2026 Creative R&D Residency Programme
The XR Stories Creative Research and Development (R&D) Residency Programme is open to artists, creatives, technologists, businesses and freelancers in York and North Yorkshire.
The programme provides an opportunity for successful applicants to become residents in the XR Stories immersive technology lab, using our facilities and state-of-the-art technology to incubate new ideas and carry out productive research and development on their extended reality (XR) project, outside of their usual environment.
With support from the XR Stories team, residents will have up to five days worth of focused R&D time to make demonstrable progress in their project.
Residents will have access to a range of extended reality technologies across the following key areas:
- Virtual production
- Virtual characters and performance capture
- Virtual archiving
- Virtual reality
- Spatial audio technology
Objective
The purpose of the residency programme is to support early stage research and development, with the aim for residents to see notable progress in their project by the end of the residency duration.
Read about the R&D activities undertaken by our 2025 creatives in residence.
What are we looking for?
- Innovative research and development projects using extended reality technologies to facilitate immersive and interactive digital storytelling.
- Applicants with developed technical knowledge, skills and abilities in their focused area of XR technologies.
- Applicants with a clear idea of a project or piece of work they want to progress during their residency, with an outline on how they would use their days in the residency.
We do not currently have the resources to support projects directly dependent on artificial intelligence/machine learning and augmented reality.
Timeline
- Programme opens for applications: Week commencing 18 May 2026
- Deadline for applications: 5pm on Thursday 25 June 2026
- Review and decision making: 29 June to 15 July 2026
- Notifications of decisions: Week commencing 20 July 2026
- Onboarding calls: Week commencing 27 July 2026
- All residency activities must take place between August 2026 and January 2027
How to apply?
- Download and read the Creative R&D Residency Programme guidance document for comprehensive information regarding the opportunity including eligibility, selection criteria and expected outputs.
- Complete the residency programme application form by 5pm on Thursday 25 June 2026
Support for applicants
If you require any adjustments to complete your application, or if you feel you would be disadvantaged by a written application, please contact the XR Stories team at [email protected].
Photo of digital artwork by former XR Stories resident and digital artist, Danny Bacchus.
Categories: Residencies