VR World was a two-day conference held at Olympia, London, dedicated to the latest developments in augmented, mixed and virtual reality. The event brought together more than 150 speakers and over 1,000 attendees from across the immersive technology industry.

We joined the panel discussion, ‘Can VR Make Us Feel More?’, alongside Alastair Barrow (Genetic Robotics), S. Shyam Sundar (Penn State University) and Luciana Carvalho Se (Rewind). The session was chaired by Giulia Carosella (IDC).

The panel explored how virtual reality experiences can evoke emotional responses in users and examined their broader social and technological implications. Topics included the impact of VR on children’s developing minds, its influence on perception and trust in news and media, its applications in healthcare and pain management, and the ways haptic technology is expanding our sense of physical interaction in virtual environments.