The document hereby presents the proceedings of the Laval Virtual Doctoral Consortium, which took place in Laval on 10 April 2025. We would like to thank the authors, as well as the reviewers for their contributions. This is an International Journal of Virtual Reality (IJVR) special issue.
This research is part of the VEA (Virtual Environment for Animal experimentation) project, conducted in collaboration with the Biological Engineering Department at the Laval University Institute of Technology, France. The primary objective is to develop a virtual reality platform that reduces the need for animal use in training by providing an immersive learning environment where students can master technical procedures and gestures. In this article, we present a novel VR-oriented pedagogical model that was used to guide the design of a virtual learning situation corresponding to a use case involving the placement of a catheter in an anesthetised rat. The development process incorporated pedagogical considerations and technological implementations, emphasising a user-centred design approach. To evaluate the usability of the VR application, a preliminary face validity study was conducted with 146 participants. The study used questionnaires to collect subjective data on user experience, interaction quality, and overall satisfaction. Results demonstrated high usability scores and positive user feedback, indicating the effectiveness of the VR application as a training tool. Key contributions of this work include the detailed blueprint for constructing VR-based educational situation and the empirical validation of the application’s usability. This research supports the potential of VR to replace traditional animal-based training methods, improving both ethical standards and educational outcomes.
The physiological and psychological effects of the Valkyrie EIR system, which combines virtual reality, gamification, and electrical muscle stimulation (EMS), were investigated. A within-subjects design was used, 26 participants took part in two research sessions, one involving a Valkyrie class with EMS and another without. Physiological measures, including heart rate, pressure sensitivity of the biceps and triceps, and delayed onset of muscular soreness (DOMS) were assessed alongside psychological measures, including questionnaires regarding participant experience and mood, as well as rate of perceived exertion (RPE). Mood significantly increased post-Valkyrie classes, which were deemed enjoyable and fun, with 88.5% of participants favouring the EMS condition due to increased immersion, intensity and challenge. Significant differences were found between the EMS and control conditions, including higher RPE scores, greater DOMS and a higher heart rate, when taking into consideration the interactions of variables. These results show that the EMS induced a higher intensity of exercise, with the potential for greater muscular adaptation. Overall, Valkyrie EIR with EMS was shown to be a promising approach for enhancing exercise intensity in VR whilst encouraging participant engagement.
The hospital is an environment that may induce both anxiety and pain in hospitalized children and their families. The use of games and distraction offers a solution to better manage anxiety and pain. The objective of the present paper is to introduce “A Friend for Life,” a multi-platform game based on the creation of customized avatars to help children hospitalized in the hematology-oncology unit cope with their everyday pain and anxiety. This smartphone and virtual reality application uses the IKEA Effect and transmedia storytelling to improve child engagement in the game. This game was developed as part of AVATAR, a research project that combines collaborative action research with co-design. The project is led by our multidisciplinary team with relevant experience in nursing, pediatrics, hematology-oncology, and new technology. Also, our team includes a former patient and a former patient’s parent. In this paper, we introduce our serious game, “A Friend for Life”, and the collaborative development method that was used in the prototyping phase. Additionally, we will outline our hypothetical conceptual framework and its underlying concepts. Finally, we discuss the game's limitations and directions for future research.
Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) technology has been shown to effectively facilitate fire safety training. However, the current discourse on immersive safety training provides scarce knowledge on the quality of immersive safety training from the perspective of safe spaces. In turn, the general notion of a safe space – being an environment that is characterized by the freedom to move, share, talk, and act freely without risk for physical or mental damage – needs further elaboration in an IVR training context where the experience of safety is highly interrelated with embodiment and immersion. This study employed thus a phenomenological approach to explore and conceptualize characteristics of immersive safe spaces. This was done through phenomenological interviews with employees at Sweden’s largest train operating company, which undertook fire safety training in IVR by using an IVR application known as the “Fire Trainer”. The interview material was then analyzed through an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) that conceptualized four themes for characterizing immersive safe spaces: Sense of Authentic Hazard Recognition, Sense of Behavioral Responsiveness, Sense of Intersubjective Risk Perception, and Sense of Embodied Atmosphere. Implications of conceptualizing the themes are targeted towards understanding the quality of being/feeling safe during safety training in IVR, and how the design of future immersive fire safety environments might benefit from employing the proposed themes.
