ARME engagement activities reported through Researchfish

The ARME project has been shared with public, professional, student, academic, and industry audiences through demonstrations, workshops, press coverage, and online channels. The following activities correspond to entries visible through the public UKRI/Gateway to Research record.

Project channels

The team maintains the ARME website and the @ARMEproject social media channel to share news, demos, publications, and project activity.

Brazilian Carnival ARME VR demo

In February 2025, ARME was demonstrated as part of the University of Birmingham Brazil Institute’s Celebrate Amazonia Week / Brazilian Carnival activity. Participants were invited to interact with avatars and try the project’s synchronisation model, with the demo linked to collaboration with Brazilian visiting fellows.

Museum of Music History seminar

ARME collaborated with the Museum of Music History for a seminar and live demonstration at Wolfson College, Oxford. The event presented the scientific and technical foundations of ARME, including virtual musicians, adaptive metronomes, and immersive rehearsal scenarios.

University of Birmingham press coverage

The project has been covered by University of Birmingham press stories, including Bringing the magic of playing music to the virtual world and Dr Massimiliano Di Luca leads development of software for virtual orchestra rehearsals.

Hack the Midlands

ARME activity at Hack the Midlands involved a 24-hour hackathon setting and the collection of data from 50 participants, contributing to the project’s wider research and prototyping work.

Creative Futures

The ARME team presented the project at Creative Futures' Unlock: Future of Learning event in Leamington Spa, connecting the research with creative and digital practitioners interested in virtual and augmented realities for education.

STEM Connections Initiative

Through the University of Warwick STEM Connections Initiative, Max Di Luca and Mark Elliott contributed school-facing talks and a digital interview about the technologies and societal relevance of ARME.

University of Birmingham Annual Meeting

At the University of Birmingham 2023 Annual Meeting, more than 100 attendees experienced ARME demonstrations involving virtual musicians synchronising to tapping through audio and audiovisual replay.

VR Lab inauguration

The VR Lab inauguration brought together students, researchers, collaborators, and performers from the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, Aston University, the University of Warwick, the Max Planck Institute, PartPlay, and the Coull Quartet. Attendees tried ARME audio and augmented-reality simulations and discussed future directions for immersive music practice.

Workshops on AR and VR

ARME-related expertise also fed into practical training. A five-day augmented reality workshop involved 35 students and professionals from the West Midlands, and a five-day virtual reality workshop for scientific research involved 25 students and professionals from the University of Birmingham.

International and community visits

The project was also demonstrated during a visit involving researchers from Barbados and California and public representatives of African and African Caribbean communities in the West Midlands. The visit highlighted motion capture and immersive technologies used across related lab projects.