Kirk Woolford (PhD Surrey, MS Design ID@IIT) is Professor of Immersive Arts and Technologies and founding director of the Institute for Creative Technologies at Norwich University of the Arts. There he leads research on the visualisation and simulation of natural environments and on embodied AI, in partnership with the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the University of Bristol, the Broads National Park, Sony Europe and others. His transdisciplinary research has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Arts Council England (ACE), the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and others.
Kirk is a pioneer of immersive media, creating immersive experiences and performances as a way of exploring ideas, technologies and cultures. His creative work has been shown at venues including the Venice Biennale, Art Cologne, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, ISEA and SIGGRAPH. He has 30+ years of industry and academic experience, having worked as a commercial photographer before co-founding and directing video game and interactive media companies, with clients including the Royal Institution, BBC2, Channel Four and Sky Television.
His practice-based research asks how creative practice connects with transdisciplinary research: intangible cultural heritage, health and wellbeing, the value of natural environments, and creative uses of emerging technology to explore how environments move people, physically and emotionally.