Dr Brian Vaughan

I am a Creative Technologist, Senior Lecturer, and Researcher at Technological University Dublin, and the founder and Director of the Virtual Interaction Research Lab (VIRaL). VIRaL is a mixed reality research and development lab focused on applied research, prototyping, and real-world deployment. To date, the lab has delivered mixed reality projects in collaboration with Intel, the Guinness Storehouse, Mater Private, Inflight Dublin, and BioPharmaChem Skillet, and developed GaeltechVR—the world’s first virtual reality Irish language learning game (https://gaeltechvr.ie).

As Director of VIRaL, I lead projects end to end, from research design and technical development through to delivery and evaluation, while also acting as the lab’s principal VR/AR/XR designer and developer. My work spans applied research, research commercialisation, and technology deployment, with experience translating research outputs into usable and licensable technologies.

Previously, I was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow on the FastNet (Focus on Social Talk: Network Enabling Technology) project at Trinity College Dublin, where I developed novel methods and systems for social signal analysis. My background spans speech science, non-verbal communication, and immersive technologies, and I have successfully commercialised and licensed patented applied speech research.

I bring strong analytical and problem-solving skills, shaped by working across diverse technical and disciplinary contexts. I am comfortable engaging with new problem spaces and with a wide range of current and emerging hardware and software technologies. Alongside my research, I lecture extensively in creative digital media, including audio, video, graphics, programming, interaction design, game design, and mixed reality.

Specialties:

Data Analysis, Applied Research, Research Commercialisation, Speech Analysis, Non-Verbal Communication, Social Signal Analysis, Lecturing, Project Management, Content Creation, Sound Design, VR/AR/XR Design and Development, Unity 3D, User Interaction Design, Design-Based Research, Ludology and Gameplay, Instructional Design.

I have taught across a number of modules and courses:

Creative Digital Media Technologies

Information Modelling

VR and AR Applications

User Interaction Design

Interactive Audio Design

Ludology and Gameplay

Media Entrepreneurship

Design Practice