Biography
After researching for a decade in the Virtual Reality Group of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany and working as a post-doctoral researcher at Vanderbilt University and UC Santa Barbara, Bernhard joined SFU-SIAT in 2008, where he leads the iSpace Lab. His research combines multidisciplinary research approaches and immersive virtual environments to investigate: Human spatial cognition/orientation/updating/navigation; Enabling robust and effortless spatial orientation in VR; Self-motion perception, illusions (“vection”), and simulation; Designing for transformative positive experiences using VR. Bernhard teaches classes on immersive environments/Virtual Reality, game design, human-computer interaction and cognition, and quantitative research methods, and recently designed a new 15-credit “Semester in Alternate Realities”. He recently gave a TEDx talk on the potential of Virtual Reality.
