As part of the Leibniz Research Alliance “Advanced Materials Safety”, a dissertation project at the IWM is investigating how immersive video technologies should be designed as a science communication format to convey content on the safety of advanced materials.

Advanced materials are of crucial importance for important future technologies in various fields of application, such as energy storage or biomedicine. However, due to the complexity of the hazard potential of these materials, it is not possible to make a general statement about their safety. Despite the great innovation potential of advanced materials, they are considered controversial in the public perception, as there are concerns about the impact of the materials on people and the environment. This publicly perceived controversy is a problem in science communication and could therefore have an impact on trust in science. Using videos about research on advanced materials, this project will investigate how immersive video technologies can be designed to communicate content about the risks and potential of advanced materials.

In the virtual reality literature, immersive technologies are technologies that use virtual environments to immerse the viewer's perception in computer-generated stimuli. Immersive videos lend themselves to the investigation of this type of science communication, as they are considered an authentic form of representation in that they create realistic scenarios and the viewers of the videos can feel present in the environments depicted through immersion. The aim is therefore to examine whether the experience of realistic scientific activities in an authentic scientific environment changes the perception of the topic. The focus in the investigation of the video design is primarily on different degrees of immersion.

Alongside the IWM, eleven other Leibniz Institutes from the fields of materials development, human toxicology, environmental toxicology, research data management and science communication are involved in the Leibniz Research Alliance “Advanced Materials Safety”.