Congratulations to final-year Computer Science student Virej Dasani, who has been awarded Best Undergraduate Project at the 2025 Innovate UK Immersive Tech Network Awards!
The Immersive Tech Network Awards brings together members of the immersive technology community to explore innovation, ideas, and new opportunities. Powered by Innovate UK, the awards celebrate cutting-edge contributions to the field.
Virej received the award for his undergraduate project, developed during his internship at the VEC. During his time at the VEC, Virej has been working closely with experienced professionals on a wide range of projects involving web development, blockchain networks, virtual and mixed reality (VR/MR) applications, and serious games. His hands-on involvement helped lay the foundation for his award-winning project.
Virej’s project, titled Mixed Reality Fire Safety Training Simulation (Fire-MR), impressed the judges so much that they created a new award category specifically to honour it – a first in the awards’ history.
Organisations like the NHS could greatly benefit from this immersive and scalable training experience. Virej’s innovative approach brings training directly into the workers’ actual environment, allowing them to make more realistic decisions in the context where they need the training.
Currently, the NHS spends approximately £15,000 on existing programs. However, Virej has developed a prototype believed to cost only one-tenth of this amount.
The VR prototype was created by first scanning a real-life kitchen environment and overlaying elements such as fire and smoke.
To enhance realism and immersion, Virej introduced Mixed Reality technologies, enabling the scenario to unfold within the user’s own environment. This included hand tracking, eliminating the need for controllers and providing a more authentic experience. A voiceover guides users through the scenario, enriching their training knowledge and applying it to real-world situations.
Once the training scenario concludes, the system provides users with valuable statistics on their performance, including time taken to eliminate the fire threat, performance trends over time to highlight improvements and demonstrates the average scores compared to other participants, illustrating how they stack up against their team.
Reflecting on the moment, Virej said:“I’m incredibly honoured to have received award. What made this even more surreal is that I wasn’t originally nominated for any of the categories. To my complete surprise, the very first award of the night was a new category created just for my project. When they called out my name I was speechless.”
We’re incredibly proud of Virej and thrilled to see his talent and hard work recognised on a national stage.
You can see Virej demonstrate his immersive project, here.
