HerStory in VR

Coordinator: CYENS Centre of Excellence, Cyprus
UiT lead: Dr Antigone Heraclidou, Centre for Geopolitics, Peace and Security / EDGE Lab
UiT contributor: Professor Ana Luisa Sanchez Laws, Centre for Geopolitics, Peace and Security / EDGE Lab (Lab leader)
Countries: Cyprus, Norway, Greece and Serbia

About the project

HerStory in VR is an Erasmus+ project that brings together immersive technology, oral history and peace and conflict studies to support female humanities students in developing digital-production skills.

The project responds to a persistent gap in access to digital and immersive-media training among women studying humanities subjects. Rather than asking students to move into technical disciplines to acquire these skills, HerStory in VR integrates virtual reality (VR), 360° video and digital archiving into humanities-based learning.

Across four pilot sites in Cyprus, Norway, Greece and Serbia, female humanities students will be introduced to oral-history methodology, trauma-informed and ethical approaches to testimony, 360° media production, digital archiving and immersive storytelling. The project will create meaningful opportunities for participants to apply these skills by documenting testimonies from women with lived experience of conflict, displacement and post-conflict transition.

UiT’s role

UiT The Arctic University of Norway, through the Centre for Geopolitics, Peace and Security and EDGE Lab, leads the project’s Research and Curriculum Design work package.

UiT’s contribution is led by Dr Antigone Heraclidou, whose research focuses on gender, conflict, oral history, difficult heritage and the use of emerging technologies in historical and cultural contexts. Heraclidou will lead UiT’s research contribution and support the development of the project’s pedagogical framework, curriculum and ethical approach to testimony-based immersive storytelling. She will also coordinate the Norwegian pilot site in Tromsø.

Professor Ana Luisa Sanchez Laws will support Heraclidou and contribute expertise in immersive media, virtual reality, peace and conflict transformation, interdisciplinary methodologies, and immersive learning. Her research on presence, emotion, empathy and learning in VR will help inform the project’s methodological and pedagogical foundations.

Together, the UiT team will help ensure that the project approaches immersive testimony not simply as a technical format, but as an ethical, educational and socially situated practice.

What will the project develop?

HerStory in VR will produce:

• An openly licensed four-module curriculum for female humanities students with no previous VR-production experience;

• A Facilitator Guide to support independent delivery of the programme by higher education institutions and community organisations;

• An ethics and safeguarding protocol for oral-history work with conflict-affected participants;

• A cross-country study of digital self-efficacy among female humanities students;

• The HerStory VR application, an immersive “Matrix of Voices” environment for curated 360° oral-history testimonies;

• A digital archive of at least 20 curated testimonies from women affected by conflict and displacement;

• An evaluation report and multilingual policy brief on gender-sensitive digital education in higher education.

Resources will be made available in English, Norwegian, Greek and Serbian.

The Norwegian pilot

UiT will host one of four pilot sites, involving female humanities students in Tromsø. The pilot will offer participants practical training in immersive storytelling and support them in developing ethically informed oral-history projects.

The project is designed for students with no prior experience of VR or 360° production. By situating digital production within humanities practice, it aims to strengthen both participants’ practical competences and their confidence in using digital tools.

The Norwegian pilot will also contribute to the project’s cross-country evaluation of how gender-sensitive, production-based teaching can support digital self-efficacy in humanities education.

Research focus

For EDGE Lab, HerStory in VR provides an important opportunity to investigate how immersive technologies can be used in relation to difficult heritage, memory and conflict-related testimony.

The project will explore questions including:

• How can immersive media support meaningful engagement with oral testimony?

• What ethical considerations are required when working with narratives of conflict and displacement?

• How can VR and 360° video be incorporated responsibly into humanities teaching?

• What kinds of learning and reflective engagement are enabled by immersive storytelling?

• How can digital-skills education be designed to be more inclusive and responsive to women’s experiences and disciplinary identities?

A central principle of the project is that testimony participants retain agency over their stories. All fieldwork and public-facing content will follow trauma-informed, consent-based and GDPR-aligned safeguarding procedures.

Partnership

HerStory in VR is coordinated by CYENS Centre of Excellence in Cyprus and brings together five partners:

• CYENS Centre of Excellence — Cyprus

• UiT The Arctic University of Norway — Norway

• University of Belgrade — Serbia

• Greek Council for Refugees — Greece

• ProjectSquared Ltd — Cyprus

The cross-sectoral partnership combines expertise in XR development, oral history, peace and conflict studies, psychology, refugee support, safeguarding, evaluation and public dissemination.

Expected impact

By 2029, the project aims to have trained at least 60 female humanities students across four countries and created an openly accessible collection of immersive testimonies that expands the representation of women’s experiences in Europe’s digital cultural record.

For UiT and EDGE Lab, the project will contribute to ongoing work at the intersection of emerging technologies, peace and conflict transformation, cultural memory, and inclusive education.

The project will conclude with public VR exhibitions in Cyprus, Norway, Greece and Serbia, as well as a final dissemination event in Cyprus.

Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships in Higher Education (KA220-HED)