Dr Juan Hiriart Vera
School of Arts, Media and Creative Technologies
Current positions
Snr Lecturer in Interactive Media A&D
Biography
Dr Juan Hiriart teaches across creative technologies, specialising in games and extended reality. His work blends art, design, and technology to explore new forms of interactive experience and storytelling. He has also contributed to international teaching programmes in digital design and creative technology in Chile, Malaysia, and China.
With over twenty years of experience as an artist, designer, and coder, Dr Hiriart’s professional background spans illustration, design, and game development. Between 2009 and 2014, he designed and developed digital games for clients including the BBC, ITV, Sony, Philips, and United Airlines. His projects have reached global audiences, earned multiple industry awards, and achieved top rankings in the Apple (UK) App Store.
Areas of Research
Dr Juan Hiriart’s research explores the use of immersive and interactive technologies as tools for social good, with a particular focus on designing and developing educational games for history, heritage, and the sciences. His work aims to advance understanding of how game-based and immersive media can foster learning, engagement, and cultural awareness across diverse audiences.
A significant strand of his current research involves collaborations with South American Indigenous communities to revitalise endangered languages through digital and immersive media. Drawing on community-led methodologies and participatory design approaches, this work seeks to support the preservation and transmission of Indigenous languages and cultural heritage within the digital realm.
Key research areas:
- Serious and critical gaming
- Game-based learning
- Digital and cultural heritage
- Participatory design
- Immersive storytelling
Areas of Supervision
Serious games, game-based learning, virtual heritage, immersive technologies, extended reality
MSc Games and Extended Reality (level 7)
- Games and Extended Reality Lab I
- Games and Extended Reality Lab II
- Major Project
BA (Hons) Contemporary History and Politics
- Making Public History (level 4)
Qualifications
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Art and Design
2012 - 2019 -
Creative Games
2007 - 2008 -
Design
1989 - 1994