bio
Renia (Argyro) Papathanasiou holds a BASc in Music Technology and Acoustics (TEI Crete, Rethymno) and an MA in Arts and Virtual Reality from the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA) and Paris 8 University. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the School of Film at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), focusing on the use of XR and BCI technologies in the production of documentary films and spatial narratives, with a goal to enhance social impact on critical issues. Since 2015, she has been a lecturer in XR technologies and Video Game Development, and has provided auxiliary teaching at AUTh’s Film School on "AR-VR-MR." In 2020, she joined the teaching staff of the MSc program "Clinical Ergospirometry, Exercise, Advanced Technology, and Rehabilitation" at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine, where she teaches "VR in Medical Rehabilitation." As of 2023, she is also a lecturer in the Games Art & Animation department at SAE Creative Media College in Athens. In 2016 she co-founded ViRA | Virtual Reality Applications, in which was also the Managing Director. She was also a long-standing member of Studio Bahia (US), contributing to the development of VR therapies for mental health crises. Since 2019, she has been part of the Døcumatism team and the research group for the REACT-VR project. In 2023, she co-founded Otter Space XR, a non-profit which lies at the juncture of art, science, and technology and aims to design and develop applications on the artistic, humanitarian, and playful spectrum of XR, to bridge technology and empathy, games and inclusivity, art and immersion. Her individual and collaborative research work has been showcased at numerous international conferences and published in scientific journals worldwide. She has also been part of several art projects showcased in art exhibitions around the world.
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