Creative R&D residencies open for applications

XR Stories has opened applications for its 2026 Creative R&D residency programme. The programme offers a unique opportunity for artists, creatives, technologists, freelancers and small businesses to access specialist support and infrastructure at the University of York.

Open to applicants from York and North Yorkshire, the programme enables residents to work on their own R&D projects using extended reality (XR) technologies in a space outside of their usual environment.

Residents will be able to use XR Stories’ facilities as their own workspace for up to five days to incubate new ideas and carry out productive research and development, with support from the XR Stories team.  

Designed as a place of creative experimentation and collaboration, the XR Stories immersive R&D lab includes a range of equipment spanning five key areas of XR:

• Virtual production
• Virtual characters and performance capture
• Virtual archiving
• Virtual reality
• Spatial audio technology

With multiple places available between July and January 2027, residents will also have access to lab PCs with Unreal Engine, and a variety of handheld smart devices. 

The 2026 programme is the third round of creative residencies from XR Stories. Over the past two years the project team has supported a range of freelance artists and small businesses to develop their projects and experiences.

Applications for the 2026 creative R&D residency programme close at 5:00pm on Thursday 25 June 2026.

Published on 20 May 2026