XR Stories 2025 roundup: Driving creative and cultural growth

In 2025, XR Stories has continued to drive creative and cultural growth in York, North Yorkshire and at a national level. 

The XR Stories team has strengthened partnerships with small businesses, cultural institutions and individuals in the city and region, sharing academic expertise, technical knowledge and a deep-rooted understanding of the creative ecosystem to facilitate innovative solutions and new opportunities. 

Over the last twelve months, supported by The York Policy Engine (TYPE) through their Creative Industries group, XR Stories’ work with the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority has made an essential contribution towards a region-wide strategy for the creative sector, playing a significant part in ensuring Creative Industries is one of the region’s five competitive advantage sectors. The delivery plan associated with the Local Growth Plan (due for publication in 2026) will be driven by XR Stories’ evidence, analysis and recommendations on the creative industries.

Highlights from the year include: 

A York and North Yorkshire Creative Industries Evidence Report that synthesizes evidence, impact analysis and policy alignment to form a single source on sector data, opportunities and national-funding readiness for the region. 

A second round of creative business residencies supporting individuals and small businesses in York and North Yorkshire to explore state-of-the-art technologies, incubate ideas and elevate their immersive projects.

A collaboration with York Archaeology to commission, test and launch a new interactive experience at York’s world-famous visitor-attraction, the Jorvik Viking Centre. 

Running the virtual reality lab at Aesthetica Short Film Festival, curating content to connect audiences to new and diverse immersive experiences and providing valuable internship experiences for University of York undergraduate students. 

XR Stories team member, Joe Rees-Jones, shortlisted in the Outstanding Technician of the Year category at the Times Higher Education Awards for his work delivering and inspiring new approaches, techniques and experiences across research, teaching and creative practice.

Gearing up to launch our new Extending XR training programme in January 2026 to support people in York and North Yorkshire to develop skills in creative technology. The first suite of workshops will take place at venues across the region in March, April and May 2026 to provide participants with foundational level skills in creative digital tools including game engines, 3D modelling and performance capture technologies. 

A University of York researcher in residency programme that is enhancing ongoing research activities in the Department of Computer Science and the School of Arts and Creative Technologies through access to infrastructure and expertise in the XR Stories immersive R&D lab. 

Inclusive growth focused research and project design for the immersive technology industries, supporting our team and the projects we work with in making a more equal, inclusive and diverse sector.

Representing the University of York at the annual UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts cluster and participating as a member of the city’s Creative and Cultural Advisory Board. 

Leading the XR Network+ project and setting a UK research roadmap for digital content creation and consumption in virtual production and related technologies. XR Network+ activities in 2025 have included:

• A new XR Network+ white paper and video presenting the process and outputs from an industry-led research and development challenge, in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
• A second round of virtual production R&D projects to explore novel use cases and applications of virtual production and extended reality technologies.
• Supporting career progression for research engaged technicians and early career researchers via the XR Labs Fund to propel the development of new technologies and prototyping in UK universities. Successful projects will be announced in February 2026.
• A showcase event at The Guildhall that brought together researchers from across the UK, showcased new tools and workflows emerging from XR Network+ R&D collaborations and convened roundtable discussions to gather feedback and insights to help shape the next two years of the project. 
• A panel session at Beyond Conference that explored how virtual production technologies are transforming the creative process and the audience experience with a focus on live theatre performance. 

In 2026, XR Stories will launch a facilities hire provision to further widen the efficient and creative use of the project’s state-of-the-art research and development space. The offer will complement new iterations of established research and business support programmes to provide as many opportunities as possible for innovation and growth. 

At almost 5,000 members and growing year-on-year, the XR Stories network reflects the breadth of support available from the project and its unique position within the University of York, and the York and North Yorkshire creative industries. 

Published on 18 December 2025