Our Speakers
Joanna Feast
Delivering VR with a trauma informed approach
Joanna Feast is an accomplished education consultant with a strong focus on well-being. With a background as a teacher, local authority school improvement adviser, and mental health adviser, Joanna has a wealth of experience in supporting PSHE in schools. She now runs her own consultancy Clean Well-Being, working with numerous organisations on various projects, including the Home Office's initiative to prevent violence against women and girls, police-led research on serious violence reduction, and the RAC Foundation's DriveFit 2.0 programme to enhance educational resources for young drivers.
Joanna's expertise also extends to PSHE policy and guidance updates, charity strategy development, conference speaking on mental health and well-being, and consulting on evidence-based practice in PSHE nationally. She serves as a school impact improvement adviser and verifier for Optimus Education, demonstrating her commitment to enhancing education standards. As a director at Gabriels Wellbeing and Education CIC and a consultant with Sport In Mind, a mental health sports charity, Joanna's contributions are widely recognised. In addition to her consultancy work, Joanna is passionate about training others and has developed courses that promote personal development and well-being.
Dr. Elizabeth Box
Beyond VR - creating effective interventions
& Breakout Session 1 - planning an intervention
Elizabeth is a transport researcher and commissioner, with over two decades of experience working across the domains of research, policy and practice in the UK. She enjoys developing research which has the greatest potential for real world impact and strongly believe that connection and co-operation between those of us working in the transport arena is vital if we are to achieve safe, affordable, clean and desirable mobility.
Current activity includes directing the RAC Foundation’s programme of research and providing national policy advice on the design, development and delivery of effective road safety education. I also work as a Behavioural Science Consultant for Co-Pilot and offer behavioural psychology and research consultancy services through ECM Research Solutions.
Dr Victoria Kroll & Prof. David Crundall
Evaluating VR effectiveness on a budget
& Breakout Session 2 - evaluating impact
Victoria is the CEO and co-founder of Esitu Solutions Ltd., a spinout company from Nottingham Trent University (NTU) that specialises in hazard perception assessment and training for the fleet market. She earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology from The University of Hull (2006–2009) before completing a master’s in research Methods and a PhD in Cognitive Psychology at NTU. Following her PhD, Victoria worked closely with Professor David Crundall on multiple projects aimed at improving road safety. Together, they secured an Innovate UK grant to establish Esitu Solutions, translating their research into commercial solutions for fleet driver training. Since its launch, the company has collaborated with high-profile clients, including Roads Policing, the Kier Group, Siemens, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, National Highways, and NHS Wales.
David Crundall is CTO and co-founder of Esitu Solutions Ltd., a spin-out company from Nottingham Trent University, with a mission to bring hazard perception assessment and training to the professional driver and fleet markets. He is also a Professor of Psychology at NTU, where he specialises in Traffic and Transport Psychology and leads the Transport Research in Psychology group (TRiP). Outside of the university he is the chair of the Road User Behaviour Working Group for the UK Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) and is an affiliate of UKROEd and writes course content for the UK’s National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme. He has won nearly £5 million in research grants and has published over 100 academic papers in the field.
Dr Anders Dechsling
Virtual Reality and autism
Anders Dechsling, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Østfold University College in Norway, specializing in special education. His research focuses on the integration of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies in autism research and practice. He has contributed to studies examining the acceptability and normative considerations of using VR in autism research, as well as the implementation of VR. Dechsling have recently suggested the use of VR for traffic stop simulation training both for autistic drivers and for police officers, emergency services, or other authorities.
Dr Dan Bishop
Non-immersive VR
Dr. Dan Bishop is a Researcher and Senior Lecturer in Sport & Exercise Psychology at Brunel University London. A British Psychological Society (BPS) Chartered Psychologist and Fellow of Advance HE, he leads the Psychology (Sport, Health, and Exercise) BSc programme in the Department of Life Sciences.
With a career spanning public and private sectors, including local authorities, the NHS, investment banks, and the health and fitness industry, Dr. Bishop brings a deep understanding of the challenges faced in diverse industries. As the Director of Research for The Bikeability Trust, he spearheads evidence-based initiatives to demonstrate the efficacy of Bikeability’s cycle training programme.
Dr. Bishop’s passion for wellbeing extends to his role as Departmental Lead for Staff Experience & Wellbeing at Brunel, where he has been instrumental in advancing the university’s health and wellbeing agenda.
In addition to his professional achievements, Dr. Bishop is the author of Motivation: The Manual, a practical guide to understanding and applying the principles of motivation. Outside of work, he enjoys time with family and friends and recently celebrated a personal milestone by completing a parkrun in 21 minutes, demonstrating his commitment to self-determined rehabilitation and peak performance.
Kate Castle, Steve Fisher & James Gough
State of VR - practitioner SWOT analysis
Kate Castle works with Warwickshire Road Safety Partners to design and deliver road safety interventions, collaborating with national partners and organisations to share and promote best practice. Kate is a qualified teacher and passionate about developing and delivering education and training utilising behavioural change.
All work undertaken by Warwickshire County Councils Road Safety Education Team supports Warwickshire Road Safety Partnerships target to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on Warwickshire’s roads by 50% by 2030.
Steve Fisher joined the fire service in 1998, spending many years on watch in North Devon as part of a Specialist Rescue Team honing his skills in Swift Water Rescue and Line Rescue. In 2017 Steve took up a new post in the Community Safety department and joined the Community Risk team, working to keep the public safe and taking the lead on water safety interventions.
James Gough, Watch Commander (Prevention) HWFRS, has 20 years of operational experience spending the last 4 years within the Prevention Department managing and developing their Road Safety Initiative ‘Your Impact’. This has involved taking the interactive workshops from the Fire stations and out to Schools across Hereford and Worcester.
James Evans
Breakout Session 3 - producing or commissioning VR film
James is the founder of FirstCar, a trusted partner of road safety professionals since 2004, when our first magazine for young drivers was published. Since then, FirstCar has gown to provide award-winning road safety education for almost all road users – from cyclists to horse riders, older drivers to motorcyclists.
In striving towards the goal of helping road safety teams offer innovative and cost-effective education, FirstCar are proud to have co-produced the UK’s first road safety VR film and many more since. James manages the Immersive Community Education (ICE) Hub, which helps road safety professionals share film, knowledge, and best practise around this emerging technology.
As well as providing the road safety sector with a range of products and services, FirstCar are committed to aiding the sharing of new ideas, research, and technology between those responsible for road user education. Each year, FirstCar hosts Young Driver Focus and this, the ICE Live event, bringing together forward-thinking road safety professionals at prestigious venues to hear speakers talk on a wide variety of issues.
Jason Carver, RedboxVR
Hardware/software care, maintenance and organisation
Jason is a leader in the field of XR hardware and software with experience spanning the Ministry of Defence, public sectors, and private enterprises. His work has driven advancements in immersive technology, delivering innovative solutions across defence, education, healthcare, and business. At the Ministry of Defence, Jason developed XR training solutions that enhanced operational readiness, setting new benchmarks in the sector.
In the public sphere, Jason has led projects that demonstrate the power of XR in transforming education, urban planning, and healthcare, showcasing its potential to improve communities. In the private sector, his strategic approach has empowered businesses across industries such as entertainment, manufacturing, and retail to adopt XR solutions for measurable growth. Jason’s ongoing commitment to research and innovation continues to shape the future of immersive technology, inspiring the next wave of advancements in the XR landscape.
Prof. Fiona Fylan
Review of research and evidence
Fiona is a Chartered Health Psychologist and a Professor of the Built Environment in the Leeds Sustainability Institute at Leeds Beckett University where she leads research in Sustainable Behaviour. This is an interdisciplinary unit that undertakes research to tackle problems in the built environment, such as reducing energy use to meet Net Zero, reducing air pollution, and creating safer roads.
Fiona provides expertise in understanding behaviour, building statistical models to predict behaviour, designing and evaluating behaviour change interventions, and in communicating with the public about sustainability. She leads a team of Psychologists who develop UKROEd’s driver offender courses such as the National Speed Awareness Course, and she is working on national and international projects to address behaviours such as drug driving and seat belt use.
Tom DeFraine - Account Director at ARuVR
Where next - what's the future for VR?
Tom DeFraine leads sales and account management at ARuVR, the pioneering AI-powered platform for creating and deploying XR solutions tailored for learning and development. With a focus on driving innovation, Tom collaborates across diverse industries, including aerospace and defense, healthcare, and education, to help organizations implement cutting-edge VR and AR training solutions and simulations that deliver measurable impact.