingdom

Website: www.uwe.ac.uk

Project contact person:

Nigel Newbutt

Email: Nigel.Newbutt@uwe.ac.uk

Tel: +44 1173287881

Nigel Newbutt

Dr Newbutt is a senior lecturer and researcher, working in higher education for over 15 years. He has published work related to autistic children’s use of virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) and their preferences therein. Additionally, he has presented his work to a range of stakeholders and partnered with schools to integrate and support the use of VR in special needs schools. He has translated his work to feature in professional contexts; working with the National Autistic Society (NAS) in the UK to promote messages for practice in using VR in classrooms. Specifically, Dr Newbutt has spent several years researching and using VR HMDs with autistic groups; helping to build an evidence-base around the views and experiences of autistic peoples use of VR. A key driver for this is located around the possible sensory and negative effects. Dr Newbutt’s research has started to uncover some important insights to the ways autistic people experience HMDs (and VR environments therein) that has provided some firm foundations within the research field to date.

Email: Nigel.Newbutt@uwe.ac.uk